Two Dubliners are on a mission to become the biggest podcast in the world – and they have already secured a top-tier guest.
Glen Anderson and Ben Hanlon, hosts of the Back Of The Class podcast, managed to bag an interview with none other than American talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
The American talk show host Oprah Winfrey was in Dublin last week for two nights at the 3Arena, when her friend Gayle King tipped her off that two young Dublin men wanted to interview her for their podcast.
Spotting King outside her Dublin hotel on the afternoon of September 17, Anderson approached King and asked if she knew Oprah Winfrey.
King is a well-known talk show host in her own right and is well-known to audiences as being a long-term friend and colleague of Winfrey; she was able to organise a meeting.
Relaying the almost Hollywood-like story to this publication, Hanlon said getting to interview Winfrey was a whirlwind and came together in a very short space of time.
The chance meeting with King took place at around 1pm; by 7pm, they were being escorted through the hotel by Winfrey’s bodyguard and granted a 10-minute interview slot with a modern television icon.
Winfrey’s talk show aired from 1986 to 2011, and had era-defining interviews with Michael Jackson and Tom Cruise, along with being credited with launching the presidential aspirations of Barack Obama.
Not that Hanlon knew that.
At just 18 years old, Hanlon has no memory of Oprah’s talk show airing, but was informed by his mother that she was a “big deal.”
He did, however, know of Oprah Winfrey’s general reputation for “manifestation,” and Hanlon is a fellow subscriber to the theory.
Hanlon and his friend, Anderson, are two 18-year-olds from Coolock, and are on a mission to become the “biggest podcast in the world.”
@backoftheclasspodcast_1 Class questions w/ Oprah ?? Part 1/4 ?? #oprah #interview #advice #fyp
Advertisement
Before their interview with Oprah Winfrey, they have managed to secure high-profile guests such as Lionel Richie, Dana White, Shaun Ryder, and Michael Flatley.
With the kind of absurd luck and tenacity that would leave an RTÉ producer scrambling, Hanlon said that the last week has marked the most exposure the podcast has ever had, after news of their Winfrey/King escapades were picked up by the American media.
Hanlon said that the podcast was set up in 2024, and that the build-up has been gradual.
“We want to show people what you can achieve if you just believe in yourself.”
As part of their pitch to Oprah Winfrey, the pair said “I know if you met us, you would like us because I’m from the same background as us; we don’t come from money, we don’t come from anything, it’s just a backpack and a dream.”
King told viewers of her CBS show about her encounter with the podcast hosts in Dublin, which has seen more people drawn to the podcast.
Hanlon said the reaction to the whole affair has been “unbelievable” and said they were treating the brush with fame as a “stepping stone” to bigger and better things (and one step closer to being the “biggest podcast in the world”).
After securing the kind of interview that most media professionals work their entire career to land, we asked who was next on their bucket list.
With the podcast featuring interviews with famous British rappers such as Dave and KSI, the pair’s love of rap music was obvious in their answer; Hanlon said their “dream” guests would be the Canadian rapper Drake or the American rapper J. Cole.
The Back Of The Class Podcast can be found on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.