And my guest is..Mario Rosenstock!

16:47Karl Deeter:I heard stories like that. I only heard a story last week about like a guy who asked his boss, he met a girl at a bar, he was working at a bar and he's like, I like this girl, I think I'm in love, can I get off early and go out for dinner? And they're married, you know? And actually my mother, when she was introducing my dad he was over here from the USA and a friend introduced him to my mom and said this is Ginny you know she's looking for a husband I figured you'd do I'll be the best man godfather to the first child my mother was horrified nearly slammed the door so that's how it worked out you know so this I love these stories

17:16Mario Rosenstock:well it's worse because it's actually cringy because then after we kissed I said you don't know how to kiss properly now that's really awful

17:24Karl Deeter:there's something about you that kind of I can't say I'm entirely surprised by that one

17:30Mario Rosenstock:That was just completely over the top, uncalled for, arrogant and...

17:36Karl Deeter:Do you still get reminded of that to this day?

17:38Mario Rosenstock:Yeah, the odd time.

17:39Karl Deeter:Okay, well then, that was a true original sin and you've paid for it many times. So, what's your wife's name?

17:45Mario Rosenstock:Blonnet.

17:46Karl Deeter:Blonnet. So, where's Blonnet from?

17:48Mario Rosenstock:So, Blonnet is from the north side of Dublin, Rohini. and I was, if you like, a pretty much an arrogant, cocky, a kind of a Southsider, I suppose you would say, very confused, very flighty. And it turned out Blond was probably that kind of yin to my yang, that kind of steadiness, common sense, sweet, kind, gentle, non-harsh non-judgmental and that kind of

18:25Karl Deeter:How long until you knew you were in love with her?

18:27Mario Rosenstock:I'd say a couple of months couple of months and then after about a year with her then I got the heebie-jeebies so I started doing that asshole thing where the guy goes no no no no no no I think I need to have a talk with her and tell her this is all over because I can't be getting involved in a relationship so I tried to have the chat with her and then she just said shut up just shut up this isn't going to happen we're together and it was the way she actually poo-pooed completely what I said and dismissed out of hand my my preordained attempts that I was going to she in other words I think she knew in her mind she knew we were good together and my stupidity confusion second thoughteries were just were just idiotic

19:15Karl Deeter:I think guys just spend an inordinate amount of time complaining about women but you know what, you find a good one damn they're worth it they really are the other thing we'll make it all is alright

19:27Mario Rosenstock:she, I don't know I think every relationship is based on this she basically said she basically said you have a really good heart and she completely believes that and that that sold me completely the idea that I think she's she was just able to look into me that's it and that's what I think a partnership is that's what I think two people falling in love together are I'm gonna just

19:56Karl Deeter:because you said you're 25 at that stage you'd already started gift group you know you had moderate success talk to me about like when you were in school were you a trash student great student you used to get in trouble much what were you like um because I want to bring us

20:06Mario Rosenstock:fall into that part of your life chronologically I was I was a people pleaser so I wanted to please the teacher but at times I was a little bit unruly as well and I wanted to show the teacher that I could be a little bit of a problem if I wanted to be so I could be their best friend or I could be a problem for them

20:22Karl Deeter:You want these little like funny pain in the arse types Little bit yeah

20:26Mario Rosenstock:I sometimes organise little mini class revolutions thinking that if the teacher I could gang up on the teacher if I wanted I wanted to maybe show the teacher that I had power although I wanted to be the teacher's best friend as well but if the teacher wasn't giving me what I wanted I might show the teacher listen I could organise a little posse here against you and start a little coup d 'etat

20:48Karl Deeter:The Rosenstock Bolsheviks

20:49Mario Rosenstock:Yeah sort of a little Bolshevik in me maybe a kind of a social justice thing again kind of a Bolshe sort of not wanting to a bit incendiary a bit trying to be different

21:00Karl Deeter:And then so you did your leave and sir did you go to college?

21:03Mario Rosenstock:Yeah so I went to Trinity and I did politics and economics but the only reason I went to Trinity was to join the Drama Society the Players which I had been obsessed with going to Trinity for about three years because I discovered acting in school. And I went, the way to do acting is to go to this amateur dramatic society in Trinity.

21:22Karl Deeter:Why didn't you just go to acting school?

