She’s one of Ireland hardest working and best-known performers, and her honesty and sense of humour is an absolute tonic, making Linda Martin a great podcast guest. Linda started singing professionally when she was just 16 yrs old and still in school, and she has pretty much been performing regularly ever since. During that 50-year career, Linda has been a nine-time National Song Contest contestant, a Eurovision winner, a chart-topping singer, a mentor, a TV host, a stage actor – the list goes on!

Linda tells me some great stories about her life in music, the hey day of the Irish showbiz scene and what she has learned from some of the greats that she has worked with. We chat about her love of animals and her beloved Dublin Dog Hub sanctuary. And she also lets off some steam about modern day celebrity and work ethic, why politics and music should never mix, and why there’s no such thing as mega artists any more.

COMEDY – Tommy Tiernan, Marty Whelan, and Ronan Keating have some interesting ideas about how to revive Ireland’s Eurovison glory days…

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

You’ve heard of the book Gulliver’s Travels, but did you know that it’s by far the most successful book ever published by an Irish author? And that it contained such dangerous political commentary that Jonathon Swift was never able to put his name to it during his lifetime? Today we have cancel culture, but back then people were ‘pilloried’ – tied up in wooden stocks, publicly shamed, and sometimes had parts of their body cut off.

These are just some of the fascinating things I learned during my conversation with writer, performer, and former political strategist, Gerry Mullins. Gerry has become something of an expert on Swift (he literally wrote the musical!). He describes Swift as ‘the original Irish satirist’ and even though he was around 300 years ago, so much of what he talks about feels familiar today.

In this episode, Gerry and I talk about the remarkable life he led, his complicated love life, freedom of speech (or the lack of it) back then and today, Trump, cancel culture, and Swifts incredible contribution to mental health in Ireland.

COMEDY – It’s the most hotly anticipated movie in years – its Michael… (Healy Rae!)

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand.

What does your home reveal about you? Celebrity architect Dermot Bannon’s new show, Celebrity Super Spaces, brings us inside the front doors of well-known people where we learn something different about them. Because I guess our homes reflect our personalities, whats important to us, and maybe what we want people to think about us.

Dermot tells me about visiting the homes of people like Joanne McNally, Vogue Williams, Andrew porter and a few others, and what he learned about them during his time there. He also talks about growing up in Cairo in Egypt and how that experience shaped who he is today; he rants about our obsession with modular homes as the solution to the housing crisis when there are far bigger things we should be focussing on. Dermot also tells me about a recent major health scare that could have been fatal for him, and how it’s affecting his day to day life now. And we also talk Gift Grub and my impressions of him!

COMEDY – its seems that everyone wants to get their house done by Dermot, including some very well-known people, who left messages for him on the Mario Rosenstock Podcast hotline this week..

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

Russell Watson and Gary Barlow have something in common – they both started their careers in Workingmen’s clubs across northern England, playing to audiences that were very hard to win over. They other quality they share is grit and determination, and so fast forward to today, and Russell is selling out concerts globally, he has performed for the Queen, the Pope and US presidents, topped the charts in the UK and US for months at a time, and sang at major football and rugby finals all over the world. He has also been a contestant on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! UK in 2020.

In this episode Russell tells me so many great stories about the tough crowds he’s played to, the celebs he has met and performed with, and the secret to his ‘overnight success’ (“that was a very long night!!”)

Russell will be in Ireland very soon for some shows in Wexford, Limerick and Dublin – check out russellwatson.com for all the details.

Lots of news around this week but one of the stories that have cause a bit of a stir is the news that RTE boss Kevin Bakhurst is getting a €20k pay rise. We got exclusive access to his voicemails – press play to hear them!

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

I just love talking about music and songwriting, so when I had the chance to interview Grammy-nominated singer songwriter, RuthAnne Cunningham, it was never going to be a short conversation! So we divided out our chat across two episodes and this week its part 2.

Having written songs for some of the world’s biggest performers, including Niall Horan, Britney Spears, Westlife, Niall Horan, Martin Garrix and One Direction, Ruthanne has so many great stories to share and so much to say about the music industry and how it all works.

In this episode Ruthanne and I talk about the role the social media plays in the modern industry - and why she’s not too happy about it – she tells me how things work when it comes to royalties and how songwriters get paid, and we talk about why a legend like Bruce Springsteen wouldn’t be a success if he started out today.

COMEDY - The fuel protests and blockades are dominating the news this week, and Michael O’Leary and Paschal Donohoe let their opinions about it be known on The Mario Rosenstock Podcast Hotline.

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand.

RuthAnne Cunnigham has written songs for some of the world’s biggest performers, including Niall Horan, Britney Spears, Westlife, Niall Horan, Martin Garrix and One direction. She is a Grammy-nominated singer-song writer with multi-platinum global hits totally over 10bn steams and collaborations with greats like Diana Ross and John Legend.

RuthAnne joined me on the Sunday Roast radio show on Today FM a few years ago to tell me the story behind 'Nice to meet ya', which she co-wrote with Niall Horan, a song that went on to be a huge hit. So we asked her to come back for a chat about all of her other hit songs, collaborations and her own successful career as a performer. She has some amazing stories to tell.

Check out RuthAnne’s new book ‘Its not just a song’

COMEDY – the Sauna craze sweeping Ireland has now made it into the hallowed halls of Leinster House!

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

Ireland has produced a lot of sporting greats, but none quite like Roy Keane. He’s not just a footballer, or a pundit, or even a national obsession at this stage, he’s practically a genre of Irish conversation. And he’s someone that has been a big part of my career for many years, in particular with Radio Roy on Gift Grub.

Dave Hannigan has just published new book called We Need To Talk About Roy in which he takes a fresh and fascinating look at Keane - not just the man himself, but what he tells us about Ireland, ambition, class, celebrity, masculinity, football, and fame. And this isn’t just a great piece of journalism – Dave is from the same part of Cork as Roy, they are roughly the same age, and they even played against each other a few times!!!

In this chat Dave and I chat about Roy’s early days in Cork, why Saipan still has such a grip on people, how Roy became such a huge media figure, and why he may actually be more culturally relevant now than he was in his playing days.

COMEDY - its Michael O’Leary’s birthday this week – he’s decided to throw himself a big birthday bash, in true Ryanair style…

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

I am a huge football fan, and I love the history of football too. I’m fascinated by the best players we’ve had the privilege of watching over the years, my all-time favourite being Diego Maradona , and also by the great managers like Alex Fergusson and Jose Mourinho – many of whom I’ve caricatured on Gift Grub over the years.

And that’s why I was delighted when I received a copy of a new book about one of the most interesting and successful football managers of all time - and you’ve probably never heard of him! I certainly hadn’t anyway. His name was Helenio Herrera , also known as HH, and what a life story he has. Born into poverty, he went to become an ok football player but incredibly accomplished, wealthy and famous football manager - he’s also credited with inventing the modern style of football management.

Barcelona-based Irish football writer Richard Fitzpatrick has just published a fascinating profile of this man – its called HH: Helenio Herrera – Football's Original Master of the Dark Arts, and he joins me on this episode of the Mario Rosenstock Podcast to tell me all about it.

COMEDY - As this episode is all about great football management, we put a call in to some of the great footballers and managers, and asked them to reveal which manager they most admire…

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand