Jarlath Regan has built a comedy empire with a simple premise: the surreal oddness of Irishness abroad.

From his smash hit podcast Irishman Abroad, Irishman Running with Olympian Sonia O’Sullivan, the In America with Mariane Mckeone, a basketball series, a true crime series, the critically acclaimed Men Behaving Better series and his parenting podcast Honey You're Ruining Our Kid, Jarlath O’Regan is nothing short of a podcast churning machine.

Not only this, but once he’s done giving parenting tips, sorted out the state of US politics, run a marathon and discussed national identity with famous figures- he’s writing a brand new comedy special Yer Man which is set for a major 2024 Irish tour kicking off in April this year.

Regan is quite simply; a tour de force. Speaking about his plethora of projects, I ask Regan if there are different audiences for all of his respective podcasts.

“Yeah, there definitely are”.

He continues by saying: “But I guess there's like a North Star to it all, and that is my sensibility. I don't talk seriously about running with Sonya. I'm forever trying to find the funny in what this mad thing we're doing. 32 kilometres. Why? It's mad to run marathons!

America needs to- we need to,  laugh about how crazy politics is over there".

And if you don't laugh about parenting you won't survive that.” He tells me.

“So, within us, they're all different moons, aren't they? But the comedy is always the North Star, my sensibility, and take on things; that's always been it. And it's funny that Instagram and TikTok just helped to articulate it in a nutshell on the sushi train. Yeah. People are getting bite -sized chunks. Chunk and go, got it”.

It’s odd the relationship the comedian has with new media- in an age where platforms are rising and falling in influence; Twitter has converted to X, Tiktok and Universal music are having a full on scrap and content creators everywhere seem to be worrying about the whims of the algorithm.

But there’s a huge advantage to social media, says Regan: “Both hands on the steering wheel”.

“It's the way for us. Anyone living in the world of gatekeeping? The jig is up”.

“It's so immensely empowering and liberating after years of hoping ‘Maybe somebody will see it’. It's just like fuck it, I mean, I'm so optimistic for what creatives in this country are going to do, what Irish writers, singers, performers… what's going to emerge.

“There's obviously difficulties with it, but graft is suddenly rewarded in a way that it wasn't”.

Oh boy does Jarlath Regan have graft- He says that: “I'm all the time trying to draw all lines to alleviate that stress. I burned myself out pretty bad at the end of October. I was training for the Dublin Marathon and doing the tour and producing three podcasts a week and writing for the Sunday Business Post”.

Whereas everyone talks about the dreaded fear of “cancellation”- the idea that you might have said something problematic years ago and it gets dredged up in completely misconstrued context, Regan, is worried about one thing and one thing only- not producing enough: “I mean the real stress isn't cancellation for me It's pressure to produce… Patreon helps warn creators about burnout all the time”.

He continues “It's one of the topics they're always on to you about: take a creator holiday, make sure you're taking care of yourself because of that, "fuck, fuck, fuck!" voice, the ‘What if I'm not producing enough?’”.

Regan explains: “I had to scale back podcast production because the stand-up has just been so all-encompassing. And the patrons were like, ‘Of course, we still want the thing’.

“And that's the thing I wish I could say to people that are in it there, that if the stuff's good, you don't need to worry”.

Jarlath Regan by Ruth Medjber

The comedian pivots saying: “So, it is a head spinner. I say I have repetitive strain from shaking my head when I see the response and meet the people at the shows. I’ve loved it”.
But what can fans expect from Yer Man?

“People don't know what to expect” he says.

Pondering, the Kildare man says: “Expectations…”

“Yeah, one: they're not gonna see anything that's online. Okay. I think people come and they think that like a band you're gonna hear the hits”.

“It's all brand new, if you see that Yer Man show, you will not see anything that’s been on TikTok Instagram or YouTube, and I aim, like I said, to inflict bang. I want to make you sore with laughter for 60 minutes to 90 minutes solid”.

Continuing Regan says he takes no prisoners: “That's the aim, to hit them for the hour.”

“Entertainment and escape!”Regan exclaims.

“Because it is a bleak -ass world out there, and we need somewhere to be able to go ‘I laughed for a long time there’”.

“And you know, connection is the other thing that I think we get in comedy. Not just my comedy,but all comedy, to feel‘you get it as well’.

“It's been such a joyful show as well honestly getting to go out and visit these places like Clonakilty, Ennis, Letterkenny, Kilkenny, all these towns that I used to go to. I’m very lucky, I feel very grateful for it. I don't want to come across as that guy, #grateful. We're not too young here, you know”.

Jarlath Regan upcoming Yer Man Irish Dates:

Thu, Apr 4, 2024 Cork Everyman Theatre
Fri, Apr 5, 2024 Cork Everyman Theatre
Sat, Apr 13, 2024 Dublin Pavillion Theatre
Fri, May 10, 2024 Dublin Draíocht Blanchardstown
Sat, May 11, 2024 Dublin Draíocht Blanchardstown
Sat, May 18, 2024 Drogheda TLT Drogheda
Thu, May 23, 2024 Monaghan Garage Theatre
Fri, May 24, 2024 Portaferry The Portico Of Ards
Thu, May 30, 2024 Dublin 3 Olympia Theatre
Fri, May 31, 2024 Dublin 3 Olympia Theatre
Sat, Jun 1, 2024 Castleblaney, Monaghan Iontas Castleblaney
Fri, Jun 7, 2024 Ballybofey, Donegal Balor Theatre
Fri, Jun 14, 2024 Castlebar TF Royal Theatre
Sat, Jun 15, 2024 Mullingar Mullingar Arts Centre
Sat, Jun 15, 2024 Mullingar Mullingar Arts Centre
Sat, Jun 22, 2024 Waterford Waterford Theatre Royal
Fri, Jul 5, 2024 Killarney INEC Killarney
Fri, Sep 6, 2024 Bantry The Martime Hotel, Bantry
Sat, Sep 7, 2024 Limerick University Concert Hall Limerick
Wed, Sep 11, 2024 Dublin Pavillion Theatre
Thu, Sep 12, 2024 Dublin Pavillion Theatre
Fri, Sep 13, 2024 Athlone Dean Crowe Theatre