21:24Mario Rosenstock:Because it wasn't as good as the amateur dramatic society in Trinity. Basically, this player is what it's called. It used to churn out loads and loads of actors and directors that went on to make it in Ireland and even the world. Like Dominic West, the guy from The Wire and everything, was in my sort of class in the players and everything. we did plays together and Cathy Belton who's a big star now in the Abbey and stuff like that and lots of other people in directing and acting around England and America and Ireland went to Trinity and you just did loads of plays there and got semi-professional experience and then you got reviewed in the Irish Times and so you were reviewed as a professional so you were like 20 years of age 19 years of age and you're reviewed as a professional so it was like get your hands dirty roll your sleeves up and do it

22:08Karl Deeter:So you got politics and economics did you get a decent score on that?

22:11Mario Rosenstock:Just an honours degree, yeah. Just scrape through.

22:14Karl Deeter:That's just wonderful because you didn't scrape through getting an honours degree. You've got to be decent enough to... Just alright, like, yeah. It was no, like, giveaway easy scores back in the... But I loved it.

22:26Mario Rosenstock:I loved the whole politics and stuff like that, you know. And that really informed later doing sketches and everything because I could feel confident talking about politics and economics and things. So, I'm guessing,

22:38Karl Deeter:just from talking, I know that you're naturally funny or you've got a good turn of wit, turn of phrase. You're studying economics and politics. A lot of people, that's just boring stuff. But you're doing that, you're in this drama society. How do you morph from that into being funny and getting your break on radio? What was the...

23:00Mario Rosenstock:Well, I was an actor. So I was doing acting, I was on stage, I was in Glenrow and stuff like that. But I'd always been doing voices.

23:08Karl Deeter:How did you get the Glenrow role?

23:08Mario Rosenstock:oh god that was just I was in school in college and literally I was doing a school play a play in Trinity and this agent came to see the play and said would you like to be a professional actor you think you've got what it takes to be a professional actor and I was basically saw this letter on the board and I was going around brandishing this letter to all my friends and students going I have the letter I was like Neville Chamberlain you know with the white piece of paper going around I have the letter remember this is pre pre-mail pre-internet and so letters were all we had and so yeah so then I got this part in Senro which was a doctor part of a doctor papers started calling me the dishy doctor after a while and I was only 21 so but I'd always been doing voices in class at home skits with my grandmother

23:53Karl Deeter:One of the ways you'd pull the piss out of your mates is do an impression of them

23:56Mario Rosenstock:Exactly and obviate bullying as well if anybody was trying to bully you Did you get bullied? Not really but once or twice you know like any kid when the big boy in class turned his attention to you you know what would you do? So my thing was to do an impression of him and then all the eyes would turn to him and of course that's just the worst thing you can do to somebody to shine a light of because our biggest fear in life is to be humiliated and when you do an impression of somebody or show hold a kind of a mirror up to them you kind of in a way humiliate them slightly. So I learned the kind of power of impressions the power of doing a pastiche of somebody or a voice or a kind of the face that they make very early and so I'd like you to try me someday on the face as your phone how do you know I haven't Carl I've done quite a few times Patrick would be well aware of my impression of you but if you throw Tourette's into the mix there

24:49Karl Deeter:as I say it's like fucking people try and take a photo of me I'm like this is like wildlife photography get a good one of me you can go join the National Show graphic

24:56Mario Rosenstock:well no for my listeners who don't know Carl is very open about talking about his Tourette's and of course I don't want to do an impression of Carl now with his Tourette's

25:04Karl Deeter:you can throw one in at the end I actually have an impression for you to do at the end, so you can tag my one on at the end of it.

25:09Mario Rosenstock:So then basically I was kind of an actor, but an actor's life wasn't for me because an actor's life, you need to be a certain type of personality. And really the personality you need to be is a personality who's used to doing nothing. Because 90 % of an actor's life is spent not working. And I just, the energy I had, I couldn't tolerate not working. I would immediately go out drinking. I'd destroy myself. I had too much energy to just do that thing where you can bide your time, do a yoga class, work as a teacher, enjoy your free time. I wasn't able to do that. I needed to be busy. And so it just so happened that at the time this new radio station, Radio Ireland was starting.

25:48Mario Rosenstock:And they were looking for new talent and I sent them in some stuff, blah, blah, blah. I didn't get anywhere. But eventually everybody got fired from Radio Ireland because there's about 150 people working for them and about 100 people got fired. and they kept on turning over people all the time. And I went in, two flatmates I was sharing a flat with.

