Hello there and welcome to the ninth anniversary episode of an Irishman abroad with,

you guessed it, me, Jarlet Regan.

Nine years ago, while sitting on my bed, less than a few months after moving my life, my family, to England,

I recorded the first ever episode of this series, and in so many ways, when I look back,

it was a testament to the benefits of learning how to swim by throwing yourself into the pool,

or chancing your arm, depending on what way you want to look at it. I had no experience recording,

zero experience conducting long-form interviews, and to say I had no experience recording, zero experience conducting long-form interviews. And to say I had no experience

of the technological side of things would be an understatement. It was recorded over Skype.

I had never heard of the term mixing outside of a kitchen.

I imported it into GarageBand, a piece of software that until that day had never been opened on my laptop.

And I proceeded to make a complete balls of the edit, knowing that with each cut, the thing that I had recorded and felt proud of was dying in front of my eyes with each bad decision. I was like this shite surgeon

who was just hacking away at a healthy person, hoping that something good might result.

And I remember this wave of panic coming over me. hacking away at a healthy person, hoping that something good might result.

And I remember this wave of panic coming over me, similar to the one you get when you send a text message to the wrong person.

It filled up my chest, and I slammed the laptop shut and racked my brains for who I could

call to save the day. And I remembered a lad who

looked like Ronan Keating, who had hung around the comedy cellar and done some open spots.

And I knew he was doing a PhD in Sound in Mnuth. I don't know how I remembered this, but it was

Last Chance Saloon. Back then, nobody had a notion about podcasts. If this guy didn't

have the answer, we were dead on arrival. And it was 2013. Most people didn't know what podcasts

were. It's hard to believe when you say that, but they didn't know why there was even an app on their phone

for podcasts. Second Captains had inspired me. They had just started and they inspired me to believe

...