Viral comedians Mary-Claire Fitzpatrick and Dympna Little joke that a level of internet fame means some people recognise them – well, sort of – in everyday life.
The duo realised their interactions with the public were often very similar, usually involving someone saying, “I think that’s herself, is it maybe? No, maybe that’s the other one I’m thinking of,” Mary-Claire quips. Those encounters came back into focus when they were thrashing out possible names for their new podcast, and Herself & Herself became the obvious choice.
Now, just over a month in, the pair are delighted with the reaction to the weekly episodes out every Tuesday on the GoLoud app, where they bring their keen observational humour to the big and small dramas of Irish life. This means it oscillates from light and whimsical stories of a farming childhood to the driving test or meeting Brian O’Driscoll (kinda), all with a hefty dose of nostalgia that is entertaining and funny.
At the same time, the pair have a unique and witty take on heavier topics like Mary-Claire’s recent ADHD diagnosis and Dympna’s grief, following the loss of her beloved mother, Lily, last year. All that really resonates with listeners.
While they had met a couple of times, Mary-Claire, who is originally from Rathdowney in Co Laois, and Dympna, from Mullingar in Co Westmeath, didn’t really know each other prior to their podcast – something that is hard to reconcile because they have the easy manner of long-time friends.
Speaking to the duo in Marconi House, the home of Bauer Media and Newstalkand Today FM, it’s clear they are enjoying a career opportunity they hadn’t planned (Dympna initially said no to the podcast offer but relented when Mary-Claire came on board and she suggested her as a co-host), and there is certainly a mutual admiration of each other’s comedic chops.
“We’re having great fun. I think selfishly, I’ve been finding it’s a great outlet online because I play characters in a lot of sketches [@mcluvs2laugh]. I dress up as my dad, so I’m sure Freud would have a field day if he was still with us,” Mary-Claire says, laughing.
“I’ve been taking a great leaf out of Dympna’s book, because the reason I think you’re so funny [@dimplestilskin] is that you’re so unapologetically yourself, and it’s like you’re FaceTiming your friend. So, I’ve been trying to mimic that a little bit more online by just being myself a bit more, rather than hiding behind characters.”
A long-time admirer of Mary-Claire’s comedy, where she is often playing a dad character on the farm, Dympna says, “She’s so funny in person and just in conversation, very, very natural. She’s a naturally funny woman. Aside from the skits, just in chat.”
Asked what they have learned about each other in the short time they have been doing the podcast, Dympna replies instantly that they are “extremely similar, unbelievably similar”. Mary-Claire sums their roles up as “the 80s and 90s versions of each other except I have a few more inches on you, but I suppose I have a few more inches on everybody,” she adds, referring to being almost six foot tall.
Viral comedians turned podcast presenters Mary-Claire Fitzpatrick and Dympna Little pictured on the rooftop terrace of Marconi House in Dublin, where they record the hit podcast Herself & Herself.\ Claire Nash
Culchie influence
Asked if the culchie or midlands influence plays a major role in that, a chuckling Dympna agrees they are 100% culchies and “both mental”. “If I’m not a culchie, I don’t know who is,” Mary-Claire, who grew up on a dairy farm, fires back quick as lightning.
It also shapes the podcast, and to illustrate that, Mary-Claire points out that everything moves at a rapid pace during their conversation. “That’s partly because as Midlands women we speak extremely quickly because we’re trying to get every thought out of our mouths at the same time,” she jokes, adding that in a busy world you should take time out to listen to someone who talks twice as fast as a Dub.
Do they see themselves as comedians, we wonder? Mary-Claire replies in the affirmative, telling Irish Country Living she does stand-up, appearing at Electric Picnic and the Paddy Power Comedy Festival last year. She describes it as a “confidence booster” and an “instant dopamine hit”, which really helps refine your humour. Her ultimate goal is to write a full show.
Interestingly, Dympna doesn’t think she is a comedian. “I am looking into doing the whole stand-up thing though.” Perhaps a Herself & Herself double act could provide the avenue, the Laois half of the duo suggests, and you can certainly see the potential of that idea for the future.
Over the years Mary-Claire explains she has started and stopped the comic videos at different stages in a varied career which has seen her complete a law degree in college, have her own YouTube channel, work as a video editor, in social media marketing and as an RTÉ children’s TV presenter for several years.
“The first farming video I made – my dad had asked me to stand in the gap, you know, and he was shouting instructions for me from about a mile down the field, and I had to sort of interpret it. That was the very first one I did, and it went down well. It started from there,” she recalls.
While Mary-Claire’s dad is not on social media or doesn’t text, she is very much a digital kid, so it’s not surprising that lots of her videos are about that divide.
“When he goes to the local creamery, people might be telling him what I’m up to or my interpretation of what he’s up to, and he gets a kick out of it, but he hasn’t a clue what they’re talking about. I think he’s just happy I’m doing something with my life,” she says, laughing. She is very thankful that her parents are very supportive of everything she does.