26:10Karl Deeter:Was Radio Ireland what became Today FM?

26:11Mario Rosenstock:Radio Ireland what became Today FM.

26:14Karl Deeter:I heard you interview Dave Moore before about this, where he was talking about how he got started. He just kind of got a call, and he was just thrown straight in.

26:20Mario Rosenstock:Is that how you got started? It was a fluke again. So basically, I was living in a flat in Monkstown, and there was two New Zealand girls who were traveling the world who were living in the flat with me. and one of the girls was a radio producer back in New Zealand and she started working as a part-time radio producer for the little while she was here in Today FM, Radio Ireland. And she was a radio person and she used to come back in the evening and I'd be at home in the flat and every morning she'd hear me.

26:44Karl Deeter:So you're this like semi-employed actor? Unemployed actor. Okay, unemployed actor.

26:49Mario Rosenstock:Unemployed, 26-year-old actor in the house and in the flat and she hears me in the showers in the morning and I'm doing impressions of Gerry Adams having a shower with Martin McGuinness or whatever and the girl her and her friend would be outside the door laughing at this what they thought was maybe just unstable individual doing voices in the shower and then once she went to me she had an idea at work they went Mario that Gerry Adams could you ring us in one morning and just do Gerry Adams complaining about a Britney Spears song so it was Oops Baby One More Time or something and I started ringing and complaining about Oops Baby One Hit Me Baby One More Time and I told nothing of it and she came home that evening and she went oh there was loads of calls about your thing and actually one of the guys wants to call you and so called me and said do you do more voices and I went I was in that stage in my career where I was going nothing's happening yeah exactly I'd give it a shot so I got into a taxi went in front of a mic and I did about 80 voices for these guys including things like Bertie Ahern and stuff who was the new Taoiseach and they were impressed I thought it was just a tool of an actor that like you should be able to do these voices almost But they went, no, these are great.

27:58Mario Rosenstock:And they went, can you write? And I went, no. And they went, do you think you could write? And I went, doubt it. Never written comedy in my life. And I went, well, try. So I basically started. I couldn't really write. I didn't know how to write a gag. I didn't know how to write a sketch. But they said, think of an idea. And so I thought of an idea. And at the time, the piece process was really the main thing that everybody was talking about in Ireland. You'd see it night after night and day after day. all we talked about was David Trimble and Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness the other thing that was really massive in society from a cultural point of view was Star Trek The Next Generation right it was massive the original Star Trek of which I'd been a huge fan in the 60s Shatner and Leonard Nimoy and Forrest Kelly and all that I loved that show but this was a remake of a continuation of Star Trek

28:46Karl Deeter:Data and all these new characters yeah and so

28:49Mario Rosenstock:it was big culturally so I actually thought of an idea which was it proved to be the sort of way Gift Grub has always gone which is to try and fold two things that are totally different in together at the same time. So basically I tried to fold a piece process in with Star Trek. So I created a small... Carl is looking at me he's gone full Tourette's. It happens every now and then. I created a... He's gone full notties on this one. So I created this thing called a Star Trek Starship Compromise. So it was a starship in which Jerry Adams was the captain and Martin McGuinness was his number one. And they would fly around the galaxy looking for compromise with alien civilizations.

29:29Mario Rosenstock:Not for war, but for compromise. Because that's all the peace process was about. Gary Adams was all about compromise, though. Compromise, compromise. You know, fighting war, yeah, but compromise. And David Drimble, compromise, compromise. And so I was going out to these alien civilizations and they'd go to the planet of the Daniel O'Donnells or the planet of the Michael Flatleys and they tried to compromise with them. and all this sort of stuff. So the episodes would last one and a half minutes and I was doing them at night in the Today FM and going home hearing no reaction. I remember once then I went to a bar in Black Rock and two lads were at the bar and went to Did you hear Starship compromise this morning?

