Joining Mario for this week`s profile interview was disability campaigner and sports journalist Joanne O`Riordain.  Joanne  is one of seven currently living people born with the condition Tetra-amelia syndrome which means she was born without any limbs.

Despite her disability Joanne defies the odds and takes on life with gusto and humour.  She tells Mario about life growing up was no different in her family and how that probably allowed her to approach life in such with a positive outlook.

She has addressed the United Nations at just sixteen years of age!

Looking back on it now I wish I took it more seriously, when I was talking to everyone I wasn't making contacts , networking but I was 16!

Joanne went on to pick some amazing comedy from Stuart Lee and inspire us all with a speech about golf balls!

You 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 this week for the panel was Today FM presenter Pamela Joyce and comedian Michael Fry.  Going into the roast this week were the many thoughts and musings of these minds!

It was announced this week that Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Lithuanian and Portuguese would be added to the Leaving Cert curriculum from September 2020.

The three new European language subjects are designed for students with an existing knowledge of those languages, while Mandarin is aimed primarily at non-native speakers.

It's part of a Government drive to boost "language skills" and support school-leavers, and graduates, to become global citizens equipped to work in a global economy.

Pamela  studied Irish in school and went to the Gaeltacht 6 times as a child. and in doing so she said made learning other languages so much easier. She is now still questioning why more effort isn't being made to supportive our native language.

 

Michael recently took a week long break to the Netherlands, a country built for getting around. He visited 4 cities and it was the most stress free experience I have ever had using public transportation.

He was never waiting longer than 5 mins for any service throughout the whole week and marvelled at the number of bikes and cycle lanes as well as actual night time transportation. When he arrived home to Dublin airport he was immediately confronted with the reality we find ourselves in Ireland. The bus home to his hometown Navan had just left and there wouldn't be one for an hour. The bus arrived 20 mins late and took 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to Navan from Dublin Airport, a max 45 min drive.

Why is this still an issue in Ireland?

Mario took notice of Barack Obama this week when he called out "woke culture" that can be somewhat limitless.

When arguably the most ‘woke’ guy in the world is saying wokeness has gone too far Mario says we’ve got to sit up and listen

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

Joining Mario for the Story Behind The Song was  singer-songwriter and author Mike Hanrahan who chose an eclectic  song in "The Good Old Days" by Eels.

This song is taken from their fifth album Shootenanny! E now refers to the album as a break from recording the following Blinking Lights album.It was recorded live in the studio in only ten days.

The song is about looking at what we have now - about the fact that all we have is now. The lyrics suggest that we might forget to take in what we have now , the days we are living that might seem mundane are the ones we will look back on as “The Good Old Days”.

I know I'm not too much of a bargain

And you know that's not what you bargained for

As the hours turn into days

Pretty soon lost in the haze

It's up to you and me

And who's to say

These could be the good old days

This song has a personal meaning to Mike in particular as he introduced the band “Eels” and many other eclectic acts to Ronnie Drew who he played music with  and Ronnie really loved the band and recorded this song with Eleanor Shanley. Little did we know Ronnie Drew was an Eels fan!

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

 

Mario talked to Niall Breslin (Bressie!) this morning for this weeks`s profile interview. He has just released his second children`s book "Take Five" which focuses on a character "Freddie" and helps children deal with difficult emotions.

Bressie also talks about recently graduating with a Masters in mindfulness based interventions from UCD and how it was something he really cared about:

We have commodified it (mindfulness) and then we think oh its easy we just have to listen to an app and everything will be fine, no it wont, the reason I went to do my Masters in it is because I cared about it. With the podcast - what I wanted to say to people -this isn`t about mental health, it isn't about mindfulness, its about being human"

Niall goes on to pick his favourite comedy and movie choices which included a emotive performance from Daniel Day Lewis in Jim Sheridan`s "In The Name Of The Father".

Niall will also be bring his podcast live to the US! It will make it`s debut at Ireland week in LA this November with special guest Chris O`Dowd and Michael Keane PhD (UCD).

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

Joining Mario this morning for this weeks "Story Behind The Song" was singer song writer Alice Kiernan. She brought a big 80s ballad to us with "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" by Bonnie Tyler. This one has a Halloween vibe we weren`t aware of! Its original title was 'Vampires in Love' and was written and produced by Jim Steinman.

