Weekend Breakfast with Alison Curtis

Two of the biggest podcasters of the moment, Kevin and PJ from I'm Grand Mam caught up with Alison Curtis on Weekend Breakfast. The pair are gearing up for an Irish tour that's sold out half its venues so far, so we found out how they're feeling about it and why their Cork accents seems to be a draw for listeners. Plus, what are the funny things their Mams do? To find out, hit the play button on this page!

Marie uses her lived experience to help those experiencing homelessness.Now Marie works for Focus Ireland.We're all in for the Big Busk for Focus Ireland to help end homelessness in Ireland, are you?Find out more at TodayFM.com/Busk

Ricky describes Liverpool as Ireland’s second capital! And his love of the Emerald Isle started decades ago when he met all the Irish ex-pats on the building sites. Since then he has considered it his second home.He played Bobby Grant in Brookside, and DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker but he is best known as the lovable and lewd Jim Royle in The Royle Family - Actor, Writer and activist and most importantly – a very very proud Liverpudlian.Ricky had a Sunday sit-down with Alison Curtis and talked about the brand new tour he is about to embark in Ireland with the Irish Annie's stage show, how he adores meeting the fans after the shows and he still gets Jim Royle requests! He has a children's book on the way, he tells a hilarious story about Irish soccer legend John Aldridge plus his new Channel 4 tv show and loads more.Ricky Tomlinson stars in Irish Annie’s musical comedy - Tour Dates from Dublin, Galway, Louth and Cork see more here: irishannies.comRicky also has a brand-new show starting on Channel 4. He stars in the road trip reality show with screen wife Sue Johnston - Ricky, Sue And A Trip Or Two starts this coming Tuesday on Channel 4

He is the Tom Crean of cycling. A Kerryman with adventure on his mind.Tomas Mac an t-Saoir has travelled through the USA, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East – and he is just back from touring from India through Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. And ALL of it on two wheels! He is the The Kerryman cycling the globe. In total he has clocked up an astounding 35,000+ km plus.He tells Alison Curtis about his excellent adventures, including the joys and dangers of travelling through Afghanistan (1,300km) and how Iranian people are just like the Irish especially when it comes to tea and that Cillian Murphy is a regular in his family pub in Kerry!

Ryan ‘Brickman’ McNaught is one of the world’s leading LEGO® brick artists. He is one of only twenty-one LEGO® certified professionals globally. Like a Jedi Knight of all things brick related!He is known to many this side of the world as judge of Channel Four's LEGO® Masters AustraliaThe exhibition is inspired by his bestselling book ‘The Bricktionary: The Ultimate LEGO® A-Z’, and the exhibition.The immersive exhibition developed by Ryan and The Brickman team features over 150 models, made from over 1,000,000 LEGO® bricksThe exhibition also includes brick models from the imaginations of The Brickman team, ranging from anime to life-size animals animals, fashion to fantasy and tabletop games to TV shows,It has taken more than 6,500 hours to build the complete exhibition, all built by hand by Ryan and his team.He told Alison Curtis on Weekend Breakfast all about it from his LEGO den in Melbourne, Australia!:

Alisha Weir has been in Matilda, Wicked Little Letters and now Abigail – and she's only 14! It wasn't Alison's first time chatting with Alisha, so the pair caught up on how the last two years have been going for her and whether the films are affecting her school life. Alisha shared how she handled the news that she was in Matilda with her school mates and Alison had to find out, was Alisha even allowed to watch Wicked Little Letters? Plus, what's it like becoming a vampire ballerina for Abigail? Well, press the play button on this page to find out!

National Treasure and Irish acting legend Brendan Gleeson on Weekend Breakfast.Alison has not hidden the fact that Brendan is one of her absolute heroes. She spoke to him about his brand-new documentary, ‘Brendan Gleeson's Farewell to Hughes’ and why he felt it was so important to record this period in his life and what trad music and a creative space is so important to humanity and Irish people in particular. He is a proud fiddle and mandolin player.Brendan also revealed his thoughts on the current Irish acting renaissance, Paddington 2 "I nearly sliced the finger off meself!" , Harry Potter, Smurf Movie, Joker 2 (he was amazed by Joaquin in first movie and signed by straight away to Folie A Deux once he knew Phoenix was attached) and loads more!‘Brendan Gleeson's Farewell to Hughes's’ documentary will make its world premiere at the Dublin International Film Festival on Friday 1st March followed by a Q&A with Brendan Gleeson.It will be released in the Lighthouse Cinema and Pálás Cinema Galway on March 2nd. For more see diff.ie.

Laura de Barra is a Cork-born property portfolio developer and illustrator working in the competitive London rental market. Her first book, 'Gaff Goddess', was a No.1 bestseller.Now she has turned her hand to clothing. She reveals all the helpful hacks and advice from things to consider before we buy an item of clothing, changing room cheats, trying to buy sustainably and on a budget, parental clothing tips and loads moreHer new book is 'Garment Goddess' - Buy well, mend well, wear well, life changing advice from the queen of the household hack' It's out now.

Former model and Mother of 3 Award winning content creatorSunday Times bestselling author, campaigner - Louise Boyce is better known online as Mamasstillgotit_She pivoted from plus size positive modelling to comedy content creator during Covid and never looked back. On Instagram she has built up a following of over 500k and on Tik Tok nearly 400k Followers and 6.5M Likes.Her campaign called 'Push It Out' exposed how the fashion industry didn't play fair when selling maternity wear. (later when she became pregnant she was dropped by her agent!) A pregnancy was seen as "damaged goods"She got them to change their adverts to come with disclaimers. She has always been wary of aspects of the fashion industry and In 1998 she quit the business due to an eating disorder. She said she was "extremely unhealthy (mentally and physically) and was told I could never have children."Louise told Alison Curtis on Weekend Breakfast all about it.The paperback of her book Mamas Still Got It – How to make it through the Calpol years without losing yourself - is out 29th February.In the chat with Louise Boyce mentioned she had suffered with an eating disorder – if you or someone you know is looking for help or advice – there is the Eating Disorders Association of Ireland, a national voluntary organisation supporting people affected by this – get more at bodywhys.ie

Billy Dee Williams was born and raised in New York City. He has starred in forty movies, seven Broadway plays, and has made more than forty television shows and tv movies combined!In a Galaxy far, far away … okay maybe just L.A. over Zoom! Alison Curtis spoke to this living legend on the show --- He is best known as outlandishly handsome rogue Lando Calrissian on Return Of the Jedi and The Empire Strikes Back but he has had an INCREDIBLE career over SIX decades!He told Weekend Breakfast how he the biggest star in the world once turned up to his first Broadway show, how George Lucas made the biggest call of his life, leading to his iconic role, how he dealt with Star wars fans when they thought he double-crossed Han Solo plus his Irish connections! At one time Billy’s circle of friends included included Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, and Marvin Gaye!HIs autobiography ‘What Have We Here: Portraits of a Life’ BY Billy Dee Williams is out now.