30:06Mario Rosenstock:And that was a real bolt for me just to hear two strangers going saying the thing I had done. Did you hear Starship compromise? And I thought that's my thing. Soon after then I heard Ian Dempsey was going newly employed look who we poached for breakfast Ian Dempsey biggest star on radio in Ireland in Breakfast Radio was coming to Today FM and he came from what

30:28Karl Deeter:Zig and Zag or something yeah exactly

30:30Mario Rosenstock:so he was saying to the guys I'd worked with comedy and Zig and Zag and all this

30:34Karl Deeter:if you're not 50 they were two puppets basically and there was a show and he used to talk to these two alien puppets called Zig and Zag

30:41Mario Rosenstock:and Zig and Zag then went on to become huge in England and they did the big breakfast with Chris Evans and all that sort of stuff and they were two imaginary so two little puppets to funny little puppets and so Ian would hear this Starship Compromise carry on which I was doing on my own in a room in Today FM at night after things like Glenrow and no idea what I was talking about actually I just put the music under it and then just go Northern Ireland the final frontier you know these are the stories and then it's just we'd do the sketch and so Ian said what about that guy who's doing the thing in the morning before we come on and 5 to 7 in the morning and Mario and said, do you want to meet Mario?

31:21Mario Rosenstock:Ian said, why not? Nothing to lose. And that was the moment then. The moment really was me and Ian meeting. And me and Ian meeting then was, I didn't realise at the time, but completely pivotal moment where I was meeting this basically legend of radio. And he was kind of at the beginning of his journey and maybe looking for people to work with. But what really worked was, I guess, our sense of humour complemented each other. They weren't the same, but they were close to each other.

31:47Karl Deeter:your sense of humor obviously you pull the piss out of everyone in their own little way have you ever actually bothered someone has it ever gotten back to you that yeah so and so like they were properly upset by that yeah yeah and in particular that you can mention

32:01Mario Rosenstock:yeah I mean I've from my understanding Michael Flatley really does not like this kind of piss take of him and I don't I'm not surprised because I think he feels that it's I sort of think he thinks like you know why would he be taking the piss out of me I'm an ambassador for Ireland I'm travelling the world and I'm hoofing and I'm playing me flute and I'm doing Ireland proud and this guy is making an absolute fool of me you know who does he think he is

32:28Karl Deeter:have you ever had an urge to apologise to anyone that you offended

32:31Mario Rosenstock:no no because because I don't think because I don't think I think as long as I stay within the realms of of what they do publicly I think I'm in I'm fine I really I really would be anyone ever like

32:45Karl Deeter:send you legal letters or shit like that

32:46Mario Rosenstock:Nope. Nope. I really would be averse to making fun of somebody's private life if it wasn't out there or saying something below the belt. I believe that Dave Giffgrub is quite gentle and that the humour is quite gentle and anything that is done is done, which it's implied. I think the listener can make up their mind where you're going and what you're getting at a lot of the time.

33:09Karl Deeter:one thing I would say I've heard people talk about woke comedy and to me that's just not funny at all like there's no joy in it but what you do is still pretty safe but it's usually pretty damn funny as well how do you like how do you keep doing that I mean like how do you stay creative what's your average day like

33:27Mario Rosenstock:I had a I had a rewiring of my brain around 2000 year 2000 I was doing Gif Grub for a very short period of time and I was putting all my energy into do Gif Grub sketches and I remember I did one sketch which worked really, really well. I'd put all my energy into it and Ian and the guys said there was a brilliant reaction to it in the morning and I kind of wanted to go out and party. And I went, so what's tomorrow? And I went, tomorrow? We have to go again tomorrow. What's tomorrow? And that gave me the shock of my life. Basically, you have to keep producing this material for radio and it's non-stop.

34:00Mario Rosenstock:It's going to eat up material the whole time. And basically, I remember I started crying and I had to go home for a few days and just kind of I was shaking and I had to go and go come to terms with this what's going on here now actually cried yep actually quick quick segue can I do an impression of myself crying no no

34:17Karl Deeter:when's the last time you cried and for what

34:23Mario Rosenstock:jeepers do you know what I was looking I was I was looking at Robert Redford and Paul Newman just about to jump off a cliff in Butch Cassidy in the Sundance Kid yesterday on YouTube and it brought a tear to my eye. Why? Because I was watching magic. Generally I cry or get a bit emotional not from something sad but from something magical. When I see magic being made or when I see moments of magic happening and you go they're bottling it they're capturing it and then it's gone as soon as it's made. So I was kind of feeling nostalgic for that magic that they had created. I just absolutely love beauty and magic moments being created in song, in music, in film, theater.

