Radio
The Captain is a radio comedy about a plucky Irish oceanographic research ship whose captain is more interested in seeking Adventure than any of the boring science stuff he’s meant to be overseeing. Written and directed by Diarmuid O’Brien and Conor O’Toole. Starring Conor O’Toole, Alison Spittle and Paul Timoney.
Recorded by Rachel Ní Chuinn. Music by Bobby Ahern of No Monster Club.
First broadcast on Ocean FM in County Sligo. Funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the television license fee.
You can listen on iTunes* or on your android podcast app! Just search ‘The Captain’ or ‘O’Toole Captain’ if that isn’t working. If it’s not in app’s database yet you can add the RSS manually by inputting http://conorotoole.com/feed/captain [If you are listening on iTunes, and feel compelled to give the show a good review, that would be very kind of you. It allegedly makes a HUGE difference.]
Episode 1: Incident at Rockall!
The Scholar discovers that Rockall, that disputed gasfield-rich rock in the North Atlantic, is hollow and contains a secret undersea colony of Irish people exiled in the 60s by popular supervillain Eamon de Valera.
Guest starring Tara Flynn, Donnacha O’Brien, Giles Brody and Rachel Ní Chuinn.
Episode 2: Raise the Lucitania!
After accidentally wrecking a high-tech unmanned submarine, our heroes decide to take the world’s very first submarine, the Fenian Ram, out of mothballs in a bid to finally solve the mystery of the sinking of the Lusitania. This does not go down well with the Royal Navy.
Guest starring Stephen Colfer, Teresa Coyne and Simon Mulholland.
Episode 3: Whale Adventure!
While trying to set up a whalesong relay device (so a lonely and endangered fin whale can find a mate,) the Scholar comes across a mysterious ghost ship about to be blown out of the water by an American carrier fleet.
Guest Starring Jim Elliott, Colin Chadwick, Ruth Hunter and Rachel Ní Chuinn.
Praise for The Captain from the Irish Times:
New Podcast Of The Week: The Captain
“A home-grown audio-comedy, starring comic Conor O’Toole, about the crew of the LE Scholar, a ship running off the coast of Sligo. It opens with a catchy, tongue-in-cheek theme song which took me utterly by surprise and sets the scene for a warm and brilliantly weird little series. Each role is played with sincerity, enough that it feels a bit like The Life Aquatic on air, but also playfully enough that things don’t get too dry.
It feels like it might be from a different time of radio comedy, replete with neatly timed vocal effects (keep an ear out for Mr McCabe tuning in and out) – there’s a little bit of the original Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy radio show about it: the form lends itself perfectly to weird happenings and escapism, and the sound design really provides for that.
This pilot episode involves an adventure into Rockall, a subterranean 1960s Irish town (it doesn’t have motor vehicles, or Spars, but it does have hipsters) – and features Tara Flynn as the Postmistress, who’s sincerity in her slightly terrifying role is very, very funny. Here’s hoping that the three brief episodes currently online aren’t the only adventures of the Scholar that we get to listen in to.”
Sorry for your Troubles is a new sitcom from Giles Brody starring Edwin Sammon, Phillipa Dunne, Neil Molloy, Colin Chadwick and Hannah Mamalis.
Produced by Conor O’Toole. Music by Brian Kelly (So Cow/Half Forward Line).
Made for Galway Bay FM and funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
You can listen on iTunes* or on your android podcast app! Just search ‘Sorry for your Troubles’. If it’s not in app’s database yet you can add the RSS manually by inputting http://sundaysermonpodcast.com/feed/sorryforyourtroubles/ [If you are listening on iTunes, and feel compelled to give the show a good review, that would be very kind of you. It allegedly makes a HUGE difference.]
Episode 1
In the first episode Tom (Neil Molloy) has to bury an old schoolmaster who stole his watch, Caitlin (Philippa Dunne) tries to worm her way into the musical society while Willy (Edwin Sammon) attempts to crack into the chamber of commerce.
Episode 2
The gang deal with a cash flow problem, Tom’s gambling problem and accidentally making a nun up to look like Lou Reed.
Episode 3
In episode 3 the gang have to bury a famous dog known for running onto the pitch during important matches.