Baz Ashmawy chats about the 3 shows he's currently presenting and performing in: Home renovation show DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland, quiz show The Money List - both on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player - and his self-penned comedy drama Faithless on Virgin Media.

Baz Ashmawy and Brendan O’Connor greet each other with the kind of bromance energy that instantly sets the tone for a funny, heartfelt and reflective conversation; covering family drama - real and fictional, Baz's love for his 'Golden Girl' Mum Nancy and how one TV show can restore your faith in the goodness of humanity.

At 50, Baz is busier than ever — presenting The Money List (Saturdays 9.30pm, RTÉ One), writing and starring in Faithless on Virgin Media, and fronting one of RTÉ’s most uplifting programmes, DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland (Sunday 6.30pm RTÉ One). It’s that latter series — the one where he and a team of volunteers transform homes for families in need — that is closest to his heart, he tells Brendan:

I love it. I would do it forever. I'm sorry I don’t do 20 of them. It’s my favourite show to do. I get much more doing it than I put into it, in my opinion. But I love it, I love it; they are amazing people."

Human tragedy is playing out on any screen we care to look at. If you only paid attention to the bad stuff, you could end up with a miserable take on the world, Baz says:

"There are people out there and they just want to see the world burn, and you’re looking at a lot of it all the time on telly at the moment. And if you were to believe everything you see, you would just think that we’ve all fallen apart and no-one cares about anybody and the world is a disaster."

Working on DIY SOS: The Big Build is a counterbalance to all that, Baz feels. The tradespeople, community members and families who take part in the show are living proof that selfless acts happen every day. Baz mentions 9-year old Cayden O'Connor, who appears on the show:

"You go down for 10 days to Tallaght for this boy, Cayden O'Connor, who has arthrogryposis and very bad scoliosis… he's wheelchair-bound in a house that he just can’t operate. You see people from all over the country come and do this selfless act and have the craic with it!"

For Baz, the show is not just television; it’s proof of goodness:

"There are such good people out there; but you need to see it sometimes, you need to believe in it again."

Watching the show will have the same effect on viewers, Baz predicts. It's living proof that volunteering in your community can transform more than walls and floors:

"For any other reason than to lift your spirits and lift your heart, watch the show. Like, I’m lucky enough I get to be there and do it and I love it. I would do it forever."

As a self-confessed tearaway in his younger days, Baz is now a devoted dad of 6, and he now knows what it's like to parent fearless offspring. He tells Brendan about the time he was stranded in a Cambodian fishing village for weeks with no money and no passport - in the days before communication was as instant as it is today. He still marvels at the faith his Mum Nancy had in him that he would come right in the end, in spite of the endless scrapes he got himself into:

"I’ve always been a bit — I’ll think about the consequences later. It’s grand being like that; but it’s hard to parent someone like that. But my mum knew what type of person I was. She’s very sensible and organised and I was always a bit carefree."

Baz revisits his relationship with his Dad; remembering the good times they had, in spite of the conflict and estrangement which Baz has spoken about elsewhere. There's a particularly lovely anecdote acout his father's love of music, and how he shared it with him as a little boy; which you can hear by listening back to the full interview above.

Speaking about his Egyptian heritage and how it's inspired his comedy drama series Faithless, Baz explains why he thinks comedy is a perfect way to represent the Irish mixed-race experience, something he says was absent as he was growing up:

"I never really saw anyone mixed-race that represented me — Phil Lynott, Paul McGrath. New Ireland is a very diverse place and there are a lot of horrible things said sometimes and it’s hard knowing where you belong. I identify as Irish - very much so. Young people need something to identify with and comedy is a great way to do it."

DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland continues Sunday at 6.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.

Baz presents quiz show The Money List Saturday 9.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.