35:14It just makes me quite emotional because of all the stuff that's made, very rarely you

35:20Mario Rosenstock:get to that little point where that little piece of absolute magic is made and it makes me very emotional to see it. So I was, he died, he had just died and I was watching his beauty and the beauty he had in chemistry with Newman the little moment they created and it just makes me emotional and if I

35:43Karl Deeter:want to get back to then so you're punching out all this material how old were you when you had your first child or when Blondard had your first child

35:53Mario Rosenstock:so Dash was 37

35:56Karl Deeter:so you kind of waited a long time then

35:59Mario Rosenstock:we were a bit unfortunate to be honest with miscarriages and stuff

36:03Karl Deeter:like a stack of them yeah

36:04Mario Rosenstock:four four

36:06Karl Deeter:that's hard

36:07Mario Rosenstock:it was yeah

36:07Karl Deeter:she was still willing to keep yeah oh yeah

36:11Mario Rosenstock:but it was I think it's one of the saddest things that can happen to anybody miscarriage again it's one of those things Ireland has started talking about this a lot more I mean the whole mental health debate everything we talk about we're better at talking about everything and miscarriages is one of them but it's one of those things that doesn't get talked about because it's so something happens you're going to have a baby and then suddenly somebody meets you months later and they're looking at you and there's no baby and you can't speak about it so all this anticipation is gone it's tremendous emotional and physical pain for Blonard for the mum and obviously a lot of pain for the putative dad it's one of the saddest things it's one of the saddest things people can go through, I think, because it's swept under the, it's deliberately and almost socially swept under the carpet.

37:09Mario Rosenstock:And as it almost has to be out of politeness, people don't want to talk about your unfortunate, what happened to you, you know? So yeah, we kept trying and listen, we weren't unusual, especially when I was doing the radio show, the Sunday roast, I talked to lots of people who, and since, of course, who've had lots and lots of miscarriages. And of course, it's a feature of all our lives, of women's lives, you know, to have loads of miscarriages. And we were just the same as anybody else. But yeah, we just kept trying. And eventually it happened, you know. But I mean, even then, I regard us as lucky because you see here's, like I know loads of people even in this building and they've gone through IVF for years and it took either, never worked or it's gone, you know, took ages to work.

37:54Karl Deeter:And like, how do you deal with pain actually? I suppose like obviously like women deal with pain and particularly around things like miscarriages in probably a vastly different way than men do my own view is probably a mixture for me at least of kind of denial not talking about it rage you know the usual kind of mix but what's your antidote like how do you work through it

38:18Mario Rosenstock:for dealing with emotional pain I think a bit like yourself I think a little bit of denial smile, not so much rage, a kind of pretending it's not there. So I think I use the imaginary side of my brain almost to deny that it's there.

38:38Karl Deeter:Can you still be funny when things are going wrong in your life? I was thinking about this yesterday and do you know what, that very thought entered my

38:45Mario Rosenstock:head yesterday. I've had so, I've been so lucky with, somebody rang me yesterday and went I can't Mario I can't do this podcast and I went why and they went I know this sounds weird but my dog died and I kind of went oh yeah well you know people are really close to their pets and the person went like I'm devastated and I'm not in the mood to be doing comic or funny things tomorrow and I went I totally understand yeah like dogs cats and everything we're so close to them but it didn't happen things like that haven't happened to me much and the only thing i can say is that i i i believe i'll just second try and block it out which is a terrible thing to say in a way but i have to keep going i have to keep getting the job done and i don't know because nothing really really bad has happened that i can remember in the last number of years that of stopped me from doing the job but i can't imagine do you know what i mean i just i don't know what i would do but i would i would have to i think find some way of keeping going and and then

39:53Karl Deeter:so so then tell me then say about your kids so you know you had these tragedies you eventually were blessed with a child you were 37 you're 55 now so you've a child who's 18 you've been shown

40:02Mario Rosenstock:12 12 12 and 18 some interesting ages boys or girls so dash is 18 and he's doing his leaving her to um Bellamy she's um 12. And what are they like? So she's like me so she's uh she's kind of got this sparkiness and mischief and the um independence and kind of get out of my way this is going to happen nothing's going to stop me and he's kind of got more blunted a little bit of quietness, introspection and thoughtfulness. And I'm glad that he does.

40:38Karl Deeter:What do they want to do with themselves? Or do they know?

40:42Mario Rosenstock:I don't really know. He loves music and he loves rap and he loves DJs and he loves being independent. So he's definitely got a feeling, a strong feeling of independence as well. And she is strong, loves tennis and loves her daddy.

