Comedian and podcaster Joanne McNally is as ambitious as she is hilarious. “I’m always aiming big,” she says, just days after making history as the first Irish female comic to headline two shows this December at the 3Arena in Dublin.
McNally has been touring her show Pinotphile since November 2025 and is just about to finish up a 23 night run at the 3Olympia in Dublin. Then it’s on to America, before filming some new TV shows in the UK. The comic will finally get to take a break in June, but that’s when she’ll start working towards her next big ambition: motherhood.
“I don’t see myself having a child with a romantic partner,” she says on the latest episode of The Irish Times Women’s Podcast. Instead, the 43-year-old has made the decision to have a baby with her friend Ross, who is gay.
“We’re having a ‘gayby’,” she tells podcast presenter Róisín Ingle. “This is the plan, but like all plans, we don’t know if it will happen”. Although nothing is guaranteed, McNally, who is currently single, says it’s how she envisions her future.
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“I think of myself when I’m sitting at home in my 60s, 70s and 80s - what do I want that to look like? And I know, I would love a child. I would love something running around the house,” she says.
McNally talks about how she was undecided about motherhood for many years. “Some women are like, no, I don’t want them. Some women are like, I absolutely want them and I envy the certainty because I was always kind of humming and hawing and then obviously I massively prioritised my career”.
This laser focus on work saw her becoming one of the most successful comedians Ireland has ever produced. The London based stand-up is also one of the country’s top podcasters with her show My Therapist Ghosted Me, co-hosted with Vogue Williams.
“I have a great life, I love my life,” she says, reflecting on her success. “But I really know, in my bones, that I will regret it if I don’t have something in my life with a heartbeat outside of like a rabbit. You know what I mean? It’s like - I want a child”.
In this funny and compelling conversation, McNally also talks about living with increasing levels of fame, why she’s taken a year-long sabbatical from dating and how her close bond with her mother Pat, the woman she calls ‘Mothering Heights’, has grown even stronger over the years.
You can listen back to this episode in the player above or search The Women’s Podcast on your usual podcast app.
Tickets to Pinotphile on the 5th December at the 3Arena in Dublin go on sale on Friday 13th March at 11am.
