'The show we’ve always wanted to make': The 2 Johnnies talk 2020, and escaping America mid-pandemic
The 2 Johnnies Christmas Special Photo: Peter Houlihan
National media domination is a tricky enough old business at the best of times, much less in the current circumstances.
The success of Tipperary entertainers The 2 Johnnies throughout the pandemic, then, has been a testament to the hard slog that they’ve put in over the years, across live events, podcasting, books and television appearances, as the Irish public has stayed with them through one of the hardest years in living memory.
The 2 Johnnies Podcast, a smash success for the past few years, continues to do well throughout the crisis, ranking as one of streaming service Spotify’s biggest podcasts of the year, and clocking up half a million listeners a week overall.
Johnny Snacks is grounded about the challenges they’ve faced in keeping things fresh in the circumstances. “I tell ye one thing, it’d be fair hard to keep it going if no-one was listening! To know that you have that many listeners, that’s what drives us on. Knowing that people listen to it, and rely on, and it’s gotten even stronger in lockdown. We’ve been focused on giving people that little lift, we don’t take ourselves too serious, and there’s no pressure there.
“It was hard, a little bit in (to lockdown). A lot of our stories come from being out and about, meeting people and getting our auld scéals, you know that kind of way. But it’s been tough in the pandemic, when me and Johnny are just staring at each other, not travelling.”
“It forces you to try new things”, adds Johnny B. “When we first started, we were telling stories about things that’d happen to ya, but now, you have to exercise a different part of your brain, and take a different approach to things. You have to be more creative when you have less options.”
The whole 2 Johnnies multimedia empire has been something of a cottage industry from the beginning, with the whole affair being managed from their HQ in Cahir, Co Tipperary. Not necessarily a central point of national media, being a product of their surroundings obviously adds cadence to their voice and the platform they’ve built.
Keeping the overall thing busy in 2020 was a matter of maintaining perspective, says Johnny B.
“The live gigs are a big loss, because we love going out, performing for our listeners and meeting them. But someone said it to us years ago: ‘lads, ye’re your own media outlet’, and that clicked with us early on, and we took that seriously. We wanted to create our own content, instead of making stuff to flog, like paid content. Anything you have your name on is going to affect ya. Treat it like you’re your own TV, radio, publishing house.
“Every side of it is enjoyable. It’s a lot of hard work, but we used to have ‘real’ jobs. You get tired, and you think ‘oh, no, I’m tired, but wait, I get to film a TV show, or do a podcast about something I love’. We have a positive mindset, and we have the chance to work, and just create things all day, every day. That’s an amazing privilege to have.”
The lads would know a thing or two about living amid a pandemic: their documentary series, The 2 Johnnies Do America, was cut short earlier this year, while filming on the road and at live podcast recordings around the country’s major cities. The process of getting home as the proverbial was hitting the fan was as eventual as their intended jaunt, says Johnny B.
“Before we left, my dad said to us, ‘ye’ll be home shortly, because of the pandemic’. We thought he was insane. There was no-one talking about it in Ireland, and then when we got to America, we got to LA okay, started using a bit of hand sanitiser, and masks were only starting to come in. By the time we got to Miami to go to DC, the day after we left, it was declared an emergency for Covid outbreaks.
“The day we left DC to go to Boston, we turn on the news, and DC was turning into a Covid hotspot, it was chasing us around. When we got to Boston, the TV crew went ahead to New York and we did a live show in Boston, but the call came in that New York was a blackspot, and they’d have to pull all the gigs.
“We had to do shows in Canada, and fly home via LA, and Trump was talking about closing the borders, so we thought we’d be trapped in America. So, right there and then in Boston, we had to cancel everything. We hopped straight on a plane and went home. There were only sixty people on this massive Aer Lingus plane, so we all had to go down the back of the plane before takeoff, or else the weight distribution would be wrong.”
After the year they’ve had, The 2 Johnnies Christmas Spectacular, tonight at 10.15pm on RTÉ 2, caps the whole affair off. A comedy floor-show in the classic format, it’s something that the pair are exceptionally proud of, with a number of surprise guests lined up to make appearances.
"This is the show we've always wanted to make,” says Johnny Snacks. “This is what we set out for. People are going to see another side to us, it's a shiny floor production, but it's very funny, very 2 Johnnies, we roped in lots of people that owe us favours over the years to make