Laughing with Lucy

29:01She's some character, isn't she? Absolutely. Yeah. Gold. TV gold. So yeah, so after that, I did a course in television. It was in Milltown. Yeah. And Bill Hughes. It was Bill Hughes. Anyway, he was like an ex-RT director. It was his course. I know Bill. Do you? Of course I know Bill. Is he still with us? Yeah. Bill is, um... Ireland's Got Talent and all that sort of stuff. No! Oh, no, no. It's a different bill. Oh, sorry. This little bill looked like Anthony Hopkins' image. Then why are you asking me if he's still with us? How would I know? Yeah, good point. Good point. Yeah, fair. So I did a course in television.

29:45I remember arriving the first day and them saying, OK, who'd like to present? And I kind of looked around the room and everyone that kind of put their hand up, they were all jazz hands, ultra, ultra confident. so I kept my hand down and I said actually no thank you I want to get into production so I worked behind the scenes for years so to supplement my horrific career of working not working working not working on the dull off the dull on the dull off the dull as my pals were collecting me in their company cars I picked mushrooms in Rathvarnham for summer Oh you got and you got paid for it? Yeah Ah nice yeah yeah yeah Yeah Sorry I'm just jumping all over the place here Where do you get your jeans from?

30:27My jeans? Yeah, genetic genes. My genetic genes? Where do I get them from? Well, I don't think you'd mind me saying that you're over 50. Excuse me. Excuse me. I am just 50 April the 21st. Same day as the Queen. And two days after Hitler. I swear, I'm not blowing smoke here. You look about 33, 34. Well, yeah, but that's on camera. In the flesh? No, because I've been with you in the flesh many times. Oh, I love that sailor. You do look about 33, 34. I think it's because I'm immature. I don't feel, I got the old Spanish blood. Spanish blood on my dad's side. My mum is blonde, can you believe? My dad is, my dad looks Greek.

31:08Yeah. I have my dad's nose. Yeah, you have a kind of a Greekness about you, don't you? Oh, okay. We slagging the nose? No, just the colouring. Greek. You're colouring. It's not necessarily all Spanish. It's kind of Greek-y as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can see that. Yeah, it is a little bit Greek-y. It is a little bit Greek-y. but yeah I can't believe I'm 50 oh wow like what the hell I just I kind of feel like I need to cop on now you know that feeling I just need to grow up to stop finding silly things funny and just get a proper job I don't know no I think you're wrong so I think that's what keeps you young and keeps you happy and keeps you happy you have got to keep the little bit of child in you you know I mean Robin Williams I think it was Robin Williams said all of us are born with a tiny little sliver of madness and it is our duty to try and hold on to that little bit of madness all our life.

32:00Amen. Don't let it go. Don't let it go. Don't let it die. Do you know what I mean? So one of the reasons I'm talking to you, of course, is, you know, you're 50. You love me. Love you and love working with you. And but like you've, you know, you have sustained a 30 year career in Ireland and Irish media. And one of the ways, of course, doing that is finding second strings to your bow, of course, isn't it? Yes. Because there's no other way. And third. Well, tell us about that. There's no other way of doing it. Because if you just if you just wanted to do TV all the time, you couldn't sustain a living, could you?

32:35No, I don't think so. Not in Ireland. And it's such a precarious business as well. And, you know, I have hosted a lot of shows. But, you know, like say Live With Lucy, I do six in one year. That's essentially six weekends. That's it. so it was when Jerry Ryan died remember myself and Colm Hayes got together and that was like my first foray into radio, did that for a couple of weeks went back to telly and then nine years ago Colm Hayes sent me a message saying would you meet me? I thought he was dying I don't know why I did, anyway we met I got back on radio eight years ago and we nearly destroyed Nova so we were moved to Ireland's classic hits and it's kind of taken off but one of the reasons why I said yes to him was I thought god you know and it is that awful feeling but what if people woke up one day and went god can't stick these again on the telly that was my job no qualification nothing else to fall back on so I kind of got into radio having a second option and now I love it yeah when did you fall in love with radio I'd say since I moved to Classic Hits, because it's more me.

