Lisa Harding and I go way back, right back to Trinity College Dublin in the early 90s where we both did our degrees and became very involved in acting. We both went on to pursue acting careers, however neither of us decided to stay on that path but we ended up succeeding in different, yet still related careers.

In Lisa’s case, that career was writing fiction, something that she has excelled at from day one. Her latest novel is called The Wildelings and it is set back in those crazy college days in the early 90s in Dublin and because I was there at the time myself, I was dying to get stuck in to this book and have a chat with Lisa about it here on the Mario Rosenstock podcast.

We chat about how people from unconventional, even dysfunctional backgrounds tend to find each other college and band together. Lisa also tells me about falling in love with acting – and falling out of love with it again; why writing is a lot like acting, the craziness of creative people not being able to get mortgages to buy a home, and lots more.

COMEDY - We have managed to get exclusive access to the voicemail box of the Eurovision song contest headquarters. Their phones have been hopping since Ireland’s entry failed to make it through to the final.

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

Picture the scene – its 1972, Ireland is a very different place to what it is today, the country is very monocultural and feels isolated out on the periphery of Europe. Its all a bit grey. Enter from stage left, one of the most interesting, charismatic and successful sports stars in the world – the great Muhammad Ali – and he’s here to fight in Croke park stadium.

The story of how all of this came about has fascinated me for years. It involves the world’s greatest sportsman, a pretty questionable Kerry-born circus strongman, and an Ireland that is almost unrecognisable to the Ireland of today.

Journalist and history lecturer Dave Hannigan is the man who decided to bring this story to life – and to a new generation – and it all comes together in his new book called The Big Fight: When Ali conquered Ireland. This story has everything, its told by a brilliant story teller. Enjoy.

COMEDY - Joe Duffy has announced his retirement after almost forty years in RTE. And he gets an unexpected call that sets him rushing out of the studio.

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

As a big fan of all things Cork, I was delighted a couple of years back to come across a fantastic ‘pure-cork’ comedy character called Reggie from the Blackrock Road. Reggie is a very old-money, conservative and highly snobby character who has a lot to say about a lot of people, very little of it complimentary. I find him hilarious.

Reggie is the brainchild of journalist, writer, and comedian Pat FitzPatrick. You may have enjoyed Pat’s excellent writing in the Sunday Independent, he also wrote jokes for Brendan O’Connor on his Saturday night tv show and he had a very popular fake agony aunt column in the Examiner called Ask Audrey.

In this episode of The Mario Rosenstock Podcast, Pat tells me all about Reggie Blackrock Road, the inspiration behind him, and his current tour https://www.reggieblackrockroad.com/ . We also talk lots about Cork (of course), class and comedy.

Comedy – With Kneecap getting so much attention for their controversial political statements, some well-known Irish musicians are trying to get in on the action. There’s no such thing as bad publicity, is there?

Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand.