My Therapist Ghosted Me live review: Giddy fun from Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally
A file picture of Joanne McNally and Vogue Williams together on the Tommy Tiernan Show.
About five minutes before Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally are due to take to the stage at the Gaiety Theatre on Wednesday night, the crowd of mostly women, a few gay men, and the stray straight, slightly frightened looking, male, has erupted.
Our hosts of the night are nowhere to be seen - but Prada Peter, aka McNally's boyfriend, has taken his seat in a box on the right hand side of the stage.
There’s a giddy, lawless kind of energy to the crowd – like a group of girlfriends out on the town for the first time in six months, or a hen party that is only slightly aware of the fact that the bride’s granny is there and maybe you should wind things in a bit.
Tonight Prada Peter (real name Alan, but the nickname was coined by a fan and stuck) is the granny of the bride, and he spends a good portion of the night with his head in his hands.
“Look at the wall Alan,” Joanne shouts in his direction at one point, as she and best pal Vogue Williams descend into chats about sex with their partners.
Most of the chat revolves around getting of sex, with Vogue’s husband Spencer Matthews in the firing line at times.
The no-filter back-and-forth banter between the pair is what's skyrocketed McNally, whose sold more shows of her solo comedy tour than we'd care to go back and count, and former model-turned broadcaster-turned-businesswoman Williams, to the top of the Irish podcasting charts week in and week out.
At present, some three million listeners tune in every month to hear them chat about their partners, Williams' kids, pop culture and answer listeners' queries.
It's all led to this My Therapist Ghosted Me Live tour which, sales wise, is as impressive as the number of #ads William posts on Instagram. So far, they've sold-out 12 nights at The Gaiety, and three nights at the 3Arena.
A "fourth and final" 3Arena date has recently been announced, and three nights at Cork's Live at the Marquee, two nights of which are already almost sold-out.
If you're heading to one of the shows, you can expect a similar performance to what the friends give on their podcast next week. In that vein, the one disappointing element of the show is that there is some rehashing of stories that, if you're an avid listener, you will have already heard.
But, there's also lots of new material and crucially, without the limits of audio-only, space for McNally and Williams to share photos and videos with the crowd, most of which involves the Dubliners slagging each other, and themselves.
And best of all, without the girls afraid of what the media might write (Williams' quotes on the pod are notoriously pulled week-in, week-out for click-bait articles), there's a sense that you're really a part of their girl-gang tonight, with Williams name-dropping Bafta red carpet skipping celebs she refused to name on the podcast.
Don't worry Vogue, we won't put it in print. After all, we feel like friends now.
- Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally bring their My Therapist Ghosted Me live tour to Cork next May 27, 28 and 29 for Live At The Marquee, with tickets for their fourth and final night at Dublin’s 3Arena on sale tomorrow, Friday March 3 at 9am. Tickets for the Marquee from €49, 3Arena from €56.90, both available from ticketmaster.ie
