Never Have I Ever with Claire Byrne

Claire's guest is Former Professional Wrestler and Founder of Over The Top Wrestling, Joe Cabray.
For most of us, professional wrestling probably brings to mind the larger-than-life characters we watched on television.
The likes of Hulk Hogan, The Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin, The WWE.
There's the music, the costumes, the PAGEANTRY and, of course, the extraordinary things that happen inside the ring.
And because we know the results are decided in advance, it's easy to dismiss wrestling as something that isn't entirely real.
But behind the spectacle is an art form that combines athleticism, theatre, storytelling and an extraordinary amount of trust between the people involved.
It's an industry where performers create characters, put their bodies on the line and try to make an audience believe the story they're telling is REAL
And while Claire has watched it from a distance, she's never experienced what it takes to step inside that ring.
But Joe Cabray has.

Claire's guest is Choice Prize nominated rapper “Curtisy”.
Growing up in the 80’s in Laois Claire wasn’t exactly surrounded by rap or hiphop.
Sure, there was plenty of it in the charts. Acts like Run DMC, The Beastie Boys or Public Enemy were known but it all seemed a bit like a scene that was happening in a different galaxy to that in which she lived.
The Ireland of today is so different in so many ways and it’s certainly more outward looking and more open to different influences.
And Rap music is now thriving here. Names like Kneecap, Kojaque and Denise Chalia will be familiar to many.
But it’s never been a fixture in Claire's life.
Today “Curtisy” tries to awake Claire's inner MC.

Claire's guest is former Garda forensic examiner and the host of the Lines of Enquiry Podcast - John Sweetman.
If there was a body, a gun, fingerprints, blood... what could you do to find out what happened?
There are people whose job it is to walk into those scenes and figure it out.
And John Sweetman spent 25 years doing exactly that...
Today Claire tries to find out what it’s actually like to walk into a crime scene when everyone else is looking at the chaos... and you’re looking for the tiny detail that might explain it all.

Aoife Dunne is a comedian, poet and storyteller who shot to fame with her hit show “Good Grief”, which blendied humour, heartbreak and insight with its exploration of the strange and hilarious ways we survive trauma.
Aoife Dunne grew up in Galway, the second oldest of two girls and two boys. Her parents separated when she was 14 years old. By the age of 23 she was an aspiring actress having attended the same Galway drama school as Nicola Coughlan. Then the unthinkable happened while she was back packing through South America. Her mother died suddenly.
Aoife’s life was thrown into turmoil and she returned to Kinvarra to mourn her mother’s passing and assume her role as head of the family. It was not until more than a decade later that she would find a new calling as a comedian through the telling of that very story. It’s been quite the journey but today Claire wants to explore a different sort of journey.
Because according to Aoife, a major turning point in her life came in Brazil when she was 35 and she had a profound psychedelic experience with ayahuasca. So Claire’s never been on a psychedelic journey, but Aoife Dunne has…
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Claire's guest is Mentalist, magician and hypnotist– Keith Barry.
For most of us our experience of hypnotism doesn’t go far beyond watching the likes of Paul McKenna on the TV back in the day or seeing your mate doing something mad on stage during Freshers Week.
Those are examples of stage hypnosis but hypnosis is also used for therapeutic purposes in what is known as hypnotherapy.
For the lay person the whole area is one that is shrouded in intrigue, suspicion and sometimes controversy.
But it’s something Claire has always been fascinated by, at a distance.
In this episode Claire speak with Keith Barry.
He is a multi award winning entertainer and magician with a Merlin Award and a James Joyce Award to his name.
And hypnotism has always played a central role in his outstanding career.
Indeed he is probably the world’s foremost TV hypnotist.
Can he hypnotise Claire?
Email the podcast on never@newstalk.com