Joe Egan: 'Music soothes the savage beast'

‘Big Joe’ Egan, former professional boxer and champion, sparring partner to the great Mike Tyson, and now an actor working alongside Academy Award winners, talks to Annabelle Leith. Full of fun anecdotes and opinions, Joe discusses revisiting old passions, looking after mother nature, and the power of making memmos.

Gushing about how ‘absolutely fantastic’ memmo is, Joe recalls the reaction of 16-year-old Levi when he received a video arranged by Joe last year with almost 40 celebrities wishing him a happy birthday. “He was like the hero of the town,” Joe says, explaining how Levi is from a small village in Scotland, and after sharing the video on Facebook it spread around like wildfire.

“He was so thankful,” he says, “So it does mean so much to people when they get a personal message from somebody they really like. I’ve had a few over the years from different people just wishing you well and stuff and it's a lovely start to the day. It's a great thing that you are doing at memmo.”

Life in lockdown

Taking it as a blessing to be able to reconnect with nature and the beauty of the area surrounding his home, Joe spent a lot of his lockdown time walking. “I’ve been living where I am for 12 years now and I’ve never really appreciated the area because I’ve been here, there and everywhere, all over the world,” he says.

He ‘made the most of it’, being able to take a walk in the fresh air and nature, ‘there’s nothing like it’. Whilst Joe was boxing he would regularly go for a run, or he would take his dogs for a walk, but for the past 15 years this hobby became all too vacant, that is until lockdown began and Joe found himself ‘with nothing else to do but walk’.

“When I started walking again I realised what I’d been missing. You’re taking in the beauty of nature which a lot of people just take for granted. I disconnected myself from nature, travelling to cities all over the world in trains, planes and automobiles. Since that’s stopped you now realise how beautiful this planet actually is,” Joe says.

"Music soothes the savage beast" - Joe Egan

Although it’s taken ‘something like this’, Joe believes that people will start appreciating what they’ve got around them. He says: “This is a beautiful planet we live on and we need to take care of it.”

“Now when I look up into the sky and there's less airplanes, the sky's a different colour, it's glowing again. We have given the world a breather. Of course people are dying from covid because they can’t breathe, and that is so very sad and tragic, but the world hasn’t been able to breathe for years.”

Not only that, but he continues that this global pandemic has ‘made people appreciate one another so much more’, realising just how important it is to make time for your loved ones. Things once taken for granted he now sees the gravity of - a hug, a handshake, an embrace.

All about Joe

Labelling himself as an ‘open book’, Joe divulges into his hobbies; chess, movies and opera music. “Music soothes the savage beast,” he laughs, reminiscing on going to see a few operas live. His favourite hobby though is ‘switching off’ to a good film, something he tries to do every single day: “I love watching films and now I’m actually acting in films, which is wonderful.”

“It’s like an escapism,” he continues, “My mobile phone is switched off, I have two hours to sit and watch a movie in a world of my own. It doesn’t matter what you do in life, you always need to have some form of escapism to break up your days.”

"If you’re gonna get battered you might as well get battered by one of the greats" - Joe Egan

Now working alongside Academy Award winnings actors, Joe is ‘simply amazed’ being on set and having dialogue with people he’s watched for years and ‘admires so much’.

Joe fondly recalls his first meeting with Stephen Fry, who after shaking Joe’s hand said: “You’re not just meeting me Joe, you’re working alongside me.” He remembers it being a ‘lovely feel-good moment’, realising how he has entered ‘a whole new chapter’ of his life.

“When I was boxing in Ireland years ago I did a few adverts on television, and I was a big fish in a small pond, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be working alongside Academy Award winners and having dialogue with them.”

To play the ‘tough guy’ on screen is something that comes naturally to Joe, being as he has lived that role throughout his own life as a professional boxer and bodyguard. Of course, Mike Tyson labelled him the ‘toughest white man on the planet’ for good reason. Knowing the dangers of that career choice, Joe says his mum ‘never wanted’ him to box, and that he’s ‘been battered quite a few times over the years’.

“But if you’re gonna get battered you might as well get battered by one of the greats,” he laughs. “I boxed to make my dad proud, but now acting in these movies is what makes my mum proud. She loves all the films, even bits when I get beaten up because she knows it’s not real.”

Not only has ‘Big Joe’ broken into the film industry, but he’s also starred in several Bollywood movies alongside some of India’s biggest names. “I absolutely loved being in India, the people there are the loveliest in the world,” he says.

Making memmos

Speaking of the memmo requests Joe’s received so far, he struggles to choose a favourite as he’s ‘enjoyed them all’. He says: “Just to think that what I say means something to somebody is lovely. It’s a very humbling feeling. It’s nice to be able to bring a smile to someone’s face. When people ask for my autograph I always sign it with ‘Happiness, Joe Egan’ because I truly wish everybody happiness.”

"Hard times make for hard people" - Joe Egan

“You can have all the money, success and wealth in the world, but if you're not happy, what good is it? Being happy is what life’s all about. I’ve seen people with very little smiling and having a laugh, and I’ve seen people with an awful lot, not able to smile and laugh for whatever reason.”

Joe recalls a time with Mike Tyson when somebody said: “Joe, I remember when you had nothing,” to which Joe responded “You don’t remember it as well as I remember it.” Mike Tyson labelled his response ‘cold’, but Joe argued his truth: “I've been there and had hard times, but hard times make for hard people. Most boxers come from humble beginnings, and I've had very humble beginnings which has led me to appreciate everything that i have now.”

Every day Joe thinks ‘life can’t get any better’, then ‘even more wonderful things’ continue to happen. “Like with memmo now,” he says, “this is a whole new experience. It’s wonderful. Thank you to you, I wish memmo all the success in the world.”

As the conversation draws to a close, Joe reveals who his ‘dream memmo’ would be: Sir Anthony Hopkins. “I love him and think he’s amazing. I don’t think he gets enough recognition and praise for being one of the world’s greatest actors,” he exclaims.

“I’d just want him to say ‘Hello Joe, I hope one day I’ll get to work alongside you.’ That would be unreal.”

Joe Egan is available on memmo for personalised video messages - perfect for any occasion.