Made In Chaos with Ryan Curtis

A Working-Class Poet Who Can Perform for Thousands But Struggles to Say How He Feels. Emmett O'Brien on Grief, Masculinity & Finding a Voice.
Emmett O'Brien is a poet, actor and storyteller from Cabra who's built a reputation for putting into words what so many people feel but never quite know how to say. He started writing at 13, after a 14-year-old friend was killed in a hit-and-run and a counsellor suggested he find a way to express it. What began as rap became spoken word, and it's carried him from ten people in a basement to stages across the world.
Ryan sits down with Emmett for an honest, wide-ranging conversation about creativity, class, masculinity and mental health.
What we get into:
Growing up in Cabra and why he was the "outlandish" kid
Starting to write at 13 to deal with the death of his friend
How rap became spoken word, and the artists who shaped him
The working-class accent as identity, and being paid to write but not to speak
Why he can perform for thousands but can't talk about his own feelings
The one-man play about hitting rock bottom that nobody knew was about him
Grief, his ma's passing, and the moment his emotions finally opened up
Masculinity, the manosphere, and what a man actually is
Why it's good men capable of violence, who choose not to use it, who matter
Imposter syndrome, Damien Dempsey, Kelly Harrington and self-doubt
Calculated luck, the 10,000 hours, and why sacrifice is the whole game
Surrounding yourself with genuine people, not yes-men
Ryan Curtis is a former Irish MMA fighter who was paralysed from the neck down and told he would never walk again. Made in Chaos exists to platform guests who've turned adversity into hard-earned wisdom worth sharing.
Follow: @madeinchaospod | @chaoscurtis
If anything in this episode resonates with you, support is available in Ireland. Samaritans are free and available 24/7 on 116 123, and Text About It can be reached by texting 50808.
🖊️ Sponsored by The Ink Factory, Temple Bar, Ireland's highest rated tattoo studio. theinkfactory.ie | @theinkfactory

He Built One of Ireland's Best-Known Estate Agencies, Lost Almost Everything in the Crash, and Came Back. Ray Cooke on Housing, Money & Sacrifice.
Whether you're trying to buy your first home, stuck renting, investing, or you're just convinced the whole system is broken, you have an opinion on the housing market. Ray Cooke has watched it all from the inside. He built one of Ireland's most recognisable estate agency brands, survived the 2008 crash when he couldn't afford to feed himself, and has seen firsthand how policy, interest rates and supply shape thousands of lives.
Ryan sits down with Ray for an honest, no-spin conversation that goes well beyond house prices.
What we get into:
Growing up in Rathcoole, dyslexia, and why hard work became his "superpower"
Working in the pub at 11 and the money habit that shaped everything
Setting up his business in 2005, then watching the 2008 crash nearly destroy it
Viewing one house 82 times before it sold, and living on beans on toast
The bank manager who ripped up his business plan three times and saved him
Why 2008 won't happen again, and how lending has completely changed
The truth about estate agents, ghost bidding and why they get so much abuse
Whether the housing crisis is really the agents' fault, or the government's
His honest, blunt take on sacrifice, saving and getting on the ladder
What he'd change first if he woke up as housing minister
How to build wealth starting with 20 grand
The biggest money mistake ordinary people make without realising
Ryan Curtis is a former Irish MMA fighter who was paralysed from the neck down and told he would never walk again. Made in Chaos exists to platform guests who've turned adversity into hard-earned wisdom worth sharing.
Follow: @madeinchaospod | @chaoscurtis
🖊️ Sponsored by The Ink Factory, Temple Bar — Ireland's highest rated tattoo studio. theinkfactory.ie | @theinkfactory