41:02Karl Deeter:yeah daughter love is something different isn't it I've never experienced

41:05Mario Rosenstock:anything like it it's beautiful it is

41:08Karl Deeter:it is you know and I I grew up with four sisters and I have to say I just never understood women despite it but I definitely understand young women's or young girls ability to manipulate fathers now in a way that I just never it's unstoppable yeah they're a force but it's

41:26Mario Rosenstock:you are you're lost you're just gone you can't stop it

41:29Karl Deeter:and you like as a parent what are you like you're like oh do whatever you want I'm happy I love you as long as you're happy or

41:35Mario Rosenstock:no again it's a balance again it's a balance between we talk it out again it's a balance between being blonde I mean kids try to do this thing where they try to divide and conquer oh they're brilliant find the weakest link chop them up go to work on their ass and break it up I mean with him I'm with him I'm kind of a lot in common in terms of films I have a little thing in my phone calls films with Dash so from the time he was 7 or 8 I've been trying to watch the world's greatest films with him you know I remember when he was 14 I said is he ready for one flu over the cuckoo's nest and he was

42:13Karl Deeter:not even ready for that I'm fit

42:14Mario Rosenstock:and I went he is ready for one flu over the cuckoo's nest but hilariously here's what happened when he was about 14 I started showing him one flu over the cuckoo's nest and he went after 3 minutes he went yeah yeah I think I know what's happening here and I went what do you mean you think you know what's happening here the guy with the hat McMurphy and I went McMurphy and Jack Nicholson he's going to go into the insane asylum and kind of show them all that they're not really as insane as they thought they were and that really they're being mistreated and that they're just you know and I went how did you know all this and the reason he kind of knew it was kids nowadays are exposed to narrative in a way that you and I were never exposed when we were young

42:53Karl Deeter:there's always films that'll like catch you off guard like Deliverance or

42:56Mario Rosenstock:yeah but gaming Dead by Dawn but gaming and Fortnite and YouTube teaches kids narrative all the time in short form they learn narrative so quickly so they're really cute to seeing narrative and things they're looking out for it whereas when I watch a film I'm always kind of going let's just this film bathe over me here and see what it's like he was cute to it straight away going I think I know what's going to happen anyway I have a little file on my phone going films with Dash and we watch films together

43:23Karl Deeter:do you worry about them?

43:26Mario Rosenstock:do I worry about them? no oh, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't want to spend, I don't want to spend time and energy worrying about them. I just want to do my very best to be there for them.

43:36Karl Deeter:With so much going on, are you good at being present?

43:39Mario Rosenstock:Yep. I am, I think. And that's one of the things, that exact thing, being present, is the one thing all I wanted to do. Not to be the best dad in the world, not to be like, read a book and go, I know how to be a dad. Just to actually go, I don't think there's pretty much anything better you can do than just being there. Being there with them in the moment, just doing things and just being there for their things. Do you know when you, do you know when you see those, do you know when you see those?

44:10Karl Deeter:I want to stop you super quick and just tell me, tell me about your own dad. What was a happy memory you have with him?

44:16Mario Rosenstock:Happy memory of him, with him was him playing tennis with me and me smashing a backhand down the line when he served his best serve. And.

44:25Karl Deeter:Have you done that with your kids? Have you given them one of those moments absolutely yeah absolutely

44:30Mario Rosenstock:or him teaching me chess and then beating him on the 36th occasion that I played him in chess

44:36Karl Deeter:there's a theme here of just battering your dad well no that's

44:40Mario Rosenstock:a wider a wider spectrum well no I think that's what I think that's what kind of you know dads and kids do together they kind of the dad teaches should teach the kid things until the kid is good enough to be as good as them or better

44:52Karl Deeter:if you were ever playing say you know your daughter in tennis would you ever let her win?

44:57Mario Rosenstock:No she wouldn't want me to let her win and we're doing that currently so we're doing that currently

45:02Karl Deeter:Unless they win fair Yeah

45:04Mario Rosenstock:we're doing that currently she doesn't want that we're doing that currently and like she's getting better and better and better she's getting good and I'd say it'll be a year and a half before she's able to beat me and Like when you say to yourself

45:14Karl Deeter:objectively like if you were to die tomorrow you think they'd be just fine then I'm not saying they wouldn't miss you or be sad but I'm saying if you raise them to a point where you think I hope so I hope so

45:22Mario Rosenstock:but I wouldn't be it wouldn't be just me Blond would still be there but you know yeah I think they're emotionally sound that's great well done

45:34Karl Deeter:I just want to have a few more little things and then we'll start wrapping up I hope listeners that you've really gotten an insight into a man that you haven't gotten in this way at least in the past

45:43Mario Rosenstock:Conor is enraptured anyway over there he's absolutely enthralled

45:46Karl Deeter:tell me tell me say who's your top like two Irish comedians because I'm always curious about like how you riff off others like when I you know I play guitar and there's like guitarist I'd love to be. Do you have any guys like that in the world or in Ireland?

