Joining Mario this week was funny man, the principal in hit TV show "Young Offenders" and writer of show "Madhouse" PJ Gallagher.

Madhouse is based on the unbelievable true life story of comedian PJ Gallagher. When PJ was ten, his Mother who was a nurse, moved six men with schizophrenia into the family home to care for them full time. Many psychiatric institutions were closing down and there were few places for long term residents to go.

PJ goes on to tell us about the stories of growing up in that environment, including one of the residents who thought he had a dog in his stomach and also a man who talked to an imaginary Spanish gorilla!

 

The show had its last run this week in The Civic Theatre but will be back hopefully in the new year says PJ! One not to miss from the stories told this morning!

He is also part of hit TV show "Young Offenders" which is on his second successful season and as PJ has let told us this morning - it is heading for Season Three!

"I always knew there was something special about it ("Young Offenders"), the Film was finished before they asked me to be in it, I saw it and I thought I don`t care if I make a penny out of this I just want to be a part of it"

They have just confirmed there is going to be a Season Three, and I probably shouldn't say but we made it already!

 

PJ went on to pick comedy clips which was the infamous moment when Gay Byrne was pranked by Mike Murphy on the "The Live Mike" and his movie choice "Rocky IV" !

 

 

Check out the podcast by pressing the play/listen button on screen.

There was hair, smoke machines, leather, loud music and hysteria in the studio for this week`s profile interview (and that was just Mario`s warm up routine!!)

We were delighted to be joined by the one and only Joe Elliott of the legendary rock band "Def Leppard".

Among many things Joe told us about the making of their fourth studio album 'Hysteria', which sold over 25 million copies worldwide, including 12 million in the US, and producing seven smash hit singles!

The album is the follow-up to the band's 1983 break through Pyromania. Hysteria's creation took over three years and also experienced many delays, including a terrible car accident where drummer Rick Allen’s lost his left arm in 1984 but the band insisted he remain with them which he did and kept playing.

"When we released Sugar to Pop radio, it took off and spread like wildfire. It did start off in stripclubs, it was one of those songs, its a great pole dancing song, I`m sorry but it is!"

The song gained worldwide success 10 months after the album came out and they then became one of the biggest selling bands in history within 3 months!

"It did start off in strip clubs"Joe Elliott of @DefLeppard talks to @GiftGrubMario about the success and delayed popularity of their worldwide smash-hit 'Pour Some Sugar On Me'.

Joining Mario to review RTE`s Climate week was environmental columnist John Gibbons and his daughter Simone. There were a range of programmes broadcast on TV and radio by RTE to highlight the subject of climate change, the impact and the possible solutions. John notes that there were hopeful messages and ultimately the solutions that need to be adhered to are ones that give nature a chance.

Mario asks John if there was only one change that Ireland could do -what would he suggest?

"We have the best wind speeds in western Europe with  inter connectors directly to France, we could be selling billions of euros of clean renewable energy"

He notes that we ship off  €6 billion worth of  payments for fossil fuels that leave this country every year knowing the damage that they are doing instead of being a major exporter on to the European grid.

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

Joining Mario to discuss the topics that have been brewing around our panelist`s minds  this week was awarding winning journalist Larissa Nolan and personal trainer Dominic Munnelly. Larissa brought up the subject that is now prevalent in many news stories this week which is the gender pay gap. It is noted that "Equal Pay Day" starts on 11th of November - a symbolic date to note that between now and the end of the year women are effectively working for free because of the difference of pay that is recorded between men and women.

Larissa says that the 14% gap quoted is mostly at the far end of the spectrum - over 65s and that this is a legacy issue. The  most recent stats are five years old now so this gap is closing all the time. She notes that one seems to know that the pay gap has closed for young women. There is no pay gap for women up to an including the age of 30 which means we've wiped it out in this generation. She also notes that it's never explained that the gap is calculated by adding all the pay of all men at any given time and all the pay of all women at the same given time, and does not factor in whether it is part-time work or full time, or what is the profession or what is the level of career.

Dominic Munnelly brings up the topic of the new netflix documentary "Game Changers" a UFC fighter embarks on a quest to find the optimal diet for human performance and health.The movie then proceeds to cherry pick data throughout and use N=1 proof (it worked for one person so it must work for all) to suggest we should all become vegans.

Dominic says the  movie is really a propaganda piece from James Cameron (Avatar, Terminator 2,Titanic etc) who just happens to be a huge shareholder in one of the largest pea production plants in the world, thus supporting his vested interest in a pro-vegan agenda.