33:47Radio Nova was so cool, you know, and the music just isn't for me. I'm more ABBA and Westlife. So I think once I moved to Classic Hits five years ago, I went, actually, I love radio as much as I love the telly. And then I always, always said, because when I was in school, I kind of flitted with the idea of being, of wanting to be a journalist or a pilot. Bizarre. Changed my mind every week. I always wanted to write in some capacity. And my 39th birthday, I was thinking, oh my God, when I turn 40, going to get like Botox, boob job, facelift, going to stop swearing, going to lose weight. Yeah. Stop drinking wine every night.

34:29And I'm going to write a children's book. And I did. And I'm now 12 books down. And then two years ago... Did you get the boob job? No. Sorry, that was the bit I was interested in. Still very saggy, I'm afraid. Not yet. I'm the 60th. But then two years ago, then a publisher had contacted me and said, would you be interested in writing an adult book? And I said, no, that's like way too mature. I'm more kind of fairies than, you know, fiction. When you say adult book, is this kind of like Ivan Yates secret room kind of thing with Matt Cooper? With Matt Cooper in the background. Oh, Ivan, do that adult thing to me.

35:06No, that's a good idea. I'm writing an adult book as well. Mario, let's do a campaign to find out what's behind Ivan's door. What's behind Ivan's door? Four to one on, the bookies are saying this is a personal catastrophe for Matt Cooper. Matt Cooper now is two to one on, naked behind, with a ball in his mouth, an orange ball in his mouth. It's three to one on Lucy's dog. It's four to two at Brian Dowling. But it's not Brian Dowling. it's a picture of Brian Dowling that he's kept for the last 16 years in his attic it's the portrait of Brian Dowling and it's two to one column haze so yeah I've kind of got addicted to doing Ivan Yates at the moment because do you know that Ivan lay down for the whole time I was with him I know he lay down on the ground do you know I went out to dinner with Vincent Brown once I went out to dinner with Vincent Brown and I love him I went out I went out Because he He grunts I went out to dinner In the unicorn With Vincent Brown And there was Oh There was a few Few few few people There was Mick Wallace Mick Wallace There was Mick Wallace Mick Wallace Mick Wallace Mick Wallace Mick Wallace And I couldn't understand I sat beside Mick Wallace All night Oh no And it was like Sitting beside It was like sitting beside Animal in the Muppet Show Remember Animal in the Muppet Show On the drums Yes Yes

36:36I couldn't understand a word he was saying but halfway through the night and Vincent was brilliant because he would tell stories of Charlie Hawhey and Garry Fitzgerald complete with dead on impressions and everything I don't know wow so he would say things like so anyway I'm in the airport and I'm quizzing Charles Hawhey on camera I'm in a pre-recorded pre-recorded interview and Hawhey would give me a look in the eye and he'd go and a woman would walk by and he'd go Jesus look at the arse on her and we'd have to cut we'd have to cut the broadcast completely because we couldn't allow this in anyway halfway through the night anyway Ivan Waits went okay guys I've got to go I've got a big meeting in the morning and so we all said we'd see you out to the taxi so we saw Ivan out to the taxi and the taxi pulled over Ivan proceeds to open the door and lie down in the back of the taxi because of his bad back taxi driver looks back your man is pissed out of his fucking head Silage charge 180 quid I'm not having that fucker In the back of the car And Ivan is lying down Going And my back is bad Please Throw to one on Bring me two Bookies please Oh my god You can't I'm going to get sick No it's amazing But it was really funny Ivan This huge Huge long Six foot three man Lying in the back of the car I know He hadn't had a drink at all And the taxi driver Thinking he's about to vomit All over the car Yes But Ivan I arrived into New York with my pillow going, where's Ivan Yates?

38:03It was so serious. And everyone's like, and I had my little Dunn suitcase and my pillow. And I looked into the boardroom. There's a boardroom kind of meeting. And I was like, where the hell is Ivan Yates? So they let me in. He was lying on the ground in the meeting. I thought he was dead. I know, I know. So I didn't know whether to like lie down beside him and like interview him like this. Yes, I know. Or just stand there. He's very funny. I kind of got into doing him now. And I've kind of, I enjoy, I'm kind of, when you, when you, when you, when you do an impression of somebody, you sometimes start liking the impression.

