About Us
Leviathan
NOUN 1 (in biblical use) a sea monster. 2 a very large or powerful thing.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
According to us, Leviathan means a big night out, with big thinkers, big questions, big laughs and big drinks (mineral or alcohol - it’s up to you). Each month we take a big topic, like Morality and Money or Leadership, and gather a panel of the biggest and best - politicians, business people, academics and writers - to hash it out on stage.
Past contributors include Michael O’Leary, Naomi Klein, Sebastian Barry and Dara O’Briain.
Created in 2003 by Naoise Nunn and hosted by world renowned economist David McWilliams, the audience is encouraged to pitch in and question the panel.
Just in case this still sounds too Questions and Answers for you Leviathan boasts the satirical and musical talents of Paddy Cullivan plus live stand up and short film.
Leviathan; Political Cabaret; unique, cultural and been around since 2003.
Creator - Naoise Nunn
Naoise Nunn is from County Kilkenny. He studied politics in Queen’s University, Belfast; worked on the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival and managed the Apres Match TV comedy trio for six years. He also spent four years as a reporter in the Debates Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas and worked as a producer on I, Keano the musical. He was executive director of the Libertas think tank until September 2008 and is now an independent political consultant. He founded Leviathan: Political Cabaret in December 2003.
Presenter - David McWilliams
David is an economist, writer, broadcaster and author. He writes a regular column for the Irish Independent and Sunday Business Post.
David McWilliams’ book “The Pope’s Children” was the best selling Irish non-fiction book in 2006, spending 52 consecutive weeks in the top five of the bestsellers. To date it has sold close to 100,000 copies and was described by the Sunday Tribune as “the definitive guide to the Ireland we live in”.
David has been a regular on Irish television and radio since his award winning “Agenda” current affairs programme began on TV3 in 2000. Agenda received with both critical and commercial success and was rated the “best current affairs programme on Irish TV” by the Sunday Times and Irish Independent for four years in a row.
He also launched Newstalk 106 in 2004 with the David McWilliams Breakfast Show. For two years, he hosted The Big Bite - a current affairs chat show - on RTE 1.
David has interviewed some of the most influential and thought provoking characters of our age, from Naomi Klein to Henry Kissinger to Mikhail Gorbachev to Hillary Clinton.
He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and the College of Europe Bruges, Belgium and before moving into writing and broadcasting he spent ten years in banking. First as an economist with the Irish Central Bank, where he helped draft the Irish Submission to the Maastricht Treaty and advised the authorities during the 1992-93 exchange rate crisis.
He then moved to investment banking with UBS - European’s largest bank - where he was appointed the youngest Director ever at the age of 27. He was the first economist to predict the 1990s boom in Ireland which later became known as the “Celtic Tiger” in a 1994 in-depth report on Ireland, its economy and its prospects. He traveled extensively in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, devising bank strategy in both regions.
He moved from UBS to BNP where he was Head of Emerging Markets Research.
During his time there, the Emerging markets team was the most profitable unit of the Banque Nationale de Paris world-wide.
Satirical Musician - Paddy Cullivan
Paddy Cullivan is a writer, musician and satirist. An NCAD graduate in Visual Communication, he worked with Paul Woodfull and Sean Moncrieff in the former’s ‘Stew’ the latter’s ‘Good Grief Moncrieff’ and has worked with the International Comedy Improv Group. As Clint Velour, lead singer with the Camembert Quartet, he has made a huge impact on Irish cultural life since the start of the millennium, working with Ryan Tubridy on his chat show ‘Tubridy Tonight’ and being a regular presence on Newstalk and RTE Radio 1 with Joe Duffy. He has written a satirical column for the Sunday Tribune Business section and recently scripted the Irish Film and Television Awards 2009. The only thing he can’t do is get his dog to walk backwards.
He started his association with Leviathan in 2006 and has been a constant presence ever since. He constructs totally original satirical and musical shows for each Leviathan based on the subject matter of the debate and has been described by David McWilliams as a ‘national treasure’. He’s not going to argue with this, seeing as David has been right about everything else
Associate Producer - Amanda Brown
Amanda has ten years experience as a reporter and producer for RTE, the BBC and NPR, both in radio and television.
She is a frequent contributor on TV3’s Midday show as well as occasional appearances on Dave Fanning’s radio show.
Having left University with a degree in Media Production she obtained a job researching and doing on air comedy late nights with Adrian Mills at Talk Radio (now TalkSport) in London.
After a stint producing Peter Hitchens and Derek Draper under the management of ex-The Sun boss, Kelvin McKenzie, she fled for a quieter life to Ireland and found herself researching The Last Word With Eamon Dunphy.
After contributing her rendition of Posh Spice to Navan Man and Gift Grub for a couple of years she decided it was best to move on to Newstalk and the gentler side of life producing Dara O’Brien on The Flip Side.
Needing more of a challenge she then moved to the Breakfast Show with David McWilliams.
In 2003 she went freelance and reported for BBC Radio 4, The World Service, NPR in the US, and 5-7 Live RTE Radio 1. She eventually ended up back at RTE first helping to set up Ryan Tubridy’s show on Radio 1 and then with David McWilliams working on air and off on the Big Bite.
Between 2003 and 2008 Amanda has written book reviews, features and opinion for The Sunday Tribune, the Irish Independent, and the Evening Herald.
Today she divides her time between cleaning yoghurt off the walls and furniture and producing Leviathan.
