For decades, Hot Press has been at the centre of some of Ireland's most challenging conversations around drugs, consistently questioning whether criminalisation is the best way to tackle addiction, organised crime and public health. Now, that conversation continues through its new podcast series, Dealing With Drugs: A Hot Press Podcast

The show is presented by deputy editor of Hot Press Stuart Clarke, who joins me as my special guest on this episode of the Mario Rosenstock Podcast. We chat about everything from why Portugal's model of decriminalisation is working and why Ireland's model of criminalisation isn’t, to organised crime, music culture and why honesty may be the most important starting point for any meaningful debate about this issue.

COMEDY: It’s the most popular gift Grub Sketch that I have written years – I channel my inner Bob Dylan and sing about the number of England players with Irish roots in the World Cup!

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

 Mike Hanrahan has spent over forty years writing, performing and championing Irish music. He spent fifteen years with Stockton's Wing, writing hits such as Beautiful affair and Over the Moors,  which was the theme tune for Joe Duffys radio show for over 40 years until recently (and Mike has a very strong opinion on the decision to drop it)

He went on to spend ten years writing and performing with the legendary  Ronnie Drew with whom he became a close friend; He has also supported Michael Jackson in Páirc Uí Chaoimh,  appeared in Jim Sheridan’s The Field, alongside Richard Harris, Sean Bean and John Hurt; performed for Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior; he even spent years as a professional chef in kitchens across Ireland. And we have a great chat about all of these stories and more in this episode of the Mario Rosenstock podcast

Lucy Kennedy’s hit TV show ‘Living with Lucy’ has been a huge success and so much of that is down to Lucy’s disarmingly relaxed and authentic style of interviewing – in fact it doesn’t even really feel like an interview, more of a very causal chat, which is why the celebs she moves in with are so open and honest with her.

As well as being a tv presenter , Lucy is also the co host of the breakfast show on Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio, alongside Colm Hayes; she has written several children’s books, and now she can add adult fiction writer to her CV. Her debut novel is called The Mini Breakers and we chat about that – and a whole lot else in this episode of the mario Rosenstock podcast.

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

My conversation with Greg Allen continues, with more great stories and sports insights in this episode.  Greg has spent over 40 years covering golf and athletics on RTE, and in this part of our chat he shares early memories of watching Rory Mcllroy play, what he thought at the time, and where he thinks his career is headed now. We hear stories about his interviews with famous golfers including Jack Nicklaus, and I hit him with a quick fire round of questions about his favourite sportsperson, most memorable sporting moment, and lots more.

COMEDY - its World Cup fever at the moment and David WcWilliams is doing what David McWilliams does best, on the David McWilliams podcast!

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

Greg Allen joined RTE’s sports department over 40 years ago and he intentionally decided to focus on two sports that weren’t particularly widely covered, so that he could develop a niche for himself and make his mark. He chose well, as Ireland has since become a global force in golf and athletics , and Greg has had a front-row seat to that remarkable transformation.

He has covered 10 Olympic games, every World Athletics Championship since 1993 and each European Athletics championship since 1990, 90 major golf championships, 16  Ryder Cups , over 100  international events and domestic ones too – and in this episode he tells me some great insider stories about the big events,  the sports stars involved, and the rise and rise of Irish sport on the world stage.

COMEDY -  As one of Ireland’s most recognisable sports commentators, there’s was naturally a lot of interest in this episode from other recognisable sports commentators, and they were eager to get in touch with Greg on the Mario Rosenstock podcast hotline.

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

Ever since he was a kid, all Jack Lukeman (aka Jack L) wanted to do was to write and perform music - and he has managed to make a very long and successful career out of it, with multi-platinum selling albums and thousands of gigs under his belt. And it certainly helped that he has one of the most recognisable voices in the industry.

But as well as writing and performing music, Jack also thinks a lot about it – he’s fascinated by its history, the science behind it, and the impact that AI is having on music, and what that means for musicians and performers in general. So we have a deep and wide-ranging chat about all that, as well as Jack’s upcoming projects, including MC'ing on the main stage and performing at the upcoming Forest Fest in Co.Laois in July, a 'Northern Lights' church tour, and two consecutive nights at the 3Olympia in March 2027

COMEDY – Ray Darcy, Michael Healy Rae, and Ivan Yates remember what they got up to after they sat their Leaving Certs.

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

This is the second part of my chat with Craig Doyle, and we’ve kept some of his best stories for this episode. Craig talks about how ITV’s This Morning survived the Phillip Schofield saga, the time when he played football with Diego Maradona and many other top players, and the recent Geoff Parling viral video in which Craig played an unfortunate starring role.

COMEDY – Roy Keane, Patrick Kielty, and Brendan O’Connor leave messages for Craig on The Mario Rosenstock Podcast Hotline

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

If you ask Chat GPT about Craig Doyle, one of the things it will say is: Craig gives off “good bloke who accidentally wandered into television and stayed there” energy.

And when I put this to Craig he didn’t disagree! Because even though he has presented some of the UK’s most-watched shows, a career on camera was never really part of Craig’s grand plan. And the story of how it all happened is a great one.

Craig shares so many great stories from his career and his childhood, he tells me about encounters with characters like Jeremy Clarkson, Jimmy McGee, Phil Lynott, Robbie Williams, and playing soccer Diego Maradona! And I also learn all about the production company he runs with former rugby international Brian O’Driscoll and some of the fascinating sports documentaries they have made together. But it hasn't all been plain sailing, and Craig also tells me about when and why he almost gave it all up to pursue a totally different career, and what happened next.

COMEDY – Ryle Nugent, Donal Lenihan, and Brian O’Driscoll phone in and leave messages for Craig on The Mario Rosenstock Hotline

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

A couple of episodes back Gerry Mullins told me the fascinating story of Jonathon swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels, which is still by far the most successful book ever published by an Irish author. It was full of dangerous political commentary, so 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, a fate that Swift ran the risk of meeting. It’s a fascinating story and if you haven’t heard that episode be sure to check it out.

But Gerry also shared some other eye-opening pieces of history with me – about my own family. Stories about my German grandfather, my Irish grandmother, what they went through during WW2, and how their experiences may have had an impact on my own upbringing. This was all new information to me and in this episode you’ll hear me learning some very poignant facts about my family, for the very first time.

Did you know that RTE’s Late Late Show is longest running chat show in TV history? For over 60 years it has been an institution in Ireland - entertaining huge audiences, reflecting societal changes, challenging the status quo, and setting the news agenda.

But the show now seems to have reached something of a turning point – there are a lot more TV shows competing for our attention, numbers are falling, and some say that its not as as relevant as it once was. On top of all that there’s a big question mark over who will be the host of the next series, as Patrick Kielty has not signed a contract to do it, and we’re not sure if he will.

I’ve been on the Late Late many times and I’m really interested in its past, present and future, and so we invited two guests on to this episode who are equally as interested and who know a lot about the show and TV entertainment formats in general.

Former journalist Larissa Nolan has been a guest on the show and has written a lot about it, and Paddy Cullivan was a weekly fixture on the Late Late for 10 years during Ryan Tubridy’s tenure, fronting up the house band the Camembert Quartet.

Larissa, Paddy and I reflect on the highs and lows of the late late over the years, we try to figure out what’s gone wrong, whats gone right, and what its going to take to save the Late Late and get it back to its glory days…

COMEDY - when I put it out there on my social channels that we were going to be chatting about the Late Late its future, a few well-known people got in touch, and it seems they have their eye on the big job on the show..