38:37And even though you're, you find you're not very good at it at the beginning, you want to improve it because you like it. Oh no, you're very good at it. No, but the thing I find about him that's interesting is no matter what, he tries to really dramatize stuff. Yeah. So that he makes it newsworthy. So let's say he's talking about Lucy Kennedy's new book, The Mini Breakers. Yeah. He'll make it sound somehow as if it's very, this is a big deal for you and it could go wrong and could ruin your life. So he'll go. Lucy Kennedy has released a book. She's calling it The Mini Breakers. And people are openly asking, could this be a personal catastrophe for Lucy Kennedy?

39:26You're going Would you shut the fuck up It's hardly going to be A personal catastrophe Ivan Yes he does So you're right So you're going He likes the drama It's the drama So basically as a listener You kind of go Ooh personal catastrophe Yes you're hooked Lucy Kennedy And then you find out It's just about her latest novel Yeah yeah yeah I want to give you a chance To plug this because Oh thanks This is your adult book is it Yeah now you'd hate it It's very girly Yeah okay go on The poor rich Long-suffering husband but Rich, I forced him to read the book and I stared at him. Imagine this now, sitting there in bed in my Penny's pyjamas, my glasses on.

40:05And I stared at him like a driving instructor to see if he smiled, not even once. So it's not for boys. Yeah. And eventually he went, I just don't think this is for me. Which is quite rude and hurtful. But it's a story about girls' friendship. Yeah. Yeah. It's loosely based on myself and my pisshead friends. Are any of them air hostesses? Yes, two of them. Hot twins. Hot blonde twins, like Sweet Valley High. So there's five girls who go to Alba Fara. Sorry, I started writing this book two years ago on a sun lounger in Alba Fara. It was like one of these, hello, mums and dads, everybody gets up off the sun lounger.

40:47So I thought, right, feck this. I have to have a sun lounger because I love sunmaving. So I would set my alarm at 7, Mario, 7 a.m. Everyone else was asleep and I'd rock down with Uno, all the snacks, 15 donuts, an inflatable crocodile, everything. 7 a.m., just myself and the pool boy. And after a while, like stalking every celebrity on Instagram, I was a bit bored. So I started observing people coming down, like a little stalking creep that I was. and I thought, oh my God, girls, yeah, there's a couple of girls, obviously on hens or whatever they were doing there, hen parties. So I started to write the book on my son-in-law, on my phone, my little nails, my cuticles were bleeding.

41:29And then by the time Rich kind of came down with the kids, say, two hours later or whatever, I'd kind of put the phone down. He was like, mum, you're on your phone again. I'd watch them jumping into the water, et cetera. And then I'd do it the following morning and the following morning and maybe by morning four, I said, Rich, I think I've got a really good idea for an adult book. And he's like, oh, well done, Luce. Thinking, oh God, here's another weird idea, but I'll be polite. And then when I came home, I sent it off to Marianne Gunner-Connor, who looks after my books. Yeah. And she sold it the next day.

41:58She sold the idea? Yeah. Great. Literally the next day she said, Lucy, I have a publisher interested. I was like, what? But like, it took ages, 80 ,000 words. I'm used to 8 ,000 and lots of pictures. 80 ,000 words. Yeah. That's a lot. 90. 90 ,000. Yes. So I was like, the, and. And then every now and again, after thinking I did really well, I kind of go up and look at the word count. I go, oh, I've only done like 60 words. I know what you mean. Yeah, it's disappointing. Disappointing. Yeah. It's like, oh, I just need to get to. But I enjoy the process. Maybe if you go on to a different word count or app, it'll tell you you've done more words and it'll make you feel better.

42:41Oh, good to know. Yeah, because some of them include the comma and you go, oh I've done 85 words oh oh my god is the comma part of the word I don't know some crappy apps think they are brilliant yeah that's good for me to know for the next one yeah yeah that's so exciting just call the book the comma um five five girlfriends who are commas yes pretty much they're human commas they're girls they're female commas boozy yeah they're female commas and they go to they go to actually I'm going nowhere with this analogy don't worry Morocco Morocco. They go to Morocco. So sorry, I've read about hay fever as well, by the way.

43:21Do you have hay fever? No, don't have hay fever. So anyway, mini breakers. I have everything. I have hay fever. I have asthma. I'm perimenopausal. I'm sweaty. I'm tired. Tell me more about mini breakers. I think this is something I could read and enjoy. It is. Actually, I tried to get Michael Elroy to read my book and he very politely refused. So yes, so the girls go on holidays and then it's just all about their relationships. Yeah. Some have kids, some are trying to have children. They're all 40 and just the various shenanigans that would happen with girls trips. It's a bit dramatic, yeah. I like to think it's funny.