Dympna Little and Mary-Claire Fitzpatrick pictured in Marconi House in Dublin after recording another episode of the Herself & Herself podcast.\ Claire Nash
Going viral
A recent video inspired by an incident at her in-laws in Monaghan (who are egg farmers) where an unexpected visitor knocked on the door and was then asked every question under the sun was liked online by Sarah Jessica Parker.
For Dympna, who works as a dental nurse, she calls her videos a “hobby that has got out of control”. Initially she started doing them simply to cheer up her beloved mother, who was grieving the loss of her friend.
Unashamedly honest, she describes herself as an “open book” and is comfortable talking about tougher subjects like grief following the loss of her mother Lily in 2025.
“It’s real. Don’t they say there is comedy in tragedy, and you have to take the laughs where you can sometimes. Dark humour is a coping mechanism as well.
“You can talk about grief and things like that and put a funny twist on it so that it’s not so heavy and you’re still getting the message across. I know people give out about social media, but it’s been very healing for me.”
She finds humour in the most heartbreaking of moments, like when her mother, who did everything for her father, started to prepare him for a time when she wouldn’t be there.
"So, before she died when she could walk, she’d bring him into Aldi and go, “This is where the biscuits are; this is where you know… What’s more heartbreaking is then they moved the aisles, and he couldn’t find them,” she says, smiling.
Mary Claire revealed her ADHD diagnosis online in January in a piece to camera in a bid to raise awareness. It was not about getting a label, she stresses, saying there is more information about how it presents in women now, and there’s a higher ratio of people with ADHD and neurodivergence who gravitate towards creative careers.
Things that others found easy were hugely difficult for her, from school to college to the present day.
“I know it sounds silly, but I cannot make myself do anything unless I know it’s down to the wire,” she explains of how it manifested, bringing “stress to 90” with everything done last minute and resulting in burnout.
“My thoughts race, and I spiral a lot, and I think about the worst-case scenario, and I talk myself out of things an awful lot,” she adds.
“I can only ever do everything at this heightened stress all the time, and it’s trying to manage that and figure out tools and things I can do to work around my brain so that I can make my life a little bit easier and not put myself under tremendous pressure all the time.”
In terms of their ultimate goal for comedy and the podcast, Dympna says: “I’d love to give up the day job, and do this full-time.
For Mary-Claire, having done so many things in her career so far, she’s just enjoying where it takes her at a great time for females in comedy.
Listen to Herself & Herself on the Go Loud platform or wherever you get your podcasts
Viral comedians Mary-Claire Fitzpatrick and Dympna Little joke that a level of internet fame means some people recognise them – well, sort of – in everyday life.
The duo realised their interactions with the public were often very similar, usually involving someone saying, “I think that’s herself, is it maybe? No, maybe that’s the other one I’m thinking of,” Mary-Claire quips. Those encounters came back into focus when they were thrashing out possible names for their new podcast, and Herself & Herself became the obvious choice.
Now, just over a month in, the pair are delighted with the reaction to the weekly episodes out every Tuesday on the GoLoud app, where they bring their keen observational humour to the big and small dramas of Irish life. This means it oscillates from light and whimsical stories of a farming childhood to the driving test or meeting Brian O’Driscoll (kinda), all with a hefty dose of nostalgia that is entertaining and funny.
At the same time, the pair have a unique and witty take on heavier topics like Mary-Claire’s recent ADHD diagnosis and Dympna’s grief, following the loss of her beloved mother, Lily, last year. All that really resonates with listeners.
While they had met a couple of times, Mary-Claire, who is originally from Rathdowney in Co Laois, and Dympna, from Mullingar in Co Westmeath, didn’t really know each other prior to their podcast – something that is hard to reconcile because they have the easy manner of long-time friends.
Speaking to the duo in Marconi House, the home of Bauer Media and Newstalkand Today FM, it’s clear they are enjoying a career opportunity they hadn’t planned (Dympna initially said no to the podcast offer but relented when Mary-Claire came on board and she suggested her as a co-host), and there is certainly a mutual admiration of each other’s comedic chops.
“We’re having great fun. I think selfishly, I’ve been finding it’s a great outlet online because I play characters in a lot of sketches [@mcluvs2laugh]. I dress up as my dad, so I’m sure Freud would have a field day if he was still with us,” Mary-Claire says, laughing.
“I’ve been taking a great leaf out of Dympna’s book, because the reason I think you’re so funny [@dimplestilskin] is that you’re so unapologetically yourself, and it’s like you’re FaceTiming your friend. So, I’ve been trying to mimic that a little bit more online by just being myself a bit more, rather than hiding behind characters.”
A long-time admirer of Mary-Claire’s comedy, where she is often playing a dad character on the farm, Dympna says, “She’s so funny in person and just in conversation, very, very natural. She’s a naturally funny woman. Aside from the skits, just in chat.”