45:59Mario Rosenstock:Yeah, I do. I do. I mean, I do. First of all, I love all comedy. I mean, and I'm loath to say Tommy Tiernan because everybody says Tommy Tiernan, but I will say Tommy Tiernan on the basis that he mixes a certain kind of a... he mixes a kind of a certain philosophy and a spirituality and a why are we here-ness and what the fuck is it all about? A kind of a waiting for Godot, a kind of a Samuel Beckett thing going on. And a true Irish style, Flann O 'Brien-y kind of feel with some down-to-worth outrageous commentary with funny voices with simple humour. He also has a really uncanny ability to bring subjects back to the kernel of what it's all about.

46:40Mario Rosenstock:I remember he started talking about do you ever think about the world financial fucking crisis? I owe you money he owes him money India owes China money China owes Tunisia money Tunisia owes Gaddafi money Gaddafi owes Barney owe money but there's a big line of people who owes each other money I'd let's go to the fella at the end of the line and go just fucking kill him then nobody would owe anybody fucking money I remember thinking that's what a beautiful way of summarising the world debt problem because if you look you know finance if you think about you hear these statistics the world owes 30 trillion to who?

47:16The world

47:16Mario Rosenstock:the world you know or the world's money is 30 trillion but we owe 60 trillion how can that be? how can we owe more than we have as a planet I've always said this and and I've always thought he's great it's David McSavage as well

47:34Karl Deeter:David McSavage is a beast

47:36Mario Rosenstock:oh my god he's a savage beast and I really do love David McSavage and I love him because of his

47:41Karl Deeter:he's absolutely nuts like to be a reality just that energy but he says stuff I still I can't find it there's a clip where he was talking about life insurance he's like you want to get life insurance because you'd be brown bread called Eleventy, Eleventy, Twelfty. And even my son, who's never seen the skit, sometimes say, how much is that T-shirt? It's Twelfty. Like he's riffing off what he said and it was just brilliant.

48:04Mario Rosenstock:Yeah, my son Dash loves him as well now, you know, and Dash is at that age, again, 18 and stuff. He likes David and David McSavage's old clips from The Savage Eye and stuff. So I think David has this kind of vulnerability that allows him to be silly. And I think when we all tap into that thing where you can allow yourself to be silly I think you get places but you have to allow yourself to be silly and you know David does that now having said that I love I really think it's unfair just to single out a couple of people because I also love technical comedians comedians who are just technically brilliant at what they do people like Neil Delamere they write great jokes I watched Neil Delamere in a thing just dealing with crowd work with the audience and I thought Jesus that was quick he was fantastic Jason Byrne a completely different type of comic.

48:52Mario Rosenstock:Since she's, in the last few years, I've got into watching more of Deirdre O 'Kane because she's kind of got into this almost middle-aged woman humour where, you know, she's a beautiful woman but she's got into that thing of, she's found a kind of a metier, she's found a kind of a real little seam of gold that she's been mining for a few years now and she's brilliant and so are like, you know.

49:17Karl Deeter:Internationally, who would be your favourite? Like, do you have an all-time my favourite, man? That's my go-to.

49:23Mario Rosenstock:Well, I mean, just, I mean, I'm going to do a Trump answer to this go and just go just all of them. But unlike Trump, I will name them, right? So, I mean... Top, say, three. The three that you say, like... Stand-up comedians. No, no, it could be... When somebody walks into a room, okay, I have different criteria. I've never seen anybody being able to walk into a room of stiff people and within 30 seconds, they are folded on the floor. Jim Carrey can do that. Jim Carrey can walk into a room of people with dicky bows. They go, like, let's just say, like, let's just say, like, one of those stiff Hollywood things where it's like, the IFI appreciates Martin Scorsese and you hear this voiceover going, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr.

