retired prison guard Paudie Moloney, known as “The Paudfather” from his breakout role on The Traitors Ireland, is set to showcase his acting chops in Oliver Callan’s annual satirical review, Callan Kicks The Year 2025.
The two-part special, a tradition for six consecutive years, will air on Tuesday, December 30 at 9:30pm and Wednesday, December 31 at 9:20pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Callan,the broadcaster and impressionist,revealed Moloney readily agreed to participate.
“When he turned up on set, it turned out he’d been watching the show every year. He’s a big Callan’s Kicks fan – who knew that retired prison officers loved satire on the establishment,” Callan laughed.
Callan explained that Moloney will play himself in a sketch inspired by The Traitors, but with a twist. “Rather than spotting traitors, it’s a group of tenants trying to spot landlords among them, and one of the contestants is Paudie. He was great craic and the man can act.” Callan added, “Paudie is well able to act, he’s better than some of our supporting cast, dare I say.”
the comedian noted that 2025 provided ample material for satire, stating, “the only way you can review messy years…is to do it through comedy.” He’d been brainstorming ideas since august, with even more fodder emerging during production.
From the Presidential race to the Eoin Hayes scandal, Trump’s Tariffs and the Bezos wedding, the Co Monaghan native said there was “plenty to skewer.” He recalled the unexpected turn the Presidential election took. “Everyone said it will be the most boring election ever – there’s only three people in it. And it was by far the most bananas we’ve ever had.”
Callan playfully described the winning candidate: “If you told someone outside of Ireland – a woman who did keepy-uppies won the presidential election, why did they select her? Because she did keepy-uppies! Maybe they liked her policy? No, they hate all the mad lefty things that she said. But in Ireland, we love the fact that she was consistent. And when people said, ‘That’s a mad thing you’ve been saying, it’s quite mad, isn’t it?’ She goes, ‘No, I still beleive in that mad thing. Now here’s a football, watch me do 10 in a row and own some kids on a basketball court’. And I went – this is the woman who needs to represent this nation. And we haven’t seen her as!”
Callan, who quipped that “everyone’s a target, even if it’s to my enormous detriment,” also highlighted the challenges of perfecting his impressions. He plays Móglaí Bap in a new sketch, emphasizing the importance of nailing the Belfast accent. “Getting those Belfast-isms really accurate was very crucial.” He also noted the difficulty of capturing Elon Musk’s unique vocal patterns. “He’s got t