Asked what they have learned about each other in the short time they have been doing the podcast, Dympna replies instantly that they are “extremely similar, unbelievably similar”. Mary-Claire sums their roles up as “the 80s and 90s versions of each other except I have a few more inches on you, but I suppose I have a few more inches on everybody,” she adds, referring to being almost six foot tall.
Viral comedians turned podcast presenters Mary-Claire Fitzpatrick and Dympna Little pictured on the rooftop terrace of Marconi House in Dublin, where they record the hit podcast Herself & Herself.\ Claire Nash
Culchie influence
Asked if the culchie or midlands influence plays a major role in that, a chuckling Dympna agrees they are 100% culchies and “both mental”. “If I’m not a culchie, I don’t know who is,” Mary-Claire, who grew up on a dairy farm, fires back quick as lightning.
It also shapes the podcast, and to illustrate that, Mary-Claire points out that everything moves at a rapid pace during their conversation. “That’s partly because as Midlands women we speak extremely quickly because we’re trying to get every thought out of our mouths at the same time,” she jokes, adding that in a busy world you should take time out to listen to someone who talks twice as fast as a Dub.
Do they see themselves as comedians, we wonder? Mary-Claire replies in the affirmative, telling Irish Country Living she does stand-up, appearing at Electric Picnic and the Paddy Power Comedy Festival last year. She describes it as a “confidence booster” and an “instant dopamine hit”, which really helps refine your humour. Her ultimate goal is to write a full show.
Interestingly, Dympna doesn’t think she is a comedian. “I am looking into doing the whole stand-up thing though.” Perhaps a Herself & Herself double act could provide the avenue, the Laois half of the duo suggests, and you can certainly see the potential of that idea for the future.
Over the years Mary-Claire explains she has started and stopped the comic videos at different stages in a varied career which has seen her complete a law degree in college, have her own YouTube channel, work as a video editor, in social media marketing and as an RTÉ children’s TV presenter for several years.
“The first farming video I made – my dad had asked me to stand in the gap, you know, and he was shouting instructions for me from about a mile down the field, and I had to sort of interpret it. That was the very first one I did, and it went down well. It started from there,” she recalls.
While Mary-Claire’s dad is not on social media or doesn’t text, she is very much a digital kid, so it’s not surprising that lots of her videos are about that divide.
“When he goes to the local creamery, people might be telling him what I’m up to or my interpretation of what he’s up to, and he gets a kick out of it, but he hasn’t a clue what they’re talking about. I think he’s just happy I’m doing something with my life,” she says, laughing. She is very thankful that her parents are very supportive of everything she does.
Dympna Little and Mary-Claire Fitzpatrick pictured in Marconi House in Dublin after recording another episode of the Herself & Herself podcast.\ Claire Nash
Going viral
A recent video inspired by an incident at her in-laws in Monaghan (who are egg farmers) where an unexpected visitor knocked on the door and was then asked every question under the sun was liked online by Sarah Jessica Parker.
For Dympna, who works as a dental nurse, she calls her videos a “hobby that has got out of control”. Initially she started doing them simply to cheer up her beloved mother, who was grieving the loss of her friend.
Unashamedly honest, she describes herself as an “open book” and is comfortable talking about tougher subjects like grief following the loss of her mother Lily in 2025.
“It’s real. Don’t they say there is comedy in tragedy, and you have to take the laughs where you can sometimes. Dark humour is a coping mechanism as well.
“You can talk about grief and things like that and put a funny twist on it so that it’s not so heavy and you’re still getting the message across. I know people give out about social media, but it’s been very healing for me.”
She finds humour in the most heartbreaking of moments, like when her mother, who did everything for her father, started to prepare him for a time when she wouldn’t be there.
"So, before she died when she could walk, she’d bring him into Aldi and go, “This is where the biscuits are; this is where you know… What’s more heartbreaking is then they moved the aisles, and he couldn’t find them,” she says, smiling.
Mary Claire revealed her ADHD diagnosis online in January in a piece to camera in a bid to raise awareness. It was not about getting a label, she stresses, saying there is more information about how it presents in women now, and there’s a higher ratio of people with ADHD and neurodivergence who gravitate towards creative careers.
Things that others found easy were hugely difficult for her, from school to college to the present day.
“I know it sounds silly, but I cannot make myself do anything unless I know it’s down to the wire,” she explains of how it manifested, bringing “stress to 90” with everything done last minute and resulting in burnout.
“My thoughts race, and I spiral a lot, and I think about the worst-case scenario, and I talk myself out of things an awful lot,” she adds.
“I can only ever do everything at this heightened stress all the time, and it’s trying to manage that and figure out tools and things I can do to work around my brain so that I can make my life a little bit easier and not put myself under tremendous pressure all the time.”
In terms of their ultimate goal for comedy and the podcast, Dympna says: “I’d love to give up the day job, and do this full-time.
For Mary-Claire, having done so many things in her career so far, she’s just enjoying where it takes her at a great time for females in comedy.
Listen to Herself & Herself on the Go Loud platform or wherever you get your podcasts
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