Emmy award-winner Baz Ashmawy, Queen of Ireland's Panti Bliss and Dancing with the Stars' Katherine Lynch have joined the line-up for RTÉ Radio 1's summer schedule.
Ashmawy won the Best Non-Scripted Entertainment Emmy award along with his hero of a mammy Nancy for the hilarious 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy in 2015.
The presenter will be making a return to the airwaves with That Baz Thing, a late night chat show in which Baz and his participants will discuss wide-ranging topics including parenting, relationships, fear, sex and celibacy.
He told RTÉ Entertainment he was "very excited" to get started. "It suits me perfectly because it's not too much pressure being one night a week", he said. "It's going to be a bit of fun talking about life, happiness and what's going on and we'll have Deirdre O'Kane popping in at some stage too. So yeah, it's going to be great."
That Baz Thing will air for two months from Wednesday, July 15 at 10pm.
Panti Bliss, whose documentary The Queen of Ireland wowed audiences in 2015, will be inviting viewers into her parlour for a cabaret of conversation with Pantisocracy. The season kicks off with a bang with former bassist with the The Pogues Cait O’Riordan and Hothouse Flowers' Fiachna O’Braonain joining Panti for a one off performance.
Presenter Katherine Lynch gave it socks on the inaugural season of Ireland's Dancing With the Stars and she's sure to bring her trademark mix of humour and sass to Funny Girl later this summer.
She will be exploring the secrets and tips for writing for comedy for stage, radio and screen with Can't Cope Won't Cope creator and writer Stefanie Preissner, Off Their Rockers writer Brona C. Titley and comedian Alison Spittle, whose midlands-based sitcom Nowhere Fast is due to debut this autumn.
Award-winning series Sisters Doing It for Themselves will be returning later this summer with Weekend on One’s Lilian Smith and Sandy Harsch. They dynamic duo will go back in time remembering the forgotten heroines of pop, folk, rock and more from the last fifty years.
Galway musician Ruth Smith, one of the cast members Once - The Musical, will be presenting Simply Folk on Saturday nights at 10pm, diving into the vibrant world of folk music in Ireland. Meanwhile, Louisianan country singer Robert Mizzell will be taking to the airwaves later this summer with Simply Country.
Derek Mooney and Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh will take to the airwaves on Saturday mornings from 10am with a mix of lively chat and entertainment, while Second Captains will takeover on Sunday mornings with a show that is most definitely not just for sports fans.
If it's comedy you're after, make sure to tune in to Sean Hughes' panel show Don’t Quote Me, from 10.30pm on Thursdays, which will feature hilarious guests such Fiona Looney, Andrew Maxwell and Eleanor Tiernan.