Mario brings ups the "ratting out" or "call out" culture that is happening more and more.   he can't stand the  trawling through tweets to rat on something someone said something years ago. he doesn't buy the  zero tolerance judgement-day purity culture, and thinks that this culture will soon itself be called out.

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

Joining Mario for the story behind the song "Babylon" by David Gray was host of "The Cringe Binge" podcast, Jules Coll.

Taken from one of the best selling albums in Irish history "White Ladder" , Babylon is one of 5 singles that were released from the album. Released from the album in July 1999 as the second single from the album. It was the biggest selling single from the album, what is the song all about?  The name Babylon means ‘Gate of God’. The song was originally called ‘Caroline’ the name of the girl the song was written about. David Gray used Caroline on his next album. In a nutshell - a guy is staying in on a Friday night flicking through TV stations. He’s feeling down and reflecting on a recent break up and regretting that he opened himself up to such pain. On the Saturday night he’s out, he’s clubbing and “chemicals are rushing through his bloodstream”.  He wishes Caroline was there with him and he realises that it’s fear that’s been holding him back from telling her how he really feels about her and to admit his mistakes in their relationship.

“Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feel it now

It was first released in 1998 on Gray’s own record label but it failed to chart in the UK, however, Irish listeners loved it and it spent 6 weeks at number 1.

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

 

Joining Mario for the panel this morning was Hugh Wallace architect and judge on RTÉ's 'Home of the Year' and Aileen Hickie , journalist and barrister.  Cooking up many things for the roast including the decision by a school in Dublin to get rid of written homework on a trial basis last month. Aileen says that having kids from 20 years down to 12 years she think no written homework for younger kids is a great initiative.

Hugh is planning to buy a bike and start cycling. As a result he has been watching cyclists and their behaviour more closely and is very concerned about what he is seeing. The relationship between cyclists, pedestrians and cars is far from what it should be. Many cyclists either don’t know the rules of the road or completely ignore them – he regular witnesses them cycling through pedestrian lights and knocking people over - this of course led to many contributions from listeners who were both cyclists and drivers and have experienced the frustration on both sides!

Mario is perplexed by Netflix as it  has confirmed and also downplayed a report that it is testing a feature on cellphones that allows users to speed up (or slow down) its videos.

It has become standard to accelerate podcasts and videos, including on YouTube. But it’s one thing to listen to listen to a podcast like “Fantasy Focus Football” at double speed, and another to brute force your way through “Russian Doll.” Is our attention span getting even more shot , we need to slow down not speed up!

This prompted Mario to see what it would sound like if we decided to do that to some presenters! You will need to listen back for this one!

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

Joining Mario for this week`s "Story Behind The Song" was comedian Fred Cooke. Fred picked a Manchester or "Madchester" scene classic in "Sit Down" by the band James.

Originally released in 1989 by Rough Trade Records. The song's lyrics were written by the bands lead singer Tim booth as an homage to author Doris Lessing and singer Patti Smith in a difficult period of his life where he felt extreme loneliness and was suffering from an diagnosed illness.

The song was released 3 times over a 10 year period. The original 7-minute version was released in 1989 by Rough Trade Records. However the song stalled at #77 in the UK Chart. Over the next 2 years James became part of the thriving Madchester music scene, and a shortened version of this song regularly causing clubbers to sit down when it was played. The single was re-released this time on Fontana in 1991 when it became a hit.

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

Joining Mario for today`s profile interview was one of Ireland`s most passionate Trade Unionists Brendan Ogle. He is a man who fought Maggie Thatcher`s rail privatisation plans while working for London Underground. He returned to Ireland and has since become one of the country`s best known trade unionists.

Among his picks for the profile interview were Ricky Gervais `s "Afterlife" for comedy and this incredible speech by Scottish Trade Unionist Jimmy Reid.

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

Joining Mario this morning to discuss the future now for RTE as it faces uncertainty was entertainment journalist Eoin Murphy. Earlier in the week Moya Doherty who is chairwoman of the RTÉ Board has said it  has been  "starved of funding for a long, long time."

Many point to the large salaries of the staff members within the organisation however this is not the primary source of its issues and failure to remain financially sustainable.

The RTE Director General Dee Forbes announced news that it was cutting 200 of it`s 1800 staff in order to restructure the organisation, however is it a case of too little too late and what can be done to save the public service?

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

 

 

 

 

Joining Mario to discuss the greats and not so greats of Irish TV Comedy was entertainment journalist Daragh Keaney.  From The Cassidy`s to The Hardy Bucks and on to the great Father Ted - there are some hidden gems in there, although Darragh surprises us on who he places on the number one position!

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.