Jigser.com

And by that I mean me – Jarlath. Over the past few days I’ve found myself defending the rights and wrongs of St Patrick and our celebration around the world. If anything it made me more steadfast in my belief that March 17th and all the surrounding events are more than justified – they’re essential. This tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean has punched way above its weight in every field known to man – both figuratively and literally – for centuries. My friend and colleague Dara O’Briain has been asked to act as the grand marshall of the London parade. I have been given what some say is a far more important role (nobody is saying this) of MC for the Trafalgar Square celebration. This is what it looks like. I’m very excited to get to do this with some of my favorite Irish musical acts. You should come to it.

We’ve had some unbelievable guests on the podcast in the last few weeks. Why not download a couple or get the free iPhone or Android app to access the entire back catalogue?

In the coming weeks we are starting a new series of episodes with the help of faiseasontickets.ie. Starting with the captain himself Seamus Coleman, we will have 5 interviews with the stars of the Irish squad. Subscribe now to get them first.

Happy St patrick’s Day guys. Hopefully see you at a gig very soon.

Your days of bulging pockets are over. The Irishman Abroad bag has finally arrived. Football boots, important legal documents, precious family photos, booze or just some essential messages from the local supermarket, the Irishman Abroad bag can carry it all to AND from your chosen destination. Made from a beautiful environmentally friendly midnight blue canvas material with an extra-durable dual-handle-shoulder-friendly-strap-system, you’ll be the envy of all your friends at home and abroad with the all new Irishman Abroad bag. Get yours today and start turning heads. Simply click on the homepage at jigser.com and your bag will be shipped to you wherever you are in the world with a special note of thanks from Jarlath himself. You’ll be supporting the podcast and making yourself instantly more attractive in a few clicks of a button. (Donate £20 to receive one bag, £30 to receive two or £50 to get three.)

As mentioned on the podcast, we are down to the very last of the Irishman Abroad shirts (The Ryan Gosling of t-shirts). This is the final print run. After this there will be no more of these available so if you want to get one for the Irish person abroad in your life click donate. A donation of £20 will make sure that this, now “limited edition”, t-shirt will be winging it’s way to you the next day. Why not get two? Make sure to let me know what size you’d like.

Hard to believe but it’s only 3 weeks until I bring my Arseways show to Dublin on December 21st. I’ve added a secret surprise support act who everyone will know from Irish telly. 66% of the tickets are already sold out so I’d move fast. If you listen to the podcast you will have heard the offer code to obtain your discount. If not they are pretty reasonably priced at £22 from tickets.ie.

If you’re plan was to buy Christmas cards on the night don’t risk it. Right now it looks like they will be all gone by mid-December so grab a pack now from the shop here at jigser.com.

You can’t fight progress but we gave it a good go. For years my jigser cards have stuck resolutely to the idea that black and white was cool and color was nothing more than a flash in the pan lasting for the last 100 years of printing. Well just like an orange-faced millionaire running for election, at some point you have to concede you were wrong, flip over your desk and run from the building while flicking the V sign to everyone as you cycle away on your mountain bike only for the chain to come off. What I’m trying to say is this year’s Christmas cards are here and they are in colour. You can still get the old ones – 2015 and the classics. But the new ones are funnier and the price miraculously is still the same. It’s not that prices for printing, postage and labour haven’t gone up – they have! I just think €20 is the right price for a pack of 10 cards. So go ahead, take advantage of me and my kindness and I’ll just keep sweating away making you free podcasts to inspire and entertain you, while also printing these cards and donating kidneys to people who need them.

If you’d prefer to buy the cards in person and like leaving things to the very last minute, I’ll be back in Dublin on December 21st to do a show in the Laughter Lounge. I’ll have a few cards with me on the night.

The one and only Irish performance of my Edinburgh show Arseways will take place at the Laughter Lounge in Dublin on December 21st. I strategically chose that night because the 21st is the day before everyone stops doing any work for two weeks. So if you buy a ticket you can relax on the night knowing nobody will care if you’re a tiny bit hungover, late or absent from work the next day. Tickets are very reasonably priced but if you listen to the podcast there is an offer code available. Click this sentence to go straight to the ticket page.

Post Fringe 2016 Tour Dates
Arseways, the show I performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, will be hitting the road and doing a few select dates in theaters i particularly like around the UK this Autumn. Would you like to come to a show? Brings some friends. The final date is back in Dublin on December 21st at the Laughter Lounge. Tickets are on sale now.

Podcasts to catch up on…
The Irishman Abroad podcast comes out every Sunday without fail. So if you’ve been away for the past while on holidays, make sure you catch up on the episodes with Dylan Moran, Peter Stringer, Kevin McAleer, Miriam O’Callaghan, Jape, Gordon D’arcy, Eamon Dunphy, Sarah Millican and many more. The only way to access the full archive of episodes is through the Irishman Abroad App. The App is free in the App Store now.

Kidney be simpler…
Did you know that you have two kidneys but only need one? Did you know people are dying every single day because they have no functioning kidneys. Seems like there is a simple answer to this problem. There is. You can donate a kidney relatively easily, save a life and carry on living your own without it effecting you negatively. I’m doing it. You should at the very least read about it.

Heaps of tour dates and gigs have just been added to the diary. If you fancy coming to see Jarlath tell jokes at a club near you, just click on the links. This summer he’ll be playing at major festivals around the UK and Ireland, concluding with a three week run at the legendary Tron venue as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.

If you missed Jarlath on Live At The Palladium, you can watch the whole performance including the quiff in high definition on the ITV player.

You can hear Jarlath’s conversation with Ronan O’Gara on the Irishman Abroad podcast this Sunday by subscribing here. You can also hear the entire archive of his interviews in the new Irishman Abroad App – available now in the App Store. The archive includes Chris O’Dowd, Sharon Horgan, Dylan Moran, Tommy Tiernan and many many more.

I’m back in Dublin for a week this month to do some shows, interview some people for the podcast and have people ask me “when are you moving home”. By far the most important show is my annual benefit for the Mercy Law Resource Centre. Every year me and bunch of my friends put on show to raise some cash for this incredible centre. Mercy Law provides free legal aid and general help to people who are homeless and people who are at risk of becoming homeless in Dublin. As you might already know the housing crisis is out of control in Ireland right now and a lot of the people currently living in their cars are just like me or you. Normal people who never thought that this could be their reality. In most cases it’s just two or three things not going their way in a row and suddenly they find themselves with nowhere to sleep and no money to get the legal advice they need. Mercy Law need help to do that work. If you can’t make the show, why not go to www.mercylaw.ie now and make a donation.

Since Brian was on the podcast in January we’ve had former Taoiseach John Bruton, author Louise O’Neill, director Lenny Abrahamson, Enda McNulty, Keith Wood and Sarah Millican to name just a few. In the coming weeks we are launching the official Irishman Abroad App. The App will give you access to all the old episodes. It takes a while to build and costs a lot of money so I’m sorry it’s taken this long.

There’s a bunch of other stuff to tell you but I’m saying nothing until it definitely happens because I’m superstitious and/or silly.