For this extra special bonus-length live episode, I’m joined by Comedians and Actors Willa White and Eric Lalor. The lads sit down with me on stage at the fantastic Púca Festival in Trim, Co. Meath to talk about their very unique experiences with mental struggles, the power of friendship, life lessons and a home birth that went very very weird!

Willa White is living proof that you can come back from anything — with a bit of reflection, a lot of humour, and the kind of honesty that stops you in your tracks. He’s battled addiction, transformed his life, and now uses laughter and his award-winning acting chops— not just as punchlines, but as a path to healing. His hugely successful and powerful one man show the Examination has played in theatres across the world and, in recent times, he sold out both the 3Olympia Theatre and The Gaiety Theatre (the first comedian to do so in over 10 years), making him the first Irish man to play the venue since it was built back in 1939.

Eric is a multi award-winning comedian and his latest one man show, Lol’er By Nature was a sell out success at Dublin’s Liberty Hall Theatre. You also might know him as the loveable rogue Cathal Spillane from Fair City but off-screen and stage he’s one of the funniest, soundest, and most razor-sharp comedians in the country.

Check out one of Willa’s Work in Progress shows on the 18th & 19th June in the Axis Theatre in Ballymun, in the National Stadium in Dublin on Aug 2nd, or on Oct 1st in the TLT, Drogheda. Make sure you tune into the lads’ award-winning You Must Be Jokin’ podcast and follow @ericlalor and @willawhitecomedy on Instagram.

If you're new to the series, why not take the time to go back and catch up on the wonderful interviews that you may have missed!

Visit www.dermotwhelan.com for more information and don't forget my new book Busy and Wrecked is out now!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My incredible guest this week has got a heart the size of a Great Dane, the determination of a Jack Russell, and the Instagram account that’s made millions ugly cry before breakfast!

Niall Harbison is a Tyrone man but later moved to Dublin where he became a chef with a career that saw him cooking for the likes of rock stars and business moguls often on luxury yachts! But beneath all of this lay troublesome deep seated mental health issues that culminated in chronic addiction and a traumatic breakdown in Thailand in 2020.

Niall’s journey since then is nothing short of fascinating and inspiring. Niall dedicates his time to rescuing dogs and is the author of not one but two wonderful books. First, there was ‘ - how street dogs taught me the meaning of life” and now—he’s back with a brand new book ‘Tina: The Dog Who Changed The World’, a follow-up that proves our greatest teachers can appear in the unlikeliest places. And they may love tennis balls.

In this lovely conversation you’ll hear how the high-adrenaline chef culture enabled his addiction, what he identified as his 3 drinking triggers, the pressures of a global online following, the celebs whose hearts his work has touched and how special dogs Tina, Hank the Tank & Cindy Crawford all carry stories that mirror his own healing journey.

If you're new to the series, why not take the time to go back and catch up on the wonderful interviews that you may have missed!

Visit www.dermotwhelan.com for more information and don't forget my new book Busy and Wrecked is out now!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My special guest today to talk about ‘balancing the busy’ is a travel show trailblazer, a fitness warrior, and the friendly face behind Operation Transformation, Kathryn Thomas. Now she’s the voice getting you up, out, and dancing around your kitchen before 9am on Dublin’s Q102!

But beneath the energy and the epic playlists is a woman who’s done some serious life homework—stepping back, rethinking success, navigating the chaos of perimenopause, burnout and much more. Kathryn has so many brilliant relatable insights I just know you’re going to get so much from this week’s episode.

Aside from raising two kids and wrangling a peeing dog, Kathryn is the founder of Pure Results, a successful fitness retreat business helping people get strong and reset their lives. She’s hosted travel shows, documentaries, lifestyle series, and fronted Operation Transformation for a decade—changing lives one emotional weigh-in at a time.

If you're new to the series, why not take the time to go back and catch up on the wonderful interviews that you may have missed!

Visit www.dermotwhelan.com for more information and don't forget my new book Busy and Wrecked is out now!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I’m joined by world record endurance athlete, entrepreneur, TV star, podcaster and all-round reformed rogue - Spencer Matthews. Spencer is living proof that you can go from Made in Chelsea, to made for greatness. His adventures have seen him travel to the furthest reaches of the globe including on a journey to find the body of his brother Michael who perished at age 22 after reaching the summit of Everest, an expedition outlined in the award-winning documentary Finding Michael.

While you might know Spencer from reality TV, but these days he’s less ‘Pimm's o’clock’ and more 'get up at 5am, meditate, then casually run 26 miles before breakfast.' He’s just smashed a world record by running 30 marathons in 30 days through sand dunes and searing heat—raising over half a million euro for mental health charities, which is incredible. He also ran around a track for 24 hours straight and what’s more is he’s following that up by doing 7 full Ironman triathlons on 7 continents in 4 weeks. Because apparently one Ironman just wasn’t stressful enough!

