From maternity leave to live tour: Doireann Garrihy on balancing motherhood and work

As Doireann Garrihy prepares to return to the day job after welcoming her first-born Rosie just five months ago, she chats to Deirdre McArdle about becoming a mother, Dancing with the Stars and how her comedian-husband inspired her to try stand-up

Doireann Garrihy in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Pictures: Emily Quinn

As I wander around Phoenix Park looking for the Tea Rooms, my phone rings. It’s Doireann Garrihy, telling me she’s finished the photoshoot and is waiting for me at the meeting point.

“I think I may be lost,” I say.

“Stay where you are, I’m going to get in the car and come to you.”

I was, perhaps appropriately, at Garda Headquarters; minutes later Garrihy arrives to rescue me.

With any chance of making a smooth first impression off the table, I hop into her car and we’re off. As we laugh at my foolish decision to walk instead of getting a taxi, I’m immediately at ease with the 2FM DJ and podcaster.

She’s the picture of relaxed style, and I’m instantly envious of her beautifully coiffed hair and impeccable makeup. Considering she and her husband Mark Mehigan had their first child, Rosie, just five months ago in October 2025, Garrihy looks remarkably relaxed and rested.

“I’m enjoying being in the bubble of motherhood,” she says.

Living in Castleknock, mere minutes from Phoenix Park, means she’s a fixture here, taking daily walks with Rosie. “The park is a haven for me and a big part of my maternity leave,” she says. Motherhood sits well on Garrihy.

Her face lights up when she talks about her baby daughter, and it’s clear she’s relishing this new stage of her life. “I feel like I couldn’t be doing better with Rosie. I do feel like I’m doing a good job. But you know, it’s all the things around having a baby that can be hard — the piles of laundry, getting organised for dinner, and trying to prep for going back to work.”

Laugh of your life

Indeed, that return to work is imminent. She is taking her The Laughs of Your Life podcast on a nationwide tour in May, starting with a show in the Cork Opera House on May 7. She’ll also visit the Gleneagle Arena in Killarney, the TF Royal Hotel & Theatre in Mayo, the 3Olympia Theatre in Dublin, and finish up in the University Concert Hall in Limerick.

Garrihy launched her podcast in 2019. Calling it “one of the earliest things I’ve done that’s gone well” she says she came up with the concept on a drive from Dublin to Clare. “I could see that podcasting was really taking off. At the time, there weren’t really many comedy ones. I had done my sketches, skits, and impressions online, and maybe that’s what people associated me with, but I wanted to be taken more seriously. I wanted to show that I could interview people as well.”

Doireann Garrihy: I had done my sketches, skits, and impressions online, and maybe that’s what people associated me with, but I wanted to be taken more seriously.

She’d always loved the format of Desert Island Discs, where people’s lives are marked by specific music. “So I thought, what if I do that with laughter?” All the questions Garrihy asks her guests are anchored to laughter: moments of laughter they remember, a moment where if they didn’t laugh, they’d cry, their ‘no laughing matter moment’, and “meaty” questions like the first time you remember being laughed at.

For the podcaster, her goal is to make the guests feel comfortable enough to share with her. “I remember Greg O’Shea opened up about mental health stuff that he hadn’t spoken publicly about before. Afterwards, he said, ‘for God’s sake, Doireann, your stupid empathetic face is just so empathetic. I just spilled how I felt’.

“His podcast clip went totally viral, and people were just blown away by his honesty. It’s a real honour when people trust you in that way.”

In 2023, four years after launching her podcast, Garrihy decided to take it to the stage. “It was terrifying. I did the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, which is 2,500 people. I threw myself right in at the deep end.

“Look, obviously, you don’t do that unless you feel like there’s an appetite. I knew I’d built a loyal following; I could sense from the stats and from the listenership that we’d be safe.”

Tickets for the show sold out in half an hour, and it was clear Garrihy had a hit on her hands. “So we put on a second show, also in the Bord Gáis, and that sold out too. It was huge for me.”

With two sold-out shows, Garrihy said she wanted to go big with the guests. “I got Rylan Clark. I knew he’d be brilliant, and he was an absolute showstopper. People still message me about it and ask would we ever get Rylan back.”

For the upcoming run of five shows Garrihy is coy on her guests. “I will say I’m looking forward to these guests. And the thing is, even with the podcast, you convince yourself that you need to get these big names, but it’s often nothing to do with the performance of the podcast and the listenership figures.

“If someone’s a good storyteller, even if they’re not that well known, it makes a massive difference to any kind of chat show. That’s been the case with my podcast, I’ve had my parents and my sisters on as guests and they’re among the most popular episodes.”

If it’s crap, you don’t have to do it

What she’s doing differently this time is dipping her toe back into her background of comedy and sketches. On an appearance on The Late Late Show on March 27, she announced her intention to add a performance element to her live shows. “It was actually my husband, Mark, who inspired me. He had a sold night in the Olympia in January. Afterwards I said to him ‘I’ve never done stand up but maybe I should try it?’ And he said ‘do it, start by writing something down. I’ll brainstorm it with you. And if it’s crap, you don’t have to do it. But if it’s great, make it part of the show’.”

