Joe Conlon first walked on to the stage of the Gaiety Theatre at the age of 13 and he knew immediately that that’s where he wanted to be. Fast forward to today and Joe has become synonymous with Panto and theatre in Ireland. He spent 15 years as the iconic Gaiety panto dame, Nana, and has been in countless productions in that role and many others besides.

Joe has now decided to hang up his panto boots to concentrate on other projects, including focusing on his own drama school, which he has been running for many years. So we thought it was a great time to sit down with him and chat about his many decades on stage, the importance of drama and drama schools for building confidence in kids, Ireland’s phenomenal acting talent, working with Brad Pitt, and lots more.

COMEDY – Is RTE paving the way for the return of Ryan Tubridy?

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

I have to say that I was genuinely moved by Brian Kennedy’s recent appearance on RTE’s Dancing with the Stars. In the last few years Brian has really been through the ringer - he has had cancer, a massive heart attack, and quadruple bypass surgery. He literally had to learn how to walk again three times after surgery – and then he goes dancing on national television. That takes guts and resilience and a whole lot of positive mental attitude, and I found him so inspiring to watch.

Brian has an incredible life story – raised on the Falls Road in Belfast at the height of the troubles, Brian had a difficult, even traumatic childhood. But he went on to forge a very successful music career, performing in venues like Madison Square Gardens with legends like Van Morrison.  He has represented Ireland at the Eurovision, sang at George Best’s funeral, and was a coach on The Voice of Ireland. Brian is also a great storyteller and serious craic, as you’re about to hear.

COMEDY - Lots of people enjoyed listening to financial planner Eoin McGee on the last episode, but now they all reckon they’ve got great money advice to share. too. Check out some of the message’s we’ve been getting from the great and the good.

 Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

Eoin McGee is one of Ireland’s best-known financial advisors, he’s also a TV presenter and an author. His latest book is called 'How to Achieve Financial Freedom – create enough wealth to stop working’ in which he shares advice about how we can all take more control of our wallets and become a lot more financially independent as a result.

In this episode of The Mario Rosenstock Podcast, Eoin tells me about the book, but we also talk a lot about our attitudes to money in Ireland and why it isn’t particularly healthy, certainly compared to places like the US. He shares a very personal story from his childhood, about a difficult situation that made him want to be a financial advisor when he got older; we talk about the importance of being in the moment, why working longer can be better than retirement, and lots more.

COMEDY – the non-stop rain is causing consternation across the country, and Simon Harris is taking matters into his own hands.

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

Joan Mulvihill has been a regular voice on all things tech for years– she was CEO of the Irish Internet Association, before working in Siemens for many years, and she was involved in a number of other tech-related organisations.

But Joan is also a very accomplished artist and her great passion in life is working in the intersection between art and technology. We had such a unique and interesting conversation about things like Elon musk and the rise of the broligarchy, and how they have been colonising our lives like the colonial powers of old. We talk about the dangers of AI and why Joan doesn’t ask ChatGPT anything; art, grief and loss; why workplaces should be nicer to humans instead of trying to make robots that behave like humans, and lots more.

COMEDY - It has been quite the week for the Beckham family following the explosive statement from eldest son Brooklyn. How will they react to the bombshell statement?

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

Mark Little has always been a few steps ahead, especially when it comes to technology and social media. He spent years at RTÉ, then made a jump that looked risky at the time (but turned out to be seriously smart)  to set up a social media intelligence company called Storyful. A few years later he sold it  to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and, after a short spell working for Twitter, Mark then set up his next company, Kinzen,  which he sold to Spotify just a couple of years ago.

In this episode Mark and I chat about things like the neck-breaking speed of technological change today and how our lizard brains are not set-up to cope with it, the massive generational divide when it comes to social media and why this was really exposed during the recent presidential election, the rapid return to the nostalgia of simpler times

COMEDY – David McWilliams gets exercised about the rising price of a pint of porter.

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

While we’re on a short break we’re going back in to the vaults and replaying a couple of our most listened-to episodes of 2025 – enjoy!

Niall Harbison was a very successful entrepreneur in Ireland, setting up and selling a social media marketing agency and the very popular and sometimes controversial ‘Lovin Dublin’ media brand. But a combination of burnout and partying too hard, too often, led him to cut ties with Ireland and start a calmer and healthier life in Thailand. But unfortunately things got far worse, and his addiction to drink and prescription drugs soon led him to wake up in a hospital bed, at the point of near death. 

