Barry Glendenning: Chancing his way from Birr to Brixton

After leaving the Carlton cinema one afternoon, college dropout, Barry Glendenning entered a shop to buy a pack of chewing gum when an issue of Hot Press caught his eye. If he had not purchased the magazine in Dublin city centre back in the early nineties, he may never have ended up deputy sports editor of The Guardian today.

Barry Glendenning left his native town of Birr, Co. Offaly to attend Blackrock College.  During his time in the prestigious secondary school, his passion for sports grew but his ambition to succeed in education began to wither.  Nonetheless, he gained a place in an Arts degree at University College of Dublin.  Lacking drive in this specific area, he decided to leave the course prematurely.  Following his departure from UCD, Glendenning signed on the dole.  Not exactly the life he envisioned as he left Offaly as a young teenager.

Months later, new issue of Hot Press in his hands, Glendenning turned each page carefully, reading the content within.  He then noticed a competition that gave the reader an opportunity to submit a 300 word review.  Slightly irregular topic of choice, Barry chose to write a ‘review’ of the mass Pope John Paul II said in front of a four million large congregation in Manila, Philippines.

The article was selected as the winner of the Hot Press competition, which came as a surprise to Barry who admits that Liam Fay – now a good friend of his – article “was a brilliantly written album review of the Tinder Sticks.  He really knew what he was talking about, whereas I was just taking the piss out of the Pope really.”

Although included in Hot Press magazine, Glendenning felt the need to improve his writing skills.  He chose to attend Coláiste Dhúlaigh in 1991 and described his time in the college as beneficial.  During the year of his Journalism course, he contacted Hot Press for work experience, which they had no issue granting him.

Gaining his diploma from college, an opening became available at Hot Press.  Graham Linehan had just left to London so there was a vacancy of sorts at the magazine.  An interview with Eddie Izzard became available and they needed someone to interview him.  Barry gladly accepted the role as it was the English comics gig in The Olympia that made him fall in love with stand-up comedy.  With his foot firmly in the door of the Hot Press offices, Glendenning was now the go to guy for comedy interviews.

It is clear that Barry enjoyed his time at Hot Press, which did not pay well but had its benefits.  “It was quite a shambolic operation.  How we managed to cobble together this magazine once a fortnight was always impressive,” said Glendenning.

With a keen interest in comedy, Barry decided to attempt stand up.  Using a mix of his own written material and that of more obscure comics, his early gigs were a relative success.  After appearing on stage as comic on less than ten occasions in Dublin, he performed at the Edinburgh Festival against a then relatively unknown emerging talent, Peter Kay.

Glendenning is a regular contributor to the Football Weekly podcast

Glendenning arrived in London in 1999; aged 24, believing that he had the ability to break the British comedy circuit. It proved to be a long process.  Difficult to get two gigs less than three months apart, it was hard to gain much momentum.  At the time, Glendenning continued to write a column titled ‘London Calling’ for Hot Press, which was his sole income at times.  Eventually, he began to be paid for comedy gigs after a frustrating period in his life.  He was now making more from stand up than journalism and appeared at the Comedy Café in East London on multiple occasions.  In the venue, whoever the audience selected as their favourite comic of the night, would be granted a gig the following week.  Glendenning was selected as the best comedian on a night that also featured Jimmy Carr.  “Jimmy [Carr] would be recording his performance and taking notes.  Whereas, I would just be steaming drunk.”  Said Barry, reflecting back on how Carr became the success that he is today.

Gaining a reputation on the comedy circuit, Glendenning was booked to support Brendan Byrne on a four-show tour in England.  It was during his time with the Australian comic when he felt that his career in comedy would not continue for much longer.  Before a gig at Exeter University, the two comedians began to drink copious amounts of alcohol before they went on stage.  After a somewhat – but not entirely surprising – disappointing show, they continued to drink until the early hours when they found themselves in a lake, chest deep in water.  “Brendan ended up wading around a lake in Exeter because we decided it would be a good idea to kidnap a swan and bring it back to our hotel.  Luckily we were unable to apprehend the swan but Brendan managed to cut his foot on some glass in the lake so we had to get him some medical attention.” Barry recalls the event of the night.

Struggling for income, Glendenning’s housemate, Madeline, provided him with the opportunity to break back into journalism.  Both friends who shared an apartment in Clapham, Madeline worked for the Observer and noticed an advertising which requested staff for the website launch at The Guardian.  Barry applied and got the job,  another event which he simply puts down to luck.

Despite being an avid sports fan, Glendenning claims that he does  not take football as seriously as others do; “Football doesn’t seem to arouse my passion as much as an inter-mediate hurling match between Birr and Clareen”.  Nevertheless, the Sunderland supporter has heavily featured in the ever-popular podcast, Football Weekly.  Much of the praise for the show’s success deserves to go to host, James Richardson, he believes; “myself and my Dad used to watch his Gazetta show on Channel 4 when I was 17 and my Dad said to me, ‘you’d want to get yourself a job like that.  That lad is made’”

Modest, Glendenning claims that he strives to be like Marina Hyde – who he believes is the best writer at The Guardian – and Barney Ronay, “who’s like P.G Wodehouse, it depresses me when I read his columns.”

15 years since he left for England, Glendenning does not forget his roots and says; “Niall Stokes taught me more than you could learn in 20 years of journalism school”.  Currently enjoying life in London, he still wants to return to Ireland one day to live among his family and friends once again.

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