George Hamilton is one of Ireland’s best-known broadcasters and commentators, an unrivalled authority on all things sport, and great craic too. A voice that will be familiar to any sports fan, or indeed classical music fan (he has a very popular show on Lyric fm), George has so many brilliant stories collected over decades of rubbing shoulders with the greats of sport, and travelling to major international football tournaments and olympic games - and we hear some of his best ones in this convers...
Dec 22, 2021•59 min
Trigger warning: serious Beatles fan nerd-out conversation inside. I’ve been watching Peter Jackson’s new documentary about The Beatles (The Beatles: Get Back)of late (its brilliant) and I wanted to talk to another die-hard Beatles fan like myself about the show and the band - Dave Fanning was the man right at the top of my list. Dave was a member of The Beatles fanclub from the age of eight and his love for the band hasn’t waned since. We completed nerded out on the greatness of the Beatles, wh...
Dec 17, 2021•48 min
Here's a little bonus episode for your ears. Its a fascinating part of the chat I had with Matt Cooper which we didn't include in the main episode last week. We thought it deserved its own episode. Click play to hear Matt really open up about his views on Covid, anti-vaxxers, Boris Johnson, and the people that support him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 15, 2021•24 min
It has been scientifically proven that Matt Cooper is the busiest man in western Europe. One of Ireland’s foremost broadcasters, columnists, authors, TV presenters and lots more besides, how he fits it all in I will never know. And now he has even added rounds of golf to the long list of things he packs in to an average week (he’s got some good course recommendations in this interview btw).But thankfully Matt was able to carve a precious hour out of that relentless schedule to join me in the Mar...
Dec 09, 2021•56 min
It was the conversation that was just too good to call time on. When you’re talking to someone as informed and interesting as Fintan O’Toole, time has a tendency to slip away. And that’s exactly what happened when Fintan and I caught up a couple of weeks ago to talk about his new book ‘We don’t know ourselves’ and a lot more besides. We went deep on so many big topics but we also went very personal, talking about Fintan’s childhood stammer, how many of his childhood friends ended up on heroin an...
Dec 02, 2021•1 hr 2 min
How well do you know Fintan O’Toole? He is one of the most well-known, intelligent and, at-times, divisive, writers in Ireland. You may be very familiar with his columns in the Irish Times, his books, and his many appearances on radio and TV shows – but what do you know about the man himself? Fintan has so much to say about so many of the issues of our time, that we rarely hear him say anything at all about himself - WHY he writes the kind of articles he writes, why he holds the opinions he does...
Nov 25, 2021•49 min
Its very hard to describe Michael Harding - author, playwright, columnist, former priest, poet, sage, podcaster, the list goes on! We get deep and philosophical, we laugh, there’s impressions, poetry – it’s a mad and very enjoyable episode! Michael has a lovely new book out called A Cloud Where The Birds Rise and he also has a podcast you’ve got to check out – all the info is here https://twitter.com/hardingmichaelCOMEDY - This week’s news is dominated by these new covid restrictions – the news ...
Nov 18, 2021•58 min
WARNING: This podcast contains hilarious impressions and sketches featuring Pat Kenny and Cardi B, Adele and Louis Walsh, Kim Kardashian and Miriam O Callaghan, Kylie Minogue and Leo Varadkar, and Martin King and Nigella Lawson. All, of course, starring the very talented Pamela Joyce. Host of her own radio show on Today FM, Pamela is a rapidly rising star in the world of broadcasting and comedy, she has a lot to say about a lot of things, and I know you’re going to enjoy this conversation. WIN A...
Nov 11, 2021•53 min
Ever wondered what really goes on behind the scenes in Leinster House? Are you curious about what politicians are like when the cameras aren’t on them, or when they’re out in the wild, away from the comfort of the Dail? Lise Hand spent many years as a parliamentary sketch writer where her job was to unearth the human side of politicians and the quirky, often bizarre side of politics. And in many ways that is what I do every day too, with Gift Grub on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show. Lise and I sh...
Nov 04, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Botox, bum fillers, Operation Transformation, what men and women are REALLY thinking, aging gracefully and confidently…this episode has it all. Elaine Crowley one of those great characters that make an impression the moment you meet her - funny, sparky, honest, and so easy to talk to. She’s also really interested in people, which is why her long running tv show in Virgin Media One was such a success. The Elaine Show aired its final show recently, which naturally Elaine was very disappointed abou...
Oct 29, 2021•1 hr
Its not every day you meet a man who drove across America with actor Sean Penn, developed a cocaine addiction through his friendship with an LA dealer named Cuban Mike, auditioned top Hollywood actresses like Renee Zellweger, and learned rebel songs directly from Christy Moore. Peter Sheridan has done it all, and has lived to tell the tales on this episode of The Mario Rosenstock Podcast. You are in for a real treat with this one folks. Peter is a great author, playwright, and director (he was m...
Oct 21, 2021•59 min
Terry Alderton’s stand-up is unlike any I’ve seen before – one minute he’s doing ‘straight’ stand-up, the next, multiple characters (all performed by him) are all talking and fighting with each other, then he might just stop the show and take an imaginary phone call. The audience never knows what Terry is going to do next, and as Terry admits to me in our conversation, neither does he! Not only do we chat about comedy and his love of performing for Irish audiences, he also shares great stories a...