One of the Greatest to Ever Wear the Dublin Jersey — But This Isn't About Football. Philly McMahon on Ballymun, His Brother, and What Really Shaped Him.
Philly McMahon is considered one of the greatest Gaelic footballers to ever play for Dublin. But behind the medals and the All-Ireland titles is a far more interesting story: growing up in working-class Ballymun, losing his brother John to addiction, becoming a father, and spending his life trying to understand what really drives people from communities like his.
Ryan sits down with Philly for a wide-ranging, honest conversation that goes nowhere near a highlight reel.
What we get into:
Growing up in the Ballymun flats and the community that shaped him
How systemic decisions, not just individual choices, ghettoised whole areas
The hero's journey, slaying the dragon, and why hardship is where the growth is
The story of the footballer he transformed by sending him to feed the homeless
Losing his brother John to addiction, and what his mother taught him about love and connection
Why "tough love" often isn't the answer, and what actually helps someone struggling
Fashion, identity and status in working-class communities
Parenting: how much hardship to pass on, and how much to protect them from
Why our prisons are full of people from a handful of postcodes, and what that says about class
Adverse childhood experiences and how much of our lives trace back to childhood
What Philly hopes people remember about him, and why it isn't football
Ryan Curtis is a former Irish MMA fighter who was paralysed from the neck down and told he would never walk again. Made in Chaos exists to platform guests who've turned adversity into hard-earned wisdom worth sharing.
Follow: @madeinchaospod | @chaoscurtis
🖊️ Sponsored by The Ink Factory, Temple Bar — Ireland's highest rated tattoo studio. theinkfactory.ie | @theinkfactory

He's 23 and Has Spent Years on Dublin's Streets Helping the Homeless — Not Because It's His Job, But Because He Chose To.
Everyone has walked past someone sleeping rough. Most of us glance, wonder, and keep walking. Brandon O'Connor spends his nights sitting beside those people — hearing their stories and watching addiction, trauma, kindness and hope all exist on the same street.
Brandon founded Dublin Homeless Awareness at just 16, as a transition year school project. Years later, his team run first-aid patrols, missing-person searches, river-safety patrols and mental health interventions across the city. In this episode, Ryan sits down with him for an honest, eye-opening conversation about what really happens on Dublin's streets — and what needs to change.
What we get into:
Why most people develop addictions after becoming homeless, not before
How Dublin Homeless Awareness started as a school project and grew into a frontline service
The reality of night patrols: overdoses, mental health crises and river rescues
The systemic gaps that leave people with nowhere to go
Why homelessness can happen to almost anyone — including nurses, guards and charity workers
Brandon's own story: growing up with a mother who was homeless and addicted
What frontline work does to your own mental health, and how the team protects each other
The small acts of kindness that people never forget
What every one of us can do differently when we walk past someone sleeping rough
Ryan Curtis is a former Irish MMA fighter who was paralysed from the neck down and told he would never walk again. Made in Chaos exists to platform guests who've turned adversity into hard-earned wisdom worth sharing.
Follow: @madeinchaospod | @chaoscurtis
To support or report a concern, find Dublin Homeless Awareness on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
🖊️ Sponsored by The Ink Factory, Temple Bar — Ireland's highest rated tattoo studio. theinkfactory.ie | @theinkfactory

He Won Olympic Silver in Beijing. Two Years Later He Hit Rock Bottom. Kenny Egan on Winning, Addiction & Finding Himself Again.

Kenny Egan has one of the greatest stories in Irish sport, a ten-time senior champion, the only man ever to win ten consecutive senior titles, and an Olympic silver medallist in Beijing 2008. But once the gloves came off and the homecoming faded, Kenny faced a very different fight.
Ryan sits down with Kenny for one of the most honest and important conversations Made in Chaos has had, about what happens when the biggest win of your life doesn't fix everything, the loss of identity that followed, the two-year spiral into addiction, and the long road into recovery that he now values more than any medal.
What we get into:
​Growing up one of five brothers in Clondalkin and how boxing found him
​Losing three All-Ireland finals in a row and nearly quitting at 13
​The coach who told him he was a "2 out of 10", and how that rebuilt him
​Gary Keegan drawing a line on the gym floor and changing Irish boxing forever
​Beijing 2008, five near-flawless fights and an Olympic silver medal
​Why winning the medal sent him from zero to rock bottom in two years
​The loss of identity: "Who am I now?"
​Walking away from a 10-year professional contract while in active addiction
​The night his mam walked into a pub and said "Come home, son"
​The day he got sober, 12th of August 2010, and never looked back
​Becoming a psychotherapist and what real purpose looks like now
​Why his sobriety means more to him than any Olympic medal
​His upcoming charity fight for the Irish Cancer Society in memory of his late mother
Ryan Curtis is a former Irish MMA fighter who was paralysed from the neck down and told he would never walk again. Made in Chaos exists to platform guests who've turned adversity into hard-earned wisdom worth sharing.
Follow: @madeinchaospod | @chaoscurtis
🖊️ Sponsored by The Ink Factory, Temple Bar, Ireland's highest rated tattoo studio. theinkfactory.ie | @theinkfactory