43:58It's loosely, I'm in all of the characters and it's loosely based on myself and my friends. Yeah. And there's one who's particularly boozy and there's a bit of an intervention and my best friend is like, it's me, isn't it? And, oh, right. And when you send, when you started sending drafts back of this book, Yeah. Did you find out through your editor or through your publisher or that I can't write? No, not that you can't write because you can. Of course you can write. I'm saying the idea that did it emerge that you were a funny writer, that it was funny? Or did it emerge that you were more, you know, inside the human psyche kind of thing or that did you like the drama?

44:37Was there any aspect of it that you found out about yourself? Yes. So the way I had originally written it, it was definitely more funny, more slapstick, possibly more obvious humor that, you know, you'd kind of read it and go, actually, I know what I know what's going to happen here. what I did learn was developing characters and they taught me how to do that you know they were saying you know you you've and also they taught me how to kind of write it so I was kind of saying it's kind of hard to explain but they taught me how to write from the person's perspective as well which was quite tricky so it was what what other people were saying and then what the person was saying and I never knew how to do that before so I learned I learnt a lot but I learnt about character development and the arc and then the end so what I I'd say it ended up being 70 % of how I'd originally written it but they taught me how to develop characters properly yeah yeah mine was quite silly and it was probably a bit rude you know someone like sharsh in the pool and stuff and are there love scenes no Mario I was just too scared just kissing that's it you couldn't do it I couldn't do it I got really nervous So you wouldn't be into this whole thing of he threw me on the bed then then slowly he lowered himself down onto me I could feel his hot breath on my neck I wanted him it was now or never I shouted, I squealed in delight Yes, thrust and throbbing no I couldn't I thought I could because I've obviously like read those kind of books yeah I thought I could do a really good romp love scene no couldn't do the romp just couldn't physically my fingers just clamped right I couldn't hide the romp this is good clean fun good clean fun yeah so they do have a kiss but also I'm mindful of the fact that I'm also wearing a children's author hat so I don't know I could I just couldn't do I couldn't write a dirty book and then go next week on the friendship fairies you know next week yeah I know Jesus it would be a bit hard it would be very very hard in more ways than one for the friendship fairies the friendship fairies get hard yes yes well I could amalgamate the two friendship fairy gets hard that would be a new that would be a different departure for you very different departure but yeah I enjoyed it I did enjoy it I was going to ask you about Caitlyn Jenner.

47:16Was there? Yes. You lived with Caitlyn Jenner. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I'm fascinated with Caitlyn Jenner. I mean, I mean, I wrote. Did you read that? Sorry. Did you see the documentary about Bruce Jenner? Yeah. Which was fascinating, wasn't it? Of course. Yeah. In 1976 decathlete. Yes. And very attractive man. Very attractive man and model America. Mr. America. Mr. America. Yeah. Isn't it fascinating? Beautiful wife, kids. Absolutely. So I didn't really know what to think going over to Caitlin. I was a little bit nervous because she's such a big reality star and so used to the cameras and stuff. And I thought, oh, God, here we go.

47:56It's going to be like an entourage, like the Kardashians, you know, like people that are doing glam and security. It couldn't have been further from the truth. Rocked up. There she was with two dogs. Big hug. She's really tall. Massive boobs. Really friendly. cap on and she was there with her manager, Sophia, who since passed away, died three weeks after I left. Oh, I see. And Caitlin was great, you know, like she 78, hard of hearing, very early on. I'd say within the first 30 minutes, I relaxed with her because I kind of thought she's the same age as my mom, you know, I think we all and I definitely do.

48:39I have a perception of what a celebrities like in real life based on what I've read or what I've seen. But the reality is she is an older, hard of hearing person. Whereas I was expecting Caitlin from 15 years ago. You know, we don't age celebrities and then you see them and go, my God, they're so old. Yeah. I kind of felt that way about Caitlin. So I immediately fell into that. It was like the mother-daughter role type. And I was very respectful of her. I really, really liked her. Obviously, we completely disagreed on anything political. Yeah, I mean, she has quite, she would be probably fall into the Trump camp, wouldn't she?

