The Mario Rosenstock Podcast

Chris Johns is a regular contributor to Eamon Dunphy’s The Stand podcast and he also writes regularly about politics and economics. More recently he has launched his own podcast with fellow economist Jim Power, called ‘The Other Hand’. I read and listen to his work regularly and always find him to be highly intelligent, wonderful with words, and very insightful about a lot of the issues I find fas...

These days it can be a dangerous thing to hold an opinion. It’s a bit like holding a firework, it has the potential to blow up in your face. The whole subject of opinions, freedom of speech, and discussion is one that fascinates me so I was delighted that one of Ireland‘s foremost opinion writers agreed to join me on the podcast this week to chat all about it. Brenda Power has been writing opinion...

Ronan Collins is one of Ireland’s most loved and respected broadcasters. He has spent over 43 years in front of the mic and has the distinction of presenting Ireland’s longest-running and most listened-to music radio show – a role that he has only recently retired from. Ronan and I chat about music radio and how it has changed (and why he’s not a fan), the great radio presenters and producers, Rya...

It’s not every day that we have a guest on the podcast that has played drinking games with Joe Strummer of The Clash, shared double brandies with Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays, hung out with Amy Winehouse, and was part of the foundation of Irish radio as we know it today. You’ll often hear Stuart Clarke of Hotpress on the radio – but he's generally talking about the lives and music other people...

Enda McNulty played football for Armagh, winning an All-Ireland medal and an All-Star award while he was at it. He has taken everything he learned on the pitch, combined it with deep study in to the human brain, and has now become one of Ireland’s top performance, leadership, and mental toughness coaches. He has worked with so many of the greats in sport and business. Enda has just published his s...

Shane Byrne spent many years playing rugby at the highest level, with 41 caps for Ireland and over 100 for Leinster. He also spent a couple of years at Saracens. But all of that was probably a doddle after the gruelling few weeks he has just spent being hurled around the Dancing with the Stars dance floor! Shane was voted out just a couple of weeks ago and he has kindly taken the time to join me i...

When you think back to your formative years, what albums spring to mind? What music marked the major milestones? What songs made you – and still make you – laugh, cry or get lost in nostalgia? In this episode, my Today FM colleague Ed Smith joins me to talk about the three albums that helped shape him into the person he is today. And this is also the theme of Ed’s new podcast – it’s called Recorde...

My guest on this episode was crowned Rose of Tralee in 2014 and she has pretty much been in the public eye ever since. She came out publicly for the first time just days after winning the contest, making her the first ever openly gay Rose of Tralee. Then in 2019 Maria was elected as an MEP for Midlands–North-West constituency at the European Parliament elections, and in doing so she became the you...

Singer and songwriter Brian Kennedy is one of the most open, honest, heart-on-the-sleeve people you will ever meet, and he has such a powerful story to share. Brian has had a lot of health issues over the last few years and we do briefly touch on this part of his story, but we spend most of our time together chatting about the things you may not know about him - how he grew up in a pretty dysfunct...

After seeing Billy Connolly perform on stage in Limerick , Karl Spain knew that he wanted to be a comedian. But it wasn’t going to be easy. He spent many nights in tiny comedy clubs, sometimes getting heckled, sometimes performing to just a handful of people. But he kept showing up and his tenacity has certainly paid off - Karl has carved out a successful career as a stand up, a writer for other c...

As you’d expect, Louis Walsh does not hold back in our conversation for this week’s episode – he dishes out the detail on everything and everyone, from his relationship with Brian McFadden and Keith Duffy, to negotiating his X-Factor salary with Simon Cowell, and also what he thought of Britney Spears after spending a couple of days with her on America's Got Talent. But we also find out about the...

Ciara Kelly co-presents the Newstalk breakfast show with Shane Coleman and it is her job to have a clear and comprehensive opinion on pretty much anything that can crop up in the news, and she certainly does that job very well. In this no holds barred conversation, we get stuck right into so many topics from women in media and twitter users versus radio show texters, to pronouns, gender identity,...