Oct 14, 2021•58 min
When you’ve got Ireland’s top crime journalist on the podcast, you’ve got to be on your best behaviour. Not that I’ve done anything wrong or anything, the money was just resting in my account, but anyway… Nicola Tallant has been on my podcast hitlist (pun intended) for quite some time - not only has her crime coverage for the Sunday World has helped that paper become one of the most read Sunday newspapers in the country, but her two podcasts - Crime World and The Witness - are consistently ridin...
Oct 07, 2021•51 min
What do the following names have in common? Elvis Presley, Van Morrison, Sinead O’Connor, Cliff Richard, Luke Kelly, The Dubliners, The Bay City Rollers, and Billy Connolly. The answer is Phil Coulter. And that is only some of the acts that he has written and produced top 10 hits for. Phil has also written three very successful Eurovision songs and, if you have ever found yourself singing along to Ireland’s call while watching an Irish rugby international, well, you’re singing another one of Phi...
Sep 30, 2021•53 min
Derval O’Rourke is one of Ireland’s top athletes – boasting a string of medals from major national and international competitions, including three summer Olympics. She retired from athletics in 2014 and went on to set up a very successful business – Derval.ie. You will also know her from Ireland’s Fittest Family and her TV coverage of the Olympic Games on RTE. But aside from all that, Derval O’Rourke is just great craic and we had a lot of fun when we caught up or this interview..COMEDY: Everyon...
Sep 23, 2021•55 min
The man of a million voices is back on the pod! Ahead of one of my favourite sporting events of the year, myself and Conor caught up to chat about great Ryder Cup stories, Europe’s chances, and of course how Padraig Harrington and the team are feeling this week, ‘in their own words’. So come on in and hear from Tiger Woods, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy, Rio Ferdinand, and many more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 21, 2021•24 min
You may be familiar with Manchan Magan from his many brilliant travel TV shows, his books about the beauty of the Irish language, and his columns about living simply and sustainably. But behind the public profile is a man who lives every day life in a way that is very different to how most of the rest of us live. He built his own house out of straw bales, he doesn’t own a TV, and he grows and rears most of what he eats – I really wanted to find out more about what drives him to live this way, wh...
Sep 16, 2021•55 min
Every episode of my podcast is packed full of comedy – new and exclusive sketches, famous “callers’ who want to talk to my guest, Roy Keane lashing into people, voicemails to the Mario Rosenstock podcast hotline, and loads more. This is a special comedy bonus episode where I’ve picked some of my favourite comedy moments, wrapped them up in a lovely little podcast package, and delivered them to your ears. It features The 2 Johnnies, Al Foran, Lucy Kennedy, Dermot Whelan, Bressie and lots of celeb...
Sep 13, 2021•23 min
There’s no one quite like John Spillane. Such a unique voice, a style of lyrics that you won’t find anywhere else (think Dunne’s Stores girl), and he’s got the personality to back it all up too. John is one of Ireland’s most interesting and loved singer songwriters, and in our chat we talk about all sorts of stuff – what inspires his songs, his love of Irish mythology, meeting one of his musical hero’s Brian Eno, and of course, his great love of Cork, boy! You know when you sit down with John Sp...
Sep 09, 2021•56 min
Karl Deeter is a very familiar face and voice on our TVs and radios – consistently invited on to shows because he's what you might call a ‘dream guest’: highly intelligent and eloquent, and, crucially, he is not afraid to hold and express an opinion that may be slightly unpopular or controversial. But our conversation on this episode is a very different one – yes, we touch on a couple of the big issues like the housing crisis and US politics, but mostly we get deep and personal, talking all abou...
Sep 02, 2021•55 min
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. Since then, Tom has become a hugely popular broadcaster on Today FM and, more recently, Newstalk, and he’s also a dab hand at writi...
Aug 26, 2021•59 min
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 was a regular guest on my radio show on Today Fm and every time he was on we had so much craic, there was a...
Aug 19, 2021•57 min
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 high time he joined me here on the podcast for an in-depth chat. But in our conversation we didn’t just get into some...
Aug 12, 2021•1 hr 1 min
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 long and deep research into these issues, they are not just designed to create heat and get twitter t...
Aug 05, 2021•56 min
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 Lenny Abrahamson, he is an acclaimed stage actor, and it is fair to say that in the arts and creative world, h...
Jul 29, 2021•57 min
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 mindfulness and podcasting, but also some areas that you might not expect, like the psychology of colonialism, o...
Jul 22, 2021•55 min
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 Cottage, Jim sets out to try to make sense of what really happened in the case of Sophie Toscan du Plant...
Jul 15, 2021•1 hr 3 min
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, are all central to him becoming one of Ireland’s best known and most successful broadcasters. Ray ...
Jul 08, 2021•51 min
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 ‘callers’, but all the way through my chat with her. She has has some great goss about some of the people s...
Jul 01, 2021•56 min
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 to do Operation Transformation. He also gets a few callers into the show – Daniel O’Donnell, Miriam O’Callaghan and D...
Jun 24, 2021•56 min