50:07Mario Rosenstock:Jim Carrey. Polite applause. All Hollywood stiffs there. He walks in, 40 seconds later, there are people nearly throwing up into a bucket. The genius of the guy with his sense of madness, his sense of just crazy. But just his sense, right? Robin Williams, Will Ferrell. Will Ferrell is somebody I can just look at his face and just fall asunder laughing. I mean, he's clearly a genius, Will Ferrell. There's no question about it.

50:31Karl Deeter:A lot of American comedians there. No, yeah, but I've...

50:33Mario Rosenstock:I mean, then politically, George Carlin. I love that sort of stuff. But Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, and Eddie Murphy's early stuff, unbelievable.

50:45Mario Rosenstock:let me see then and then British comedy I mean I hate I can't stand people who don't like Michael McIntyre Michael McIntyre is an amazing comedian just because you're jealous of him and he's made you know 100 million quid doesn't mean he's still not good you can make loads of money and be a brilliant comedian absolutely fantastic Frankie Boyle sometimes makes me cry laughing you know old boy that one but yeah again Ricky Gervais actually Ricky Gervais Ricky Gervais it blows me away it blows me away yeah but I'm very easy to please if somebody is good at what they're doing I'm going to be buying it I'm going to be loving it and I'm not a snob about it and I and I appreciate other people's good work and you know and and obviously going back to my youth and everything I mean obviously I'm a bit of a Monty Python kind of fella as well and 40 Towers and all that sort of stuff but I used to love American sitcom as well like Larry Sanders and from the slightly bizarre world of Larry Sanders to Cheers and everything straight sitcom amazing stuff yeah so omnivorous

51:51Karl Deeter:and tell me then if so you've had an amazing career you know the things that you say matter to you you've been succeeding at I'm sure you have your dark moments the way everyone does but but by and large from inside talking out as you have now it seems like you've done great and outside in looks great too but is there anything left on your bucket list anything that you're saying I still have these couple of things I want to do

52:17Mario Rosenstock:two things longevity I'm a big fan of longevity I'm a big fan of working and trying to grow within your work if you can to an old age in other words to still be able to like I watched George Carlin on stage towards the end of his life and you know he was still fiery and angry and brilliant and older I love that my ambition is to be older and still loving while I do and I'd love to do I'm going to bring Gift Grub live to myself and Ian are going to go to London in February and do Gift Grub live over there and try and adapt it a little bit for a foreign audience and see how that goes Brilliant

52:54Karl Deeter:and tell me two more things the last this is the last question the ultimate last bit is going to be an off the cuff request for an impersonation Oh no get ready for it so I want you to imagine just for a moment that you're dead and you're wherever you go and you're looking back what do you want to be remembered for what do you think is the thing that if you say you know if people

53:19Mario Rosenstock:think about me i hope they remember me this way good dad sorry i have to i think good dad that's what i want that's that's uh because that's beyond that there's nothing really that works for me

53:34Karl Deeter:you know it's kind of a nice way to tie everything about your story together that that end note and now just to put you on the spot not you I want you yeah can you imagine yeah do an impression of the guy sitting right for you no it's I will have to see that someday no I want the most the best kind of semi exaggerated impression of Mario Rosenstock from Mario Rosenstock

54:00Mario Rosenstock:okay well Paul McClune who helped create Gift Grub with me and Ian Dempsey in the early days used to do an impression of me which I really hated and he used to do it after about seven pints and he used to go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Me, me, me, me, me, me, me. You for a little bit. You for a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, back to me. Back to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Ian, Ian, was that funny? Ian, was that funny? Am I funny? Is that working? Me, me, me, me. No, no, you, you, you. Okay, shut up. Not you anymore. Me, me. And we leave it with me.

54:34Mario Rosenstock:Probably true.

54:35Karl Deeter:I was hoping that would be a bit more of a dicky thing to catch you out on, but that's actually a great end and you know and I hope everyone listening did unmasking him a bit I hope we did some of that and covered some fresh territory you continue to be a guy who I love to to talk to to hear from to learn about and yeah look it's been great

54:55Mario Rosenstock:thank you so much Carl and Patrick remember I told you if it's not interesting enough don't put it out thank you and that's it for this week from the Mario Rosenstock podcast My thanks to you, as always, for listening. If you can, tell one other person about this podcast if you enjoyed it and encourage them to listen to it. We have so many guests down through the last four years for you to scroll back and have a listen to. Really, really interesting interviews. I hope you'll agree. My thanks to deluxepathrooms.ie. Get down there as soon as you can or get online. We'll see you same time, same place next week.