We sat down with comedian Kevin McGahern ahead of his new series of Clear History coming to RTÉ2.
"I kind of went all out with the suits," Kevin McGahern tells me over the phone. The actor and comedian, who viewers will recognise from Smother, Republic of Telly, Finding Joy, Hardy Bucks and possibly even his most recent role as 'Clueless Vassal' in Ridley Scott's The Last Duel, is promoting a brand new series of Clear History.
The comedy panel show, fronted by McGahern, will return to RTÉ 2 with the aim of rewriting the past in the name of comedy. Under the comedic guidance of returning team captain Joanne McNally and new addition Jason Byrne, weekly guests will be asked to put the cringy moments on public display.
But back to the wardrobe.
"I want to be dressed so that in the third season, my regrets will be what I wore in the second season," he continues. "They're not the kind of outfits I'd wear out because I would get thrown into the Liffey, probably, but sure look it, when you're going on the telly you have to make an effort."
"Joanne is always dressing in very fantastical outfits, so I'm trying to sort of outshine her," he adds.
The catch, of course, is that his fashionable co-star often borrows the odd accessory from friend and fellow My Therapist Ghosted Me podcaster, Vogue Williams - a woman with an exceptionally fabulous and designer-heavy wardrobe.
Indeed, one of the promo shots shows Joanne in a blue dress from Sister Jane, sourced from Williams's Howth home.
"Joanne borrows from Vogue! Basically, I'm competing with Vogue Williams' wardrobe."
For this season of Clear History, Kevin and Joanne will be joined by comedian Jason Byrne, who Kevin describes as a "great addition" to the line up.
"He's just great craic and he's very enthusiastic. He's got the mind of a child in the best possible way. We get on great the three of us, they're like my Dublin cousins."
Luckily for Byrne, the framework of the show has changed slightly this year meaning that team captains will no longer have to divulge their own stories of disgrace each week. As Kevin says: "How many embarrassing stories can happen to one person? Even Joanne was running out of them."
Instead, the shame ridden tales will come from an impressive line up of guests including Greg O'Shea, Paddy Smyth, Lyra, Deirdre O'Kane, Emma Doran, Andrew Maxwell, and Catherine Bohart.
Thankfully, the mix of guest stars were sourced from a team of researchers rather than the host's own phone book.
"There was a point at the start where it was like, OK, name all the famous people you know," he laughed. "Jason and Joanne were coming up with amazing names like Ardal O'Hanlon and Vogue Williams or Spencer - naming all these famous people - and I was like, 'well, I can get anyone who was in Hardy Bucks'."
"We got a nice mix of Irish and English acts, and we tried to mix it up because you don't want just comedians every week because it can turn into people sort of trying to one up each other. We wanted to keep it nice and chatty and some people really surprise you. Jason McAteer had some amazing stories and Roz Purcell was really good at jumping in."
Speaking on the premise of the show, and the apparent popularity of airing dirty laundry, McGahern says that revealing your worst moments can be a kind of therapy:
"There's definitely a trend at the moment of owning your shame," he explains. "There's a couple of shows where people are revealing stuff that they've always wanted to hide about themselves. It's very entertaining and very therapeutic to hear people have worse stories than you."
Watch Clear History every Thursday on RTÉ 2 at 10.30pm.
