Hello and welcome to this week's episode of an Irishman abroad with me, Jarditraigan, as always.

Well, comedy's changed. There's no doubt about it. When I came over here to the UK in 2013,

the whole point of being here was so that you could gig, so that you could find clubs

where you could play regular comedy shows most nights of the week.

And that seemed to be the only path into it.

And in so many ways, there's huge problems with that.

You had to go to the Edinburgh fringe, take unpaid work and then employ a huge PR team for some reason,

which meant that it favoured those that had money.

And I certainly didn't have that.

It was a strange, strange time in comedy as it moved between the old world,

the 1996 Perrier focused world and this new oncoming technology that I guess Irishman abroad was part of. I mean,

I'm regarded as an early adopter of this whole podcast thing. But really, I had no clue what was

coming next and how, well, 2,000 people might see my show at the Edinburgh Fringe each August,

2,000 people might see a funny video you make in the first minute it goes online.

It's a welcome change. I really think that this move towards social media and comedians being able to make money from the comfort

of their own homes, make a living for themselves and explore their creativity from Ireland

without the need to go abroad is something I'm delighted about.

And that's one of the many reasons why I'm so happy to have

Tony Cantwell on the show. Tony, if you don't already know him, is one of these New Generation

comics. He's one of Dublin and Ireland's most beloved comedians and improvisers. His online videos have

generated millions and millions of views. And as a result,

he hasn't had to build his audience by plodding around clubs and up and down the M1 and around

...