The Irishification of Pop Culture

Culture Study Podcast

Society & Culture, Arts

4.5 • 789 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This all started with my desire to do a Paul Mescal episode. A listener suggested we ask Caroline O’Donoghue — author of The Rachel Incident, host of Sentimental Garbage, noted Irish person — to be co-host. We reached out, and (gasp!) she responded that she didn’t actually know that much about Paul… but would be more than happy to do an episode about the “Irishification of pop culture.” Since my interest in Irish men (and movies, books, music, television, poetry) by no means starts with Paul Mescal, I was thrilled.And let me tell you: this episode is fascinating. Hilarious, expansive, weird — and I promise you it will make you see Irish Pop Culturification in a different way (and perhaps appreciate Paul Mescal even more). It will certainly make you appreciate Caroline O’Donoghue, who made me laugh on mic more than any previous co-host. She’s brilliant, and this episode is so weird and good (one of those ones where we finished recording and Melody and I immediately texted each other: AMAZING). As always, I can’t wait for your thoughts — come join the conversation in the comments!Show Notes:Buy The Rachel Incident! I cannot stop shouting about this book; I foist it on every millennial I know.Follow Caroline on InstagramListen to Caroline’s fantastic podcast, Sentimental GarbageWe reference this Vulture piece: How the Irish Came to Rule Pop CultureMy 2015 profile on Enya for BuzzfeedRIP HOUSE FROM BAD SISTERSPaul’s Meaty Clackers:PEAK IRISH POP CULTURE, “Falling Slowly” from Once:Sorry one more Paul (this time with Normal People co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones)We’re currently looking for your questions for futureWith Love, Meghan — the new Netflix show with Meghan Markle — through the lens of cooking/lifestyle televisionMEN’S EVERYDAY FASHION. Not high fashion. The stuff that dudes wear everyday. Like will the fleece/puffy vest ever die? Where actually is a man’s waist? (with Jason Diamond)The governmental push for backyard chickens/homesteading (with Tove Danovitch)Contemporary Plastic Surgery Culture (with Arabella Sicardi)Whatever questions you have for Josh GondelmanDark AcademiaCleaning Culture especially “cleanliness as moral”Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment — WE REALLY NEED MORE!! You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) hereFor today’s discussion: What’s your favorite Irish Pop Culture artifact? And what’s behind your love/the societal love?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone. All right. So once a month, we give everyone a chance to hear what a full episode sounds like, bonus content and all. So today's Ask An Anything question is from a college student asking advice on the right balance of schoolwork and a social life. And as you'll hear, we have the perfect co-host to help answer this. And in other big news,
0:22.2	we've officially partnered with a dedicated ad rep. This is very exciting. Who's helping bring on
0:27.7	advertisers that we actually like. So we're being very intentional about the ads that we choose.
0:33.3	And I promise you're not going to hear anything about dubious supplements or intentional weight
0:39.2	loss. You will probably hear a lot about dogs. And while we are so grateful for these sponsors,
0:45.6	we also understand some listeners might prefer an ad-free experience. That's always been a feature
0:50.8	of the paid subscriptions. That plus you get all the bonus content.
0:59.1	So if you like what you hear and you want to make sure you always get the full episode,
1:06.3	head to culturestudypod.substack.com and become a paid subscriber. And as always, if you are already a subscriber to the Culture Study newsletter, you get a huge deal on the podcast subscription.
1:13.3	Thanks, everyone, and enjoy today's show. My first question, though, is how do I say Paul
1:19.4	Mascals' name? Because I think Americans say it incorrectly, right? I'm not sure either.
1:26.7	It's like not a crazy common name.
1:30.9	Like I've heard people say mescal and mescal.
1:34.4	I've heard all kinds of pronunciations from Irish people and non-Irish people alike.
1:39.8	So I think go with God on that one, honestly.
1:41.7	Yeah, it's not like it's like an Irish name that like somehow Americans aren't getting like some sort of weird.
1:47.2	No, he's our, he's our first mescal, I think.
1:50.3	I say mescal, but like I'm not thinking about it very.
1:52.9	I'm just going to say it and then just go with it because that is the common pronunciation.
1:58.1	Yeah.
1:58.4	It's not like with Sir Sharonin where we had to like really tell everyone. Yeah. It's not like with Sears Sharonan where we had to like really tell everyone.
2:02.4	Yeah.
	...

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