49:20Yes, she adores Trump, even though he is anti-trans. Now, since living with her, I saw her on Instagram a couple of weeks ago. She got her passport renewed and it came back M for mail. Oh, my God. But she can't travel. And I was thinking, yeah, buddies with Donald Trump. Surely he can resolve that. But Caitlin's very pro-Israel. Her dad fought in a war and a family from Israel took him in. So she's very emotional when it comes to Israel. It was obviously bang in the time of the horror of what was going on in Gaza. And obviously still is, but nobody's really talking about it anymore. And so I had to broach that.

50:04and Living With Lucy is not prime time and it's certainly not a political show, but I had to bring it up and I was uncomfortable, as was she. And she actually said to me, look, can we leave politics out of it because it's so divisive? And I said, I know it is, but I do have to ask you these questions, you know, because we have to cover everything like Trump transitioning, being married to Chris, your children, but also the fact that you're pro-Israel, just why? And I was glad I did because even though I wasn't comfortable doing it, because I'll always kind of err on the side of just keeping things light.

50:42I'm glad I did because I disagreed with her. And it showed me and it's definitely taught me that you can have a conversation with someone and just completely disagree with them, you know. And we did disagree. And then I said, you know, do you want a cup of tea? And we kind of moved on. and I think that's the way it should kind of be in life, you know, to have your opinion and not necessarily have to agree with somebody but still don't be afraid to talk to them. Oh, well, that would be the idea. That's exactly what we need to learn, all right, Lucy. Was she involved in a relationship? No, single.

51:13So everybody suspected that she was dating Sophia who was the younger girl who also transitioned with Caitlin 10 years before but she was just her manager and but she was there a lot and I kind of felt like when there's an agent present you lose the intimacy you know there's always like the person watching a person so I found that once Caitlin was away from Sophia she relaxed more with me because it's a very small crew you know and you're trying to get to know a person with the camera there um I kind of felt like with Sophia Sophia was just really paranoid about what Caitlin was saying. And she kind of made Caitlin overthink.

51:54So it was when myself and Caitlin were on our own, we had great crack. But anyway, I flew home. Two days later, I see a post on Twitter of Caitlin Jenner in Jerusalem, her hands up against the wall. I'm home with my people. And I thought, oh my God, I've just lived with her. The timing was horrific. I know. I can't say anything. What do I do? Everybody's going to hate me. And obviously then there was backlash about, you know, I can't believe you're doing this. But I couldn't respond. I couldn't. Initially, I did respond to the first few, but that just made things worse. And then obviously. And then in another universe as well, Lucy, people would say, yeah, and she looks really Israeli as well.

52:40Yes. Because you kind of do. You have, because a lot of Israelis are the dark, dark hair and the dark eyebrows and the sallow skin. It's gone from Greek to Israeli. Yeah, maybe, yeah. They're all the same. Sorry about that. That's Louis Walsh saying that. So I got so loads of that, all the, you know, hashtag free Palestine, got loads of that for about a week. And I just thought, you know what, let them watch it. And I had to do the same with Katie Hopkins, you know, let them watch it, let them see. and then of course when it aired people were like, well done Lucy. Yeah. Did you see Katie Hopkins?

53:14Yeah, I did. I liked her. I did like her. You did like her. Did you see Katie Hopkins getting booed out of a pub the other day? Yes. Mario, since I've lived with her she has lost her home. That beautiful house she lived in with her babies and her husband. That's gone. I don't know. She was doing Katie's Arms on Instagram for a while. She was touring and now it's all gone again. Have you ever met her? No, I have never met her. Yeah. She was a tricky one because on paper we're both happily married, three kids, moms in the media. But that's unfortunately where it ended. You know, I was going to ask you, yeah, I was going to ask you, first of all, is there, you obviously have a list of people that you'd go target list.

53:59Who would be on your target list? Oh God. Enda. Really? Enda Kenny? You actually would love to live with Enda Kenny? That wasn't a joke. I would love yes yes I'm completely serious I've given up on Pat he's just playing way too hard I end up yes I'd love to Pierce Morgan oh yeah I'd love to love with him yeah now like this like in like a make you up I know what about I have one for you what about Eamon Dunphy oh it'd be interesting love him or Vincent I've asked him straight out he wouldn't Vincent won't Vincent won't either I've asked him I'd love to live with Harry and Meghan Markle Obviously That would be interesting Yeah Yeah God, the globe How about twink for a third time?

