Felispeaks and Tolü Makay: African-Irish duo build on Tommy Tiernan Show success 

“We were both up for the whole night, we were like ‘what is going on?’ It was really surprising but amazing to be so well-received. We were very happy.” 

Pondering on why they made such a connection with viewers at home, the 25-year-old says the authenticity of her friendship with Makay shone through in their interaction on the show.

“I think we were really genuine, we were being ourselves, demonstrating friendship and vulnerability and fun. It came at a time when everyone wanted to have the chats, have a light moment and that is probably why we resonated with people.”

 Their appearance on the show also proved to be a catalyst for a new creative venture for the pair, who have been friends since they were teenagers.

“We were talking in the dressing room before we went on, and one of the producers was like, ‘you guys should start your own show’. After we saw everyone’s reaction, it pushed us further, and we thought maybe we should do our own thing on camera. It was really surprising how much people fell in love with our friendship. It made us realise that what sounded so impossible was within our grasp, and that was really cool.”

 The result is The Tolü and Feli Show, which will be available as a podcast on Spotify and also in video format on YouTube.

“We wanted it to be more like a chat show. The first time people saw us, they got to engage with us visually, seeing the laughs, the fun and the jokes. It was important to keep that energy. Also, Spotify is a space, where if you are used to our faces, and you can already predict our expressions, you can walk around getting your groceries and listen to us chat your ears off. It’s nice to have both options. We wanted to honour the memory of how everybody met us,” says Olusanya.

The flexibility of being freelance creatives and having the ability to bypass traditional media outlets was also an advantage in getting the show up and running so quickly.

“We took the reins of the opportunity and just ran with it. It is pretty much self-produced by a small team. We are so excited that we are getting to play with the idea. That is the fun thing about being a creative, you get to experiment and create if you have any other creators around you.”

 Olusanya moved from Nigeria to Ireland as a child, and grew up in Longford town before going on to study at Maynooth, Co Kildare, where she still lives. She is involved in many fields of creative endeavour, from spoken-word poetry to theatre and film.

“I always loved English and poetry. At school, I just nerded out and thoroughly enjoyed it,” she says.

It is fitting that as a trailblazer for a new generation of poets, she gets to make her own mark on the minds of young people, with her poem For Our Mothers featuring on the Leaving Cert curriculum.

“That is incredible, I still haven’t gotten over that. It is exhilarating and also funny, because I know how the Leaving Cert goes and so now the students have an extra poet to hate. Which is fine with me because they can always slide into my DMs and ask me why have I done this to them,” she says.

Olusanya says spoken word poetry is a burgeoning art form in Ireland, ripe for experimentation.

“The community is primed for spoken word poetry. We are really excited about the different ways we can share words and engage with words. It is a fresh time, when we are mixing music and poetry and vocals and theatrical elements, fusing all of that. Everything is changing and so is how we present poetry.” 

As well as opening up conversations around poetry, Olusanya, Makay and the emerging generation of creative talent in Ireland are finding other new ways of expressing themselves. She says The Tolü and Feli Show, which has an initial run of one season comprising ten episodes, will highlight the different ways we can engage and communicate with another in a changing Ireland.

“In general, the show is about demonstrating and discussing vulnerability and encouraging the audience in the ways and means of being vulnerable with those around them. We will be discussing topics from friendship to trauma to toxicity and entrepreneurship. We are showing what sharing can look like with people that is us — showing vulnerability with our bodies, with our expressions. 

"The show is also trying to reduce the stigma around saying ‘I don’t know’ when you really don’t know. It is about allowing personal experiences, empathy and our true emotions to shine. We want the show to bring people lots of joy, lots of laughs, lots of emotions and lots to chew on and think about. Hopefully it doesn’t feel like we are some faraway unattainable type of women, that we feel near and close when we are speaking.”

 Olusanya says she also hopes the show will give people an insight into black Irish identity and the range of different experiences it holds.

“What people can expect to learn is that we are not a monolith, we are not all the same, we all have our own stories to tell — that Tolü and I, even though we share a friendship, we don’t necessarily share an identity and that there is so much to both of us.” 

As for the future, Olusanya has plenty of plans and ambitions.

“I have a big wish list but the scary thing about wish lists is that once I say them in the air now, they can come tumbling down the road. That was what happened with the leaving cert thing — I tweeted about how much I would like to be on the leaving cert and nine months later, it happened. It’s really scary. I feel like one of the luckiest people in the world. 

"That is something about entrepreneurship that I am learning, is that you can prepare everything but you really need a good dash of luck and other people to believe in you. I think I have had a lot of that and I am so grateful that in every point of my journey that I have had at least one person who believed in me. I am excited about being the kind of poet that can’t be boxed and to keep surprising my audience.”

• The first episode of The Tolü and Feli show is available on YouTube and Spotify now