Are all calories created equal? Why is that last half stone so hard to lose? What’s the healthiest evening snack you can eat? These are just some of the questions that Karl Henry, he of Operation Transformation fame, has the answer to in this episode. Karl and I also tackle a couple of trickier subjects, like should we really be telling people its ok to be obese if that’s what they want to be, or...

If you’re looking for behind-the-scenes, no holds barred stories of how Ireland’s original boyband got started, what it was like in very early days playing in tiny venues to hostile crowds, and the role Louis Walsh played in it all, then you’ve come to the right podcast. Keith Duffy of Boyzone fame joins me on this episode and reveals all. We also chat about the new band he has formed with Brian M...

Jarlath Regan, comedian and host of the highly successful Irishman Abroad podcast has spent the last 10 year living in London – he has raised a family and built his career there but his goal from day one was always to get back home again. And that’s exactly what he did just a couple of months ago. I think if you’ve ever lived abroad for a period of time, you’re really going to connect with Jarlath...

We had another fantastic line up of guests in 2022 – we shared funny moments, deep and meaningful conversations, and just downright mad times too. When it comes to picking the best bits of the year, there is simply too much to choose from. But we gave it a shot, so press play to hear just a few of the guests and moments we enjoyed the most. They include: • Daithi O’Se – RTE TV • Mairead Ronan - TV...

Here's a little comedy selection box for you, packed full of my favourite comedy sketches from over the last few months of The Mario Rosenstock Podcast. I hope you enjoy – and if you do, subscribe, follow and tell a friend!

One of my big highlights of 2022 was winning the award for Best Comedy Podcast at the Irish Podcast Awards. When we set out to make this show one of the things we wanted to do was have brand new and exclusive comedy sketches in every episode and also to weave in little bits of ad-lib comedy into every interview on the show to make it different and to surprise you and my guest. We want this show to...

So have you ever fretted about using your diesel car to get closer to nature, eating your ethical food off a plastic plate, or just simply existing on the earth! Then my guest on this episode has the very book for you. Colm O’Regan is a stand up comedian, broadcaster, podcaster, and best-selling author – his new book is called Climate Worrier: a hypocrite’s guide to saving the planet. This is a gr...

Its fair to say that Lynn Ruane not your “typical” Irish politician – she’s from a very working class background in Dublin, developed a drug addiction in her teens, became a mother at 15, and has generally had a life that might be called ‘unconventional’ in the context of politics in Ireland. And yet that’s what makes Lynn such an interesting and effective politician – she represents a huge yet tr...

As presenter of TV shows such as Home of the Year, The Great House Revival and My Bungalow Bliss, architect Hugh Wallace has become a regular fixture on our TV screens. He has also been very outspoken about the housing crisis and the need for more creativity on the part of the government when it comes to address it. And yes we do touch on this topic in our chat, but I actually wanted to spend most...

Michael O’Toole has been one of Ireland’s leading crime journalists for over two decades. As crime correspondent at the Irish Daily Star, he has covered all of the big stories about major criminals, knocked on so many doors that many of us wouldn’t dream of approaching, and he has now entered the world of crime fiction with his new novel, Black Light. We covered so much in our chat, from female fa...

Bill Whelan was NOT expecting to get a call from Michael Flatley during our conversation for this week’s episode. But despite the fact that they haven’t always seen eye to eye, it all seemed to go pretty well. The two men of course worked together on Riverdance – Bill composed the iconic score, and Flatley was his lead dancer, along with Jean Butler. Arguably, it was a piece of music and dance tha...

If you listen to Today FM, Newstalk or that great Inside the Crime podcast, you will be familiar with Frank Greaney. He is fast becoming one of Ireland’s most respected and listened-to courts correspondents. I love his on-air appearances with Matt Cooper and they have been inspiring quite a few Gift Grub sketches recently. When you hear Frank talk about what he does, why he does it and the cases t...

Like a lot of people in Ireland I have recently become fascinated by UK politics. It has just gone mad in Westminster, and some of the characters at the centre of the drama are stranger than fiction. My guest on this episode captures this craziness better than anyone I know – Marina Hyde of The Guardian newspaper. I have been reading Marina's columns religiously for years now and when she accepted...