Alison Spittle is currentl touring her new show Alison Spittle Makes A Show Of Herself across Ireland. We sat down with the comedian to chat about her life in London, her podcasting career and her goals for 2019.
"I came up with the show name because I think the biggest theme in my life is me making a show of myself - all the time. Last time I did Vicar Street, I was made a very big show of by my family who were heckling me the whole time," says Alison. "I talk about heckling a lot, I hope people don't heckle me. Don't take this as an invitation!"
Despite some friendly interruptions and commentary from her family on the night, Alison insists that playing the Dublin venue was a dream come true - even going as far to compare it to a wedding.
"The last time I played Vicar Street was probably the happiest day of my life, I would say. All my family were together. It was so cool afterward as well because I'm never getting married so that's like my wedding.
"All my family came together, we all had a tincture of prosecco each that we shared out of the one bottle. Also, the people that came were just so lovely, I couldn't believe it."
Despite her success on the Irish stand-up circuit and her status as writer and star of RTÉ's Nowhere Fast and Culchie Club, the funny-woman decided to move to London last year in order to further her comedy career. Something that she says has led her to growing podcast-fame.
"Since I've moved to London, the biggest jobs I've gotten are doing podcasts. I filled in for Deborah Frances-White [on The Guilty Feminist] this week.
"Me and Keema Bob did a gig up in Liverpool, and it was mad because Deborah is the queen of Guilty Feminist - but it was lovely to do.
"I do a few things for Radio 4 now, a podcast called GrownUpLand and I'm getting loads of guests for my podcast [The Alison Spittle Show]."
Although she says she loves life in Camden (the Amy Winehouse statue reminds her of Westmeath's Joe Dolan statue) she has found herself missing Ireland from time to time.
"I miss Ireland, I'm always going into Sainsbury's because they have the ethnic food aisle and I go down to the T.K. Red Lemonade," she laughed. "I wouldn't drink T.K. Red Lemonade if I was here, but now I get very nostalgic for it."
In addition to podcasting, touring and shopping in the ethnic food aisle, the Westmeath woman has set some goals for herself in 2019.
"Try to not care about what people think about me as much as I do, because you wouldn't think it, but I do. I think if you let go of that, then hopefully the other stuff will come through.
"Also, I [search] on Twitter for people I hate before I go to bed, just to have a look, which I don't think is a very good routine," she laughed. "Maybe I should invest in an eye mask instead of looking people up on Twitter."
Tickets for Alison Spittle Makes A Show Of Herself are priced from €14 and are on sale now through www.ticketmaster.ie & usual outlets nationwide & local venues.