Niall promised himself that things would dramatically change from that day on. It wasn’t easy, but slowly he turned his life around and today, Niall is the founder and mastermind behind Happy Doggo, rescuing and feeding as many of Thailand's millions of stray dogs as he possibly can. His work saving dogs has also saved his life. This is a conversation that I enjoyed so much, and I know you will too.

Check out Niall’s latest bestselling book - Tina: The dog who changed the world.

COMEDY - What would it sound like if RTE put some of its most popular sports commentators on Wimbledon duty?!

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

While we’re on our short Christmas and New Year break we’re going back in to the vaults and replaying a couple of our most listened-to episodes of 2025 – enjoy!

As far as careers go, crime journalism is up there with one of the most, let’s say, ‘unique’. Its not for the faint hearted – you’re dealing with dangerous people who do terrible things, and your job is to make as big an audience as possible aware of the crimes they commit.

So who’d want to do a job like that? Well, Nicola Tallant for one. Nicola is one of Ireland’s best-known crime journalists. After years writing about crime, she then started talking about it on a podcast she created called Crime World – which is now one of the most-listened to podcasts in the country. She also does live stage shows, writes a book every year and regularly appears in the media.

In this episode of The Mario Rosenstock Podcast, Nicola and I talk about why she is so fascinated by crime journalism and what and drives her to work so hard at it. We also talk open and honestly about those characters we all seem to find so compelling,  like Christy and Daniel Kinahan, Gerry the monk Hutch, and Conor McGregor. And there are also quite a few very funny moments.

COMEDY  - Rory MclIroy’s phone is hopping after his big win at The Masters.

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

Leon Diop is the founder of the Black and Irish advocacy group, he’s a podcaster, and he’s the author of two books – the latest of which is a memoir called Mixed Up: An Irish boy’s journey to belonging.

Leon is mixed-raced and grew up in the 1990s in an Ireland that was far less diverse than it is today. He describes being the only brown boy in his school and naturally that attracted a lot of attention, not all of it welcome, and he experienced a lot of both overt and casual racism (and he describes the difference in our chat). Also, his father had addiction issues and they had a difficult relationship, so things were tough on the home-front too.

But as you’re about to hear, Leon has grown up to be a resilient, successful, and very good-humoured  guy who has managed to turn a lot of tough times into something positive. He has a fascinating life story and I hope you enjoy our conversation.  

COMEDY - its that special time of year when we give gifts and think about what’s most important to us . Mariah Carey tells us constantly what SHE wants for Christmas, so we asked some well-known people what they want…

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

If you enjoyed part 1 of my chat with Marion McKeone, you're going to LOVE part 2. This time we get stuck into some of the key characters in the crazy story that is the USA today – characters like Robert F Kennedy junior, the anti-vax US health secretary with a worm in his brain; Olivia Nuzzi, the machiavellian journalist that had an affair with RFK Jnr, the late Jeffrey Epstein who is having a major impact on US politics even several years after his death; Pete Hegseth, Howard Lutnick...the list goes on.

We also ask some important questions, like really how intelligent is Donald trump ? Did a bullet actually hit his ear in the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania?  And did Jeffrey Epstein really take his own life, or was he killed?

Marion has been covering US politics and culture for decades – she’s been all over the country, attended scores of MAGA rallies, been in the white House press group, and met all the big players.

COMEDY - its the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail joint Christmas party!

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

Marion McKeone is one of Ireland’s best known journalists and commentators on the United States. She has been on Matt Cooper’s Last Word  US slot, alongside Cal Thomas, every week for years now and her columns appear regularly in the broadsheets and online.

I don’t need to tell you just how crazy and dysfunctional things are in the US right now – we hear about it every day in the news and on social media. But Marion brings a whole new level to the coverage – she lived in America for years, been part of the white house press group, knows all of the key players, and can give us an insight in to what the hell is going on and where its all going,  like no one else can.

COMEDY - Marion got a lot of messages on the hotline, from people like Matt Cooper, Cal Thomas, Paschal Donohoe, and even Donald Trump himself!

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand