PJ Gallagher is a comedian, actor, and radio presenter. The 48-year-old starred in the RTE show Naked Camera, where his characters included Jake Stevens, and in 2013, he made a hidden camera show called Trojan Donkey for Channel 4. In 2016, he featured in the hit film The Young Offenders and later played a school principal in a TV adaptation.
Gallagher, who lives in Clontarf, presents Morning Glory on Radio Nova with Jim McCabe every weekday morning.
What did you learn about money when you were growing up?
That there’s no right thing to do – you can save it or spend it, but either way you lose. If you save it, you miss out on the craic, and if you spend it, then you’ve nothing left for later. The best thing to do is to try and ignore it as best as you can!
What’s the most expensive place you’ve ever visited?
Paris. The Champs-Elysees in particular. Buying a coffee there was five quid at the counter, but you walk ten feet and sit in the chair and suddenly it’s seven quid, and if you sit in the seat outside it’s ten quid. And you haven’t even left the establishment.
I remember walking around Paris panicking because I thought the Metro was going to be like €100. I think I starved myself for about three days.
Have you ever seen anyone spend money in a way that shocked you?
Yeah, absolutely everybody in the Celtic Tiger. My poor friend was signing forms to buy his house the day in 2008 that [the US Federal Housing Finance Agency seized] Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (to prevent its collapse).
As he was signing, he was saying, ‘I wonder what that’s all about?’ And everything just deflated.
What’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?
My car. Which is unfortunate because I never use it, I never sit in it, and I never take it anywhere.
I used to use it to bring my Ma to hospital appointments once a month or so and then occasionally to come (to Radio Nova). It was as big a waste of money as my friend with his house, now that I think of it.
Do you still carry cash?
Never. I don’t even know what it looks like anymore. It just blows my mind that anybody does. I haven’t used an ATM in years. It’s all about Revolut for me: when I meet someone who doesn’t have Revolut now, it’s like someone saying they’ve never heard of the internet.
What was your biggest financial mistake?
The amount of money I’ve spent on motorbikes over the years is outrageous. Some people look at it as a mistake – I look at it as having a collection of emergency vehicles.
There’s four of them. One of them is in the house and doesn’t work and the other three are working fine and I’m waiting for them to turn into ornaments as well.
Are you a spender or a saver?
I’m a little bit of both. I was always a saver until very recently, and then I had to get the front of the house done and suddenly I was a spender.
But I’ve always spent what I have: I’m not a getting-into-debt spender. Although I do hope I die in debt.
What was your biggest career mistake?
Taking Jake Stevens to America. I mean he was hard enough to understand in Ireland, never mind in the States.
It was the weirdest TV show ever made. I’m also the only person to ever have their own show on Channel 4 that nobody saw. I don’t think even the executives in Channel 4 saw it.
What was your best-paid gig?
My first DVD, when DVDs were still a thing. The DVD was of two nights at Vicar Street and I essentially got a year’s wages for it.
Unfortunately, it’s long, long, long gone.