If you're new to the series, why not take the time to go back and catch up on the wonderful interviews that you may have missed!

Visit www.dermotwhelan.com for more information and don't forget my new book Busy and Wrecked is out now!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on the show, we’re diving headfirst into the wonderful, wild world of psychedelics. No, not the type that leads to hugging trees and marrying your toaster! I’m talking about real, science-backed, brain-rewiring, potentially life-changing therapy.

And helping us navigate this trippy territory are two absolute legends - Kathryn and Mick Ledden, siblings who through their individual work and partnership are helping to redefine our understanding of mental health and treatment in Ireland. Kathryn (a medical doctor) and Mick (a psychotherapist) co-created PsyCare Ireland, a pioneering non-profit that provides essential psychological care and education at events and festivals nationwide. Their trained volunteers hold space for people in need of support for any reason, including after ingesting substances such as psychedelics.

They’ve got the science, they’ve got the soul, and—thankfully for us—they’ve got beautiful way of making all this stuff understandable, accessible and exciting. Kathryn, a clinical research fellow at TCD, is engaged in groundbreaking clinical trials using psilocybin and 5-MeO-DMT to treat various mental health conditions. Meanwhile, Mick facilitates psilocybin retreats in the Netherlands with Inwardbound, whose vision is in their own words “to provide to a platform to facilitate people’s self-exploration: a safe and legal container for this process, in a supportive, non-judgemental and transparent way. To promote inner transformation, personal breakthroughs, self-growth, creativity and inner healing.”

So stick the kettle on, open your mind (and maybe your chakras, if they’re handy), and get ready to chat about mushrooms, mental health, and how Ireland might be about to lead the world in psychedelic therapy.

If you're new to the series, why not take the time to go back and catch up on the wonderful interviews that you may have missed!

Visit www.dermotwhelan.com for more information and don't forget my new book Busy and Wrecked is out now!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s fascinating guest is ornithologist and birdsong enthusiast Seán Ronayne. Seán is on a mission to record every single one of the 200 birdsongs in Ireland and his journey to do so has been nothing short of incredible. Seán’s work is proof that nature is something that we can truly connect to through the simple act of listening.

Seán’s wonderful book Nature Boy: A Journey of Birdsong and Belonging was the winner of the Dubray Books biography of the year and when you hear him speak you’ll understand exactly why. Seán invites us to slow down and truly listen - not just to ourselves, but to the world around us. Through his work, Sean reminds us of the deep connection between nature and presence, showing how the simple act of listening can ground us in the moment and open our hearts to wonder. In this conversation we also look at the role his neurodivergence diagnosis has played in unlocking his passions and self discovery, how love has opened up his world and how a near fatal illness transformed the way he sees the world.

If you want to catch Seán on his nationwide tour of theatres in which he discusses his fascinating work, visit www.irishwildlifesounds.com for all tour dates.

If you're new to the series, why not take the time to go back and catch up on the wonderful interviews that you may have missed!

Visit www.dermotwhelan.com for more information and don't forget my new book Busy and Wrecked is out now!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My special guest this week is leadership entrepreneur, best-selling author and podcast host Mory Fontanez. Mory joins me from the US to talk about the unmistakable power of intuition - how to connect with it, how to listen to it and how to distinguish our intuition from that fearful voice that can be holding us back.

Mory has spent almost 20 years managing crisis and global strategy for Fortune 500 companies and public personalities. Having become disillusioned with the system that chose fear over inner wisdom, in 2018 she founded 822 Group with the aim of realigning leaders with their untapped potentials. In doing this work, Mory began to see a deep desire from people around the world for a deeper connection to purpose and to their intuitive wisdom.

This conversation is a true gem and one that I'm so glad to be bringing to you.

If you're new to the series, why not take the time to go back and catch up on the wonderful interviews that you may have missed!

Visit www.dermotwhelan.com for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, my special guest is hilarious American-Irish comedian Des Bishop. Des opens up about his early struggles with addiction, his first AA meeting at 17 (with his Dad!), and how the world of wellness found him by accident!

In this conversation we chat about his first experiences in AA as a teenager, his beautiful relationship with his wife Hannah, finding Buddhism with Cork accents, going viral and more. We also create pure musical genius with AI during the interview!

This really is a fun, fascinating and enlightening conversation that I really can’t wait for you to hear.

If you're new to the series, why not take the time to go back and catch up on the wonderful interviews that you may have missed!

Visit www.dermotwhelan.com for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.