Award-winning journalist Larissa Nolan spent many years living with her young son in rented accommodation. But ten years ago, she decided that enough was enough and it was time to do everything she had to do, to buy a home for them to call their own. And so began a fascinating story that involved a radical approach to how she approached her career, unexpected support from other women who empathised with her situation, and a whole lot of grit and determination. Its rare that we hear a story about...
Feb 09, 2024•46 min
He was one of my very first guests on The Mario Rosenstock Podcast – that was almost three years ago and things have just gone from strength to strength for Conor Moore. He has continued to build his repertoire of impressions, including characters from the world of Formula one, he has shared a stage with Roy Keane on The Overlap live show, performed across Ireland on his very own tour, and the list goes on. You’ll hear all the great stories in this episode. COMEDY – As the Six Nations rugby kick...
Feb 02, 2024•59 min
Phil Cawley and I were colleagues in Today Fm for over 20 years. During his time in the station, Phil presented one of the most listened-to Weekend radio shows in the country. We also got to work together on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show a few times. Phil is a genuine legend of Irish radio and he's also a great character and storyteller. On this episode we chat about the early days of Today FM, the present and future of radio, the rise and rise of cocaine at gigs and weddings, meeting Elton joh...
Jan 26, 2024•54 min
Ive always admired Matt Cooper’s work ethic. He presents a two and a half hour radio show every day on Today FM, writes two newspaper columns, presents not one but two podcasts, he writes books, he’s a father of 5 and lord knows what else he packs in to his day. In our chat on this episode of the Mario Rosenstock podcast, Matt opens up about what drives him to work so hard, how he plans his day in order to get everything done, and the times when he came very close to burnout and the impact that ...
Jan 19, 2024•59 min
Luke O’Neill was a very well-known scientist before the covid pandemic but he pretty much took on celebrity status during it, such was the demand for his expertise on TV, radio, print, and podcasts. He even became a very popular Gift Grub character on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast show on Today FM. On this episode of The Mario Rosenstock Podcast we chat about all sorts of topics like his love of music - including his recent trip to vegas to watch U2’s first show in Sphere, how he felt about his near...
Jan 12, 2024•58 min
We’re dipping back into the archives this week and bringing you one of our most popular interviews of 2023. Ciara Kelly co-presents the Newstalk breakfast show with Shane Coleman and in this no holds barred conversation from Feb 2023, we get stuck right into so many topics from women in media and twitter users versus radio show texters, to pronouns, gender identity, and the right to hold an opinion that may not be too popular. I also learn about what Ciara was like in school and how she ended up...
Jan 05, 2024•1 hr
As you walk / run / work off all of those lovely turkey sandwiches and mince pies, why not jump in here and take a listen to some of my favourite interview highlights from over the last few months? They include great moments and stories from Keith Duffy, Louis Walsh, Rachel Allen, Al Porter, and Terry Prone. The Mario Rosenstock Podcast is produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand
Dec 29, 2023•38 min
If you're in the mood for a little bit of comedy, then you've come to the right place. Here are just a few of my favourite comedy sketches and moments from the last few months, including: Rachel Allen gets a call from Roy Keane Terry Prone gets calls from George Lee and Enda Kenny Shane Byrne gets a call from Rob Kearney We hack in to the voicemails of Tucker Carlson and RTE's Kevin Bakhurst Eamon Dunphy and John Giles preview Patrick Kielty's first ever Late Late Toy Show The Mario Rosenstock P...
Dec 22, 2023•16 min
On this episode I meet the man behind the brilliant satirical news site Waterford Whispers News , Colm Williamson. Since launch, WWN has garnered international attention and viral popularity many times over. Some of the stories are just plain fun, but some are doing their bit to hold people and institutions in powerful positions to account, when Colm and the team feel it’s needed. In out chat, Colm shares the fascinating story of how an idea he had just after he found himself unemployed back in ...
Dec 18, 2023•45 min
I’ve always noticed that rugby players, in particular retired rugby players, have brilliant stories to tell. There’s so much craic and mischief going on behind the scenes in the changing room and when they’re off on tour and then you and I are lucky enough to hear all about it, when a sufficient amount of time has passed and its safe to share the stories! Tommy Bowe is one of those great former rugby internationals who also happens to be a brilliant storyteller, so I was delighted when he agreed...
