The Mario Rosenstock Podcast

Tom Dunne enjoyed great success as the front man of Something Happens. The band had a string of hit singles in the charts, including Parachute and hello hello hello,  and they played to packed houses all over the world. But there came a point, as there does with many great bands, where they  decided, for various reasons,  to stop recording albums and touring the world...

Tadhg Hickey is a proud Cork man and a proud Sinn Fein supporter – so, naturally, the Mario Rosenstock Podcast hotline was flooded with messages of support from famous cork people and also one from one of Tadhg’s heroes, a certain Mr Gerry Adams. You can hear those messages at the very start of the episode. I’m a big fan of Tadhg Hickey – currently one of Ireland’s great comic minds, Tadhg wa...

John Gibbons is one of Ireland's most vocal, passionate and well-known environmental campaigners. This is subject that I am totally fascinated by and when I need someone to explain something to me and to answer some of the many questions I have about the topic, John is person I go straight to –  as a result, he was a regular guest on the Roast radio show and we thought that it was &...

Winner of the Popular Journalist of the Year Award, Larissa Nolan is a brave, highly intelligent, at-times controversial, and incredibly hardworking writer. Not only does Larissa hold very strong opinions on big issues like cancel culture, the left-right divide, Ireland’s notorious covid lockdowns (all of which we discuss in this episode) and much more – but, crucially, her opinions are based on l...

Mark O’Halloran is a big deal in the Arts world. He wrote and starred in the award-winning film, Adam and Paul; he wrote Garage, the film starring Pat Shortt which debuted at the Cannes film festival; he wrote the hit TV series Prosperity, and he is currently writing the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s ‘Conversations with Friends’.  Mark has worked many times with the great film director...

Bressie hates mortgage adverts on TV. Having been approved for, and then denied, a mortgage, he knows how unrealistic they are. That a man so industrious and successful would find it really hard to secure a loan from the bank to buy a home says a lot about the state of things right now. So, Bressie shared his story about the mortgage, and we got in to areas that you might expect, like mindful...

He once held a gun to Daniel Day Lewis’ head, spent time ‘f”*king up’ Richard Harris on the set of The Field, and he can’t understand why everyone was so afraid of Harvey Weinstein. Jim Sheridan is not only one of the greatest film directors every to come out of Ireland (six-time Oscar-nominated), he also one of the most compelling characters Ive ever met. In his latest project, Murder at the...

After lots of twiddling of knobs and flicking of faders, myself and Ray D'Arcy finally got chatting. But that little bit of technical checking that you will hear at the very start of this episode is a mark of the man in many ways. Ray D'Arcy is a perfectionist, he’s incredibly thorough and a true professional - and these traits, along with obviously being a great communicator and conversationalist...

Lucy Kennedy is in such high demand that my conversation with her was ‘gate-crashed’ by several well-known personalities including Enda Kenny, Leo Varadkar, Ivan Yates, David Norris, Christy Dignam, and Miriam O’Callaghan. And as you’d expect from what you might know of Lucy from her very popular TV Show, she was great fun, very open and honest, and just so chilled out, not only with those ‘caller...

Have you always wanted to hear Neven Maguire giving President Michael D Higgins a cookery lesson while listening to techno? Well your wait is finally over. Neven is one of Ireland’s top chefs -  he’s also such a laugh, and an incredibly driven and hardworking businessman. We chat all about his ambition, love of cooking, tough times during The Troubles, and why he refused the offer t...

Every week we have brand new and exclusive comedy sketches for fans of The Mario Rosenstock Podcast. In this bonus episode, I’ve picked five of my favourites. Enjoy!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Al Foran not only does great impressions, he does great impressions of people that many other impressionists don’t do – lots of well-known American celebrities, black actors and comedians like Denzel Washington and Eddie Murphy (something that he has come in for perhaps unfair criticism for, and we talk about this in the interview), and he’s particularly good at doing boxers. You’ll hear...

