MIND CAKE
The newsletter that's slightly more helpful than doing nothing
🍰 This week: The Mac. The Moustache. The Man.
I went to Maryhill. I knocked on a door.
And Michael Redmond, Father Stone from Father Ted, cult comedy legend, TikTok alien theorist appeared, put the kettle on, and told me things I genuinely wasn't expecting.
This is one of those episodes I came out of thinking: that was something special.
-Lee & Paul
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A lot of people say to me ... get out of my garden."
— Michael Redmond
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Michael Redmond appeared in Father Ted. He's never watched it. When someone wheeled out a television at a gig in Glasgow and showed the whole thing without warning, he had to sit there, no remote control, no escape, hating every minute while everyone around him laughed.
He's 75 now. Lives in Maryhill. Goes for a cycle if it's sunny. Posts about aliens on TikTok. And is one of the funniest people Lee has ever sat across from.
But this episode isn't really about Father Ted.
It's about:
- Burning out after ten years on the London comedy circuit and not quite knowing what to do next
- The garden gag ... described by Stewart Lee as the greatest opening line in British comedy and why Michael knew he'd never top it
- Joe Pasquale, his son, and a joke that passed through one family like an heirloom that wasn't theirs
- Dermot Morgan, who could never sit still, never switch off, and died at 45 days after filming the last episode of Father Ted
- A boy in Dublin who jumped off his bike with bright eyes and shaking hands because Father Stone was his hero
- Why autistic people around the world see themselves in a priest who just lives in his own world and doesn't quite understand why people don't want him there
- Whether Michael himself might be "on the cusp" of the spectrum
- Aliens, TikTok, Dexter, and whether an alien civilisation landing on Earth would just find a planet full of gobshites
- What contentment looks like at 75 when you still need something to get your teeth into
"He just lives in his own world. Doesn't relate to other people really."
That's Father Stone. But honestly, isn't that all of us sometimes?
🎧 Listen now. The Mac. The Moustache. The Man. with Michael Redmond
🍪 Crumb of Wisdom
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"It becomes your life, basically. You're constantly looking for more."
— Michael Redmond
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🍰 Icing on the Mind Cake
📌 Listener Mission
This week's gentle challenge:
- Think of someone in your life who walks into a room and doesn't quite know what to say. Who feels like they're in their own world. Who doesn't always relate to other people in the way everyone else seems to. Be a bit kinder to them this week. Michael's episode might explain why.
- Share this episode with a Father Ted fan. They'll love it for the stories. They might stay for the rest.
📬 From the Mind Cake Mailbag
Colin on the Katherine Trebeck episode: "Katherine is ace. Positive and hopeful without the twee. A difficult thing to achieve I think." Colin, we completely agree.
Ian McNab on the Tom Radford foraging episode: "It's just filth masquerading as wellness." Ian, we choose to take that as a compliment.
John Hannah - not that John Hannah, the other one, the actual one - on the Jon McCann episode: "I am glad that at last you have finally listened to me!" We listen to you John. We always listen to you.
🍰 Join the tribe. Share and Subscribe.
👋 Closing Bite
Thanks for being here. For listening, sharing, and letting us poke around the fascinating messy world inside your head.
Stay curious. Stay playful.
And in the words of Dr Jan ... don't be a dick.
🍰 Mind Cake: not self-help… just slightly more helpful than doing nothing.
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