Dec 10, 2023•1 hr 5 min
We continue the fascinating conversation that I had with leading psychotherapist and author Tony Bates. We covered so much ground in part 1 (and if you haven’t heard it yet I strongly encourage you to do so) and in this episode we chat about many more very interesting and important things, including family trauma and therapy, the scourge of over-prescription of medication worldwide, particularly for young kids, his experience with patients who use a lot of cannabis, and also why we should all em...
Dec 01, 2023•43 min
Tony Bates is one of Ireland’s leading psychologists. He has worked with thousands of patients throughout his many decades in practise, most notably as head of the Department of Psychology at St James’s Hospital, a position he held for over 30 years. He also created Jigsaw, The National Centre for Youth Mental Health. And if you’re a fan of Bressie’s podcast, Where is my Mind?, you’re probably very familiar with Tony from his regular appearances on that great show. But having spent his career se...
Nov 24, 2023•52 min
You have probably heard a lot of interviews with Minister Paschal Donoghue on radio and on TV, but I’m pretty sure you will not have heard one quite like this. My plan is going into this particular interview was, not to talk about all the usual topics you’ll hear the minister talk about in the media and in the Dail, but rather to get behind all of that, to learn about the person, not the politician. And thankfully, Paschal was well up for having that kind of conversation. You are about to hear a...
Nov 17, 2023•1 hr 11 min
This chat with Al Porter was genuinely one of the most enjoyable conversations I have had on this podcast series to date. Not only is Al totally hilarious, he is also deeply intelligent, self aware, and has a very powerful personal story to tell. He has just come out the other side of an incredibly difficult few years where he was, by his own doing, completely out of the public eye, having been very much in it for many years. But now he’s back on tour, selling out venues again, and he joined me ...
Nov 10, 2023•35 min
A few years ago Al Porter was one of Ireland’s most rapidly rising stars in the entertainment world. He had become the youngest headliner in Vicar Street’s history at 21, his award-winning stand up was receiving rave reviews from critics, he had his own TV and radio shows, and big plans in motion for the USA. And then, as he says himself, it “all fell apart”. For reasons that we cover in this episode, Al suddenly stepped back from all of his public work and spent the next few years living at hom...
Nov 03, 2023•57 min
Rachel Allen needs very little introduction. A very familiar face on our screens and a best-selling author, Rachel has carved out a highly successful career for herself in the culinary world both in Ireland and abroad. But did you know that her grandfather escaped from a concentration camp? Or that she has very strong views on veganism that might surprise you? Or are you aware of what her favourite curse words are?! Rachel and I get into all that and more on this episode of The Mario Rosenstock ...
Oct 26, 2023•58 min
It’s not easy being a TV weather forecaster in Ireland, and Joanna Donnelly knows this first-hand. She regularly gets blamed for actually creating bad weather, not just forecasting it. But despite all this, Joanna loves what she does. Having studied Mathematics and Meteorology, Joanna has worked with Met Éireann and RTE for over 28 years, and has just published her latest book, From Malin Head to Mizen Head, A Journey Around the Sea Area Forecast We chat about all sorts of stuff, including why s...
Oct 20, 2023•1 hr
I have heard some fascinating life stories in my time, but Terry Prone’s is up there with one of the best. Terry is a writer, an actor, a journalist, a broadcaster, an advisor to successive governments, a communications expert, a PR pioneer, the list goes on and on - and after already writing 30 books, she has finally written the one that tells her own life story. Its called Caution to the Wind: A Memoir - and it is simply a fascinating read. Terry talks as well as she writes and in our chat she...
Oct 13, 2023•1 hr
Have you ever hear a Tánaiste and former Taoiseach doing an impression of Muhammad Ali? Well, you're just about to. In this second and final part of my interview with Micheál Martin he nails an impression of his sporting hero, and we also talk about freedom of speech, violent protests, the housing crisis, the presidency, Murphy’s vs Beamish, and which Irish politician he’d most like to get in to the boxing ring with! Comedy -With the Budget just around the corner, I can only imagine just how in ...
Oct 06, 2023•40 min
I’m pretty sure that you will not have heard an interview with Tánaiste Micheál Martin quite like this one before. The man is great craic, full of funny stories and banter – it’s a side to him that we rarely get to see in the Dail and on current affairs shows, but we certainly get a taste of it in this episode. We talk about his love of impressions, and he even does a few for us! He tells me what he thinks of my Gift Grub caricature of him, he also talks about his relationship with Leo Varadkar ...
