JOANNE MCNALLY: The Identity Crisis of Being Adopted, Finding Success In My 30s and Why I’m Single
Great Company with Jamie Laing
Jampot
4.6 • 951 Ratings
🗓️ 26 November 2025
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Joanne McNally is a hilarious woman. Her comedy has resonated with people all over the world, with her tours selling out wherever she goes, making history as the first Irish female comic to headline Dublin’s 3Arena. And with her podcast, ‘My Therapist Ghosted Me’, Joanne has become one of the most compelling, unfiltered voices in comedy right now.
What I love about Joanne is that she didn’t follow the “perfect plan”. She built her comedy career in her thirties after realising she wasn’t living the life she actually wanted. Feeling unfulfilled and eager to tap into her creative side, she took the most vulnerable parts of her past - being adopted and recovering from an eating disorder - and turned them into comedy that’s honest, fearless and completely her.
And that’s why people can’t get enough of her. She’s witty, she’s brutally truthful and genuinely hilarious.
We cover:
- What is was like being adopted in Ireland in the 1980s
- How Joanne used humour to get through tough times
- Her journey recovering from an eating disorder
- Her career shift from publicist to an international comedian
- Searching for love on dating apps
- Why her therapist actually ghosted her
My conversation with Joanne reminded me the story we’re born into isn’t the one we’re meant to stay in and that embracing your true voice can change everything.
Joanne McNally is Great Company.
You can listen to the Jo Brand episode HERE
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THE CREDITS
Exec Producer: Jemima Rathbone
Producer: Helen Burke
Assistant Producer: Issy Weeks-Hankins
Video: Jake Ji & Riley Kirby
Social Media: Laura Coughlan
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Adoption is like just being spat out of a spaceship naked. You're like, where did I come from? |
| 0:04.8 | And I've had a very happy adoption. I've been very, very lucky. But there is a lack of context for yourself. So I went in and then on. She's like, look, whatever you think about you and this, this is like throwing a hand grenade into this woman's life. So just be aware of that. Hello. My name's Geron McNaughty, and I'm in great company. Will you please welcome. |
| 0:21.4 | Joanne McNally. |
| 0:22.4 | Joanne McDonnell. |
| 0:23.6 | I used to say, like, I don't fall of that. Hello, my name is Joanne McNally and I'm in great company. Will you please welcome. |
| 0:21.4 | Joanne McNally! I used to say like I don't fall in love. I fall insane. These very intense relationships where it's like the worst of times and the best of times and you're breaking up all the time. It's always that kind of I like got to train out to his house. I tried to doorstep him basically And his mum was like he's not here. So he wasn't |
| 0:38.4 | answering my calls. She said, do you want to ring him off the landline? My eyes lit up because I was like, |
| 0:42.9 | well, he's never going to know that's me. So he answers his what he thinks of his mother. |
| 0:48.0 | Do you have. It's my. Hiya. It's me. So you then decide not to meet your mum for 10 years and then you decide to make that decision? Up to that point it had been a fantasy. What happens? Okay, that's just what? The whole thing is wild. Yeah, it is kind of crazy when I think about it. I've been tinkering around the pl hell of an eating disorder for like years and then it just went. |
| 1:11.1 | It really like kicked in. How bad was the eating disorder? It was pretty, but I like to leave my job and be back to my mum's. Really? I think I was deeply unhappy in my life choices. Recovery had to be like my full-time job. If I was to really break it down, Dr Jamie. Yeah, here we got, can't wait. Give this to me. This is what I love. Give this to me. |
| 1:26.0 | I think. |
| 1:29.2 | Hello everyone. |
| 1:30.4 | My name is Jamie Lang. Yeah, here we go. I can't wait. Give this to me. This is what I love. Give this to me. I think. |
| 1:33.1 | Hello, everyone. My name is Jamie Lang, and this is Great Company. |
| 1:42.5 | Okay, guys, we have a really exciting episode for you today. I'm super pumped for it. I know you're going to love it. We have Joanne McNally today. Joanne is a friend of mine. She's one of the funniest people I know. She's a comedian. And today is so many amazing things that you would never know about Joanne McNally. This is a different side of her. So I know you're going to love it. Before we start it, I just want to ask one quick favor. So the only thing I ever ask for you is that if you can click that subscribe button, it's completely free, it does us wonders, it helps us create the show, get the guests that we want, and keep delivering on the content that you love to watch. So if you can do that one thing, I will love you forever. Okay, here we go. Enjoy this episode, a great company with Joanne McNally. My name's Jerome McNally and I'm in great company. |
| 2:22.7 | You would have a facelift? |
| 2:24.4 | A hundred percent. |
| 2:26.0 | Wait to see me the next time my eyes be on the back of my head. |
| 2:29.4 | Depending where I go, if it's a good one or not. |
| 2:32.0 | Of course, I'm a product of my generation. |
| 2:53.8 | We're lifting, I'm 42. What age are you again? 36. 36. Yeah, so we're kind of similar. Yeah, yeah. Kind of similar. You always look younger in real life. I always forget. You're actually quite babyish. Is that what you're unnoticing right now? Yeah. You're a little pocket rocket.. Because when you see people on tell you, they've, |
| 2:52.3 | because you're very charismatic. |
... |
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