54:51Third time lucky One night only Twink again I didn't do that meeting again Twink again, yeah, good Let me see, who else? Oh yeah, so I was going to ask you this actually Yes Like, you know, you make this television program Living with Lucy And then, you know, you're curious about people you love people we've established that yeah um yeah you know obviously you like some people more than others yeah totally are you are you at liberty then ever to say you know or do you do you I mean because I'm perfectly happy if you go Mario to be honest with you I'm not a kiss and tell kind of girl and I do this job I do my best to get to like everybody there are some people that I maybe didn't like but I'm not prepared to tell you oh I would tell you go on then The only person I didn't really like, but to be honest, I would find the heart in my eyeliner.

55:44So I will mine and mine and mine and mine and keep going until I find, because most people are nice. Have something. I think, yeah, I think my greatest challenge was Daniela Westbrook. Okay. I did not like her because she was mean to me. and it was about eight years ago. She was going through a really, really hard time. Daniela, she's schizophrenia. She's also bipolar. She was living in Marbella at the time in a bad relationship. She was in a really bad place at that time. And at the end, I always kind of give a rap, like a synopsis of the time together. And what was on my mind and always is, is that A, I just walk away from this person.

56:38I'm like, right, onto the next gig. So I'm very mindful that I've just left their lives. And B, when they have kids, Mario, I'm always thinking, God, I don't want something that I'm going to say to haunt them. I don't want them to read. So I will, it's always very obvious, I think, if I really like somebody, because you can tell my body language is the way I am with them. And I think people knew that I wasn't that pushed on Daniela. But at the end, I just diluted how I thought because she has children. Yeah. But now when I see her, she seems to be back to her old self. Like I saw moments of brilliance with her.

57:18She was really good fun. Great little actress, great mimic. We had really good crack, but then it would change. So by day three, I was just tired. I felt like I was walking on eggshells and I couldn't relax with her. So it's not so much that I didn't like her. I didn't like the experience. Yeah, and maybe she had some personal issues as well. Oh, she definitely did. And maybe some psychological and psychiatric issues. Yes, and I'm very mindful of that. So even talking now about her, you know, I don't want people to go, well, Jesus, Lucy, the poor girl. And I understand all of that. Have you ever cancelled one?

57:55Have you ever cancelled one or stopped one halfway through? No, never. Never. But I have said no to living with certain people. Right. That's because certain people have been suggested to you. Yes. And why have you said no? Maybe I don't like their history. Maybe their political history decisions they've made. Yeah. Where I've just thought, no, I'm just not comfy. It's just not worth it. Yeah. I said no to Nigel Farage, but I said yes to Katie Hopkins. Yeah. I don't know there's certain people I just think no yeah you said no I like controversial people I do like controversial people yeah I like people that have layers but it has to be the right controversy I don't want anyone that's made bad decisions would you live with Boris would you do would you do Boris Johnson I would do Boris yeah he's got ruffle his hair obviously obviously it would be fascinating that's how Boris Johnson wakes up like that exactly yeah yeah yeah doesn't he no he does I would I would live with him, yes.

59:00Of course, I'd love to live with Lucy Kennedy. Fantastic woman, beautiful Irish. We love the Irish in the colonies. Of course, the colonies of class two in County Dublin. I would. I would. Like, how controversial could I go? He's an absolute whore. Like, so you could go wherever you want to. Yeah, he would do it, yeah. What do you think of Piers Morgan? Do you think he'd be controversial? I think Piers Morgan is a superb communicator. I also think he'd do it probably. Do you like him though? I've very, very split decision. Again, it's difficult. Me too. Well, because it's one of those ones that you talk about.

59:48He is an absolute, he is a superb communicator. Yes. Who is a superb self-marketer. who is, who actually talks sense about one or two issues. Yes. And then is full of absolute shit about other issues. Yes. And will change his opinion quickly. Like that. To go with the tide. Yes. He runs with the horses and humps with the hands. I agree with you. So to that extent, he's a moral coward. Yeah. I mean, for example, one of his most famous sort of apparitions on the net is his love for Cristiano Ronaldo. Right. Okay. So he's done multiple interviews with Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo is the best player that ever lived.