Sep 29, 2023•47 min
Senator Michael McDowell has been a TD, Tanaiste, Minster for Justice, and the country's Attorney General; he’s currently a barrister, a senator, and a columnist for the Irish Times. How he found the time to join me for an hour-long chat for this podcast I’ll never know, but Im very glad he did because we got through some great topics, including how broken a state Ireland once was when the tax rate was at 77% and the state owned absolutely everything, why the UK legal system allows for people li...
Sep 22, 2023•1 hr 13 min
2023 has been a year of wildfires, extreme weather, and record temperatures – is it all down to climate change? To answer that question we invited climate commentator John Gibbons back to the studio for a conversation that I think you’re going to find very interesting ( and probably alarming). John Gibbons has been researching, campaigning and consistently appearing in the media about the climate crisis for over 20 years and even though it’s often a thankless job, his passion and resolve are str...
Sep 15, 2023•1 hr
At one stage during our chat, Shane Coleman broke into a quite excellent impression of former finance minister Charlie McCreevy. Unfortunately I couldn't convince him to do a few more, but we did get stuck into a few political topics, as you might expect. Shane was one of Ireland’s leading political correspondents in print media for many years before joining Newstalk as political editor followed by his current position of presenter of Newstalk breakfast with co-host Ciara Kelly. So of course in ...
Sep 10, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Watching the Rose of Tralee this week reminded me of the brilliant episode we recorded last year with Daithi O’Se. Daithi was in top form when we met, the Rose was back after a two-year hiatus and he was raring to go. We chatted about what its like hosting the festival (and how he gets in shape in advance), what makes Kerry people so unique, his new cottage renovation project, and he even teaches me a few cheeky words in Irish! COMEDY Daithi and I weren’t the only ones talking about the Rose of ...
Aug 25, 2023•58 min
It's hard to describe Roddy Collins. Footballer, football manager, boxer, brother of a boxing world champion, practical joker, social commentator, author..the list goes on. Not only does Roddy have great stories to tell, he also tells them so well. We talk about life in football’s lower divisions, settling local disputes in the ring, practical jokes that went too far, and walking the streets of Dublin chatting to homeless people and hearing their stories. Roddy joined me on the show last October...
Aug 18, 2023•59 min
While we’re on our short summer break, I’m playing some of my favourite episodes from the series so far. This one is from May 2021, its with my friend and colleague Dermot Whelan, who has just announced that he’s leaving the Dermot and Dave Show on Today FM to focus on his mindfulness business. When we record this episode, Dermot had just released his bestselling book Mind Full. He told me all about the book, the business and how and why it all started. Dermot is also a very talented impressioni...
Aug 11, 2023•58 min
We’re on a short summer break at the moment and so we’re resurfacing some of our favourite and most popular episodes from the last few months. This episode first aired in November 2022 - its a fascinating chat with Frank Greaney, Courts Correspondent with Newstalk and Today FM, and also podcast host, author, and restaurateur! I love Frank’s 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...
Aug 04, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Every episode of my podcast features a brand new and exclusive comedy sketch. If you want to hear a few of my favourites funnies from the last few months, just click play and enjoy!! Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand
Jul 31, 2023•14 min
It's never easy to pick easy to pick highlights from the series because there genuinely is far too much to choose from. So I’ve tried to find a few clips that represent the wide range of guests, topics, and laughs that we tend to have on this show every week. So what’s coming up? Jarlath Regan of the brilliant ‘Irishman Abroad’ podcast will be talking about why he took up running during Covid, how beneficial it has been for his mental health, and teaming up with Sonia O’Sullivan to make a whole ...
Jul 20, 2023•48 min
Tadhg Hickey is a comedian, a singer, an actor, an author, and he is also a long-time friend of the Mario Rosenstock Podcast. Tadhg was also a regular guest on the radio show I used to present on Today FM on Sundays before we started this podcast. On one of those Sunday shows Tadhg joined me for a long and fascinating chat about his recovery from alcohol addiction. What was particularly interesting was that he didn’t just talk about how awful it was (and of course so much of it was), but he also...
Jul 13, 2023•57 min
