Madhouse

In June 2023, I was asked to record a new audiobook and I was thrilled when I saw the author’s name. He’s been a staple of Irish TV, radio and the comedy scene for years and has now written his autobiography.

PJ Gallagher bares all to tell us his life story, a story of adoption, of growing up in his parents’ north Dublin pub surrounded by the local barflies, and of sharing a house with six mental-health patients whom his mother took under her wing when a local institution closed down. All of this gives rise to the book’s title and alludes perhaps to PJ’s humourous take on the world and his willingness to take it as it comes. But he also talks about his own mental health issues, how he faced up to them, and how he has accepted them as part of his life, encouraging others in the process to be kind to themselves and not feel any shame about their own mental health concerns.

PJ really was a joy to record — a quiet, down-to-earth sort: kind, modest, friendly and completely unaffected by his decades of success. And his audiobook read was impressive: heartfelt and suitably dramatic, as though the whole narrative was one long, engaging stand-up routine.

Madhouse was written and read by PJ Gallagher. The audiobook was commissioned by Gray Eveleigh at Penguin Random House UK and was recorded and produced by myself at bitsixteen studios limited in Dublin back in July. It was released on the 26th of October 2023.