When the 2 Johnnies decided to pay a visit to Dublin I made sure to nab them for a chat on the podcast. These lads are not only intelligent, entertaining, and hard working - with a chart-topping podcast, sell-out shows, and best-selling books to their name - they’re also very sharp businessmen. Spotify has been paying close attention to their ever-growing popularity and, just a couple of week...

This man is a master storyteller. Years of hanging out with the likes of Jimmy White, Alex Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan, and so many other ‘Gods of Snooker’ has given Ken a treasure trove of brilliant stories, jokes and great gossip. We have the pleasure of hearing:·      The one about skipping a snooker championship opening to hang out with Jimmy White and The Rolling...

You may not always agree with David Quinn’s opinions, but they are always incredibly well thought-out and articulated, and held with deep conviction. You might also argue that voices like his are needed now more than ever as the world currently leans liberally, and contradictory opinions are always valuable no matter what the prevailing mood. If you are not familiar with David I think you will fin...

What do Pippa O’Connor, Mary Lou McDonald, Maura Higgins, Roz Purcell, and Daithi O’Se have in common? Doireann Garrihy does a frighteningly good impression of all of them. If you follow Doireann on social media or watch The Doireann Project on RTE you’ll know just how talented she is. So it is no surprise just how successful Doireann has become in such a short space of time. Doireann an...

Bastard files, Bush Hammers, Hardies – these are just some of the tools that PJ Gallagher has never heard of. And as the presenter of RTE’s The Big DIY Challenge, this is more than a little ironic. But it’s not about the tools for PJ, it’s about the people. He loves chatting to people, and as it happens, PJ is one of the people I have always loved chatting to. Hilarious, unpredictable, painfully h...

I laughed hard all the way through this conversation with Dermot Whelan. Not only can he tell a great story and reveal the funny side of pretty serious topics, he’s also a very talented impressionist. Diarmuid Gavin, Rory McIlroy, Professor Snape from Harry Potter and even the late great Terry Wogan all make an appearance in this interview. Now Dermot can also add ‘best-selling author’ to his CV,...

I am, and always have been, a great admirer of Eamon Dunphy. Never afraid to hold a firm, controversial position, but never afraid to change that opinion either. And often the second position is the polar opposite of the first one! In a world where people appear afraid to be seen to change their minds about things, this makes a refreshing change and is part of why Dunphy is so popularWe cover a lo...

It’s both fascinating and encouraging to see how talented people can shoot to fame almost overnight these days. I first met Michael Fry a couple of years ago as he was starting to make a name for himself, posting funny parodies and songs on his growing social media channels, under the handle @BigDirtyFry. Michael was working hard and his unique style of comedy was slowly gaining traction. And then...

The government has been through some high and lows recently: lows when yet more vaccine roll-out problems showed up, highs when the call about a huge, unexpected batch of vaccines for Ireland came through. Wouldn’t you just love to have been in the room when that call came in? Well, our microphones were… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It has been a while since George Hook and I last passed each other in the corridors of Marconi House. His departure as drivetime host at Newstalk Radio was a well-publicised and controversial one, and one that we discuss at length in this great conversation, as it brings up a lot of bigger, very current issues. However we talk about so much more, such as his marriage to ‘the lovely Ingrid’ wh...

I’ve been doing sketches almost every day for the last 22 years, and I’ve noticed something very interesting: history repeats itself over and over again. Usually in a a bad way. So, why can’t we humans ever learn from our mistakes? If you can spare a couple of minutes, click play and I’ll boil it all down for you in one quick sketch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guests on this episode do NOT hold back, and rightly so. Let’s face it, there’s a lot to get off our chests these days and what better way to help the nation vent than to get Joanne Riordan, podcaster and star of No Limbs No Limits, and broadcaster Suzanne Kane around a virtual table to sound off about some of the things we’re all talking about these days – like the Dail circus, movie awards on...

We had an amazing reaction to this comedy sketch from the recent Conor Moore episode – if you missed it, drop in here and have a listen! And when you’ve got a bit more time, you’ve got to check out my chat with Conor in episode 3, so many great impressions. Enjoy! Mario.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.