Steinman: “I was working on a musical of Nosferatu, the other great vampire story. If anyone listens to the lyrics, they're really like vampire lines. It's all about the darkness, the power of darkness and love's place in dark.

It entered the UK charts at #1, making Tyler the first female singer to do so. The power ballad became her highest charting song in several countries; peaking at No. 1 in the United States, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom. She described the song as "a challenge to sing," stating that she “doesn’t  like songs that anybody can sing. I like songs that need a lot of energy” According to Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman had written the song, along with "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", for Meat Loaf's album Midnight at the Lost and Found; however, Meat Loaf's record company refused to pay Steinman and he wrote separate songs himself. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was then given to Bonnie Tyler.

Bonnie still sings this at every concert where she performs at and Spotify reports an increase in downloads after every annual ecplise!!

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

Independent TD Michael Healy Rae joined Mario for this week's profile interview.

Michael talked about his favourite comedian Brendan Grace, the skill of comedy and not taking yourself too seriously.

Mario also asked him about his views on climate change and the increasing carbon tax rates that were introduced in the recent budget.

Michael and Mario also discussed the life and career of US President Donald Trump and whether he can be trusted whilst in office.

Yesterday, Ireland's 2019 Rugby World Cup hopes ended at the quarter final stage after suffering a 46-14 defeat to New Zealand.

The All Blacks are still on course for securing the trophy for the third time in a row, while the wait for a semi-final clash in the tournament continues for Ireland.

Tony Ward joined Mario to discuss yesterday's performance and analyse where it all went wrong for Joe Schmidt's side.

 

Fiacre and Mark chose Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles.

Mark Geary & The Strawhall House Band are in the middle of their Autumn Tour. They play The Black Box in Belfast on Sunday 20th October, DeBarra's in Cork on Thursday, October 24th and Cleere's in Kilkenny on Saturday, October 26th. Their single ‘Rosebud' is out now.

Mark Geary rose to prominence playing alongside the likes of Jeff Buckley, Sinead O’Connor and Katell Keineg at the famous Sin é Bar in New York’s East Village. Over the last 20 years Mark has toured all over Europe, the US and Australia, and has shared the stage with performers such as The Swell Season, Glen Hansard, The Frames, Josh Ritter, Bell X1, Coldplay, Elvis Costello, The Pretenders and Joe Strummer.

The Strawhall House Band features Fiacre Gaffney, Jack Maher, Vinny Kilcullen and Mark Penny. The band formed from the long running Monday night session at the iconic Strawberry Hall Pub on the Strawberry Beds Road in Dublin. Alongside original songs from their debut album Six Days in May, released in May 2017 on Plateau Records, the band’s repertoire includes covers by great songwriters such as Lowell George, Ry Cooder, John Hiatt and Guy Clarke.

The Beatles – Here Comes the Sun

Mark and Fiacre are both hugely influenced by The Beatles – “fans” doesn’t come close! With the re-release of Abbey Road going straight to number one 50 years after originally being released, they thought it would be timely to have a look at the George Harrison-penned 'Here Comes The Sun' – a song that both John Lennon and Paul McCartney have been quoted as saying in probably one of the best songs on the album.

Tadhg Hickey and Keelin Moncrieff join Mario to discuss today's Roast topics

Baldism:

A topic that’s very close to Tadhg’s head! He was watching Czech Republic v England the other night and Brian Kerr started taking the mick out of the bald Czech striker.

Years ago, when Tadhg was working an office job, a female colleague came over to his chair and started examining the back of his head. "Hickey's going bald!" she declared. He just had to take it.

Baldism has not been included in 'Woke' culture and Tadhg claims bald people want their day in the sun!

 

Climate Protests:

As the strikes and actions carried out by the Extinction Rebellion group are becoming more striking, it has inevitably formed into a rather controversial topic.

Being a vocal activist, especially online, Keelin notices herself and others around her losing hope along with a rise in climate anxiety – largely younger generations that are emotionally affected by the science behind this crisis and our foreshadowed peril.

 

Blandemic:

Mario’s friend coined the term 'Blandemic'.

Previously you could distinguish different groups with various aesthetics. Nowadays, Mario thinks that we dress and talk the same.

Are people losing their fear of standing out from the crowd? Are we becoming more self-conscious due to social media and the internet?

Former Irish rugby player Tony Ward talks to Mario this morning on his analysis and predictions for the next stages for the IRish rugby team as they continue their journey in the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

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