The Mario Rosenstock Podcast

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