1:00:34And Piers, you love me. You love me, Piers. I love you. I love you. I love you, Cristiano. Now, he's Cristiano's number one fan. But if you go back a few years, you will see an entire Twitter thread that goes on for years about how Piers truly believes that Messi is the best player by mile. Okay. But of course he just, now that's disappeared now, you know? yeah he runs with the as you say the horses and the hounds and all that sort of stuff but having said that fascinating character who I think is worth doing I think Boris would do it with you and do you? I do yeah what's he doing now? I think you should chase Boris talking around and knowing his wife yeah I should chase Boris I think you should chase Boris I think Boris would do it with you yeah and and I think that would be brilliant how about anybody that you really thought this you were worried about but actually it turned out to be utterly brilliant in your eyes.

1:01:28Was there somebody that you lived with that you went, I don't know how this is going to go, but it surprised you in a really good way? Caitlin. Caitlin. I was just, yeah. I was just expecting the LA drama. I was just expecting the Kardashians just insincerity. You know, the American. But Caitlin's like, come on now. She made me a cup of coffee. Yeah. She really, she really surprised me. I just thought, Ryan, I'm going to do it. it's a good name. Do you know who I liked? Do you know who I liked? I like, I like it. There comes a point with your program where you go, I just like somebody who is themselves and they're not trying to impress you.

1:02:06Now, in my view, and that you think if you were the program maker, let Lucy and your team, you might go, this is really boring. But actually to a lot of listeners, to a lot of viewers, they'd be going, they would be going, no, I like the idea of that person just being them fucking selves. Yeah. Now you can tell me I'm wrong about this. Go on. But I remember watching Dickie Rock and going, Jesus, I like, there was something about it. He was uncompromisingly Dickie. Absolutely. Absolutely. And he just, but the amount of times I kept on saying, Dickie, there's GoPro cameras in the car. Yeah. So everything you're saying.

1:02:45Yeah. And I can see you tell me like 10 times I know. And then he started giving out about his wife's best friend that when she gets her period that her husband needs to leave the house and I'm like, Dickie, again, there's cameras. He goes, I know, but he has to leave the house. I know, but... Yes, very, very him. Yeah, I liked the way he kind of went, I don't give a bollocks if there are cameras there and on. I just fucking say what I'm fucking saying. And now he's sadly past Dickie. I know. I know. It's actually really nice. My daughter is now friends with his son, Peter. My daughter's now friends with Dickie's granddaughter.

1:03:24Yeah. Isn't that mad? Yeah. Very sad. Very old school. You know, hilarious. Him, Sil Fox, all the old lads. I love them. I know. Sil Fox and Paddy Cole and those guys. Yes. Yes. Another legend. Another legend, yeah. But there used to be a story about Dickie that when he'd be on holidays down in Spain, and people would know it's Dickie's apartment because they'd see his hair drying on the they'd put his hair out to dry in the evening oh no he wouldn't yes he'd know which apartment he'd be in because he'd see the hair on the banister oh my god just hilarious hilarious I wasn't allowed to touch his hair I did I think I tried to reach across but yeah I liked him because he he because he believed in the Dickie as well.

1:04:14Yeah. He believed himself in the legend of the Dickie. Yes. But at the same time. I love that old school vibe. There was something very old school about it. And very. But you know what? They don't make him like they used to. No. They really don't. And like the likes of Dickie, say, or Vincent. Yeah. I don't know what it is. I know. We don't have this. Or Eamon. We just don't have those strong characters anymore. No, uncompromising. They're just not made like that now. Uncompromising. Just being themselves. Yeah, just being themselves. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Very, very interesting. Listen, Lucy, I'm going to call it quits.

1:04:53No, stop. When am I going to see you again? When am I going to see you again? I'd love to see you again, yeah.

1:05:01And my thanks to Lucy Kennedy for coming in and chatting to me. And she's always a bit of a riot, Lucy. I love talking to her. She's so relaxed. when she's on air. My thanks, of course, to Hum Finance for partnering up with the Maria Rosenstock podcast. Hum have been around for 30 years. They can help you with your purchases and payback and bite-size easy payments. It could not be easier. Thank you, Hum. And of course, thank you to you, the listener, for getting involved in this podcast. Tell one other person if you can, if you like it. See you same time, same place next week. Enjoy the summer, folks.

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