Garrihy said her husband reminded her that although the listeners come for the guests, they also come to listen to her.

“I have maybe shied away from that in previous live shows. And I was initially thinking, I’d maybe talk for five minutes and then get the guest out. But Mark was like, ‘no, sit into it, have a chat with [the audience], and do something funny’. He reminded me that I am a good storyteller and advised me to lean into that a bit more. So that’s going to be a big part of the new tour. I’ll be performing again.”

In some ways, Garrihy credits becoming a mom for her newfound “chill” about her career. “It’s funny because in many ways you feel more vulnerable than ever, but when it comes down to it all you really care about is your baby’s health, happiness, and safety, so anything after that, you do get a layer of nothing else really matters. I can navigate anything else.”

For her recent appearance on The Late Late Show, she says she was “the least nervous” she’d ever been.

“My mum said she’d take Rosie from mid-afternoon, so I’d have a chance to get organised. Instead, I took a nap for an hour! When I told my mum later, she couldn’t believe it. She said, ‘how did you nap when you were about to go on live TV?’ But I didn’t really think about it. Before Rosie, there’s no way I would have been able to do that. I would have been up to 90 all day long. I think becoming a mom probably has made me more chilled about career stuff.”

May is poised to be a heavy month for Garrihy. Together with five live shows around the country, she’s returning to the national airwaves on 2FM on May 5, with a new time slot. She’s moving from her previous slot of 3pm-6pm to a mid-morning time. “I’m so looking forward to returning to radio at my new time slot of 10am-12pm. I’ve missed the listeners so much and I’m really excited to get my teeth into a more content focussed show. Since I started out in radio, my long-term goal was to have a magazine-style show where every day is very different. So right now, I’m feeling a good balance of nerves and excitement.”

Radio the way to go

Garrihy’s big love is radio. “There’s no substitute. Look, I love podcasting too, but I really love radio. It’s my favourite medium of all the different ones I do.” She confesses to being surprised with the messages she received from listeners when she announced she was returning from maternity leave.

“I was really surprised. I got lots of lovely messages after doing the St Patrick’s Day parade commentary, people saying ‘it’s great to see you back and hear your voice’. It made me realise how much I’d missed it.”

She’s also returning to her TV job at Dancing with the Stars, and she says she can’t wait to get back to “the glitz, the glamour and the chats” on set. “I missed it this year. But I’m so glad I didn’t do it, because I know I wouldn’t have been ready. Initially, when I left in October to have Rosie, RTÉ said to take a week or two and see how I feel about doing the show.”

Garrihy laughs saying she was initially thinking she could do the show. “You have to remember I was still pregnant at the time! I’m laughing at myself now.” Her family advised her not to put pressure on herself, and she says she “very quickly came around”. “As soon as I made the decision and let RTÉ know I wasn’t going to do it, I just breathed such a sigh of relief.”

Doireann Garrihy: I missed (Dancing with the Stars) this year. But I’m so glad I didn’t do it, because I know I wouldn’t have been ready

Her decision was validated mere weeks later when she had to undergo an emergency C-section. “I couldn’t have prepared for that. I just didn’t think it would happen. But it did and I did find the recovery hard. Yeah, Rosie’s five months now and I would say that was probably the hardest part.” Garrihy has plenty of support at hand, from husband Mark, who she says has been “amazing”, regularly singing to Rosie, who’s become his “biggest fan”.

It’s also “baby central” in the wider Garrihy household now. Aoibhin and Ailbhe, Garrihy’s sisters, also had babies around the same time. “There were a few weeks during my pregnancy when the three of us were pregnant at the same time. My sister Ailbhe had a boy four weeks after me, and Aoibhin had her fourth girl last week. It’s one of those chapters that we will look back on one day and think weren’t we just blessed?”

As May looms large, the 33-year-old is busy getting things organised. “The focus now is prep for the live shows for the month of April.” She’s been doing that with the help of her husband, who has been helping her rehearse in their kitchen at home. She admits that her organisation levels have ramped up. “I’m ridiculously organised anyway, but since becoming a mum, I’ve learned that you’re constantly thinking ahead to the next thing.”

Although she’s made the most of her maternity leave with Rosie, Garrihy says she’s looking forward to getting back to work. “As hard as it will feel to leave her, I adore what I do. And that kind of makes it a whole lot easier to go back. It’ll be nice to use the side of your brain that you’re familiar with, and go hang on, this is what I do.”

• Doireann Garrihy’s The Laughs of Your Life LIVE tour kicks off May 7 in Cork Opera House, with dates in Gleneagle Arena (INEC), Kerry, TF Royal, Mayo, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin and UCH, Limerick.
• For a full list of dates and tickets, see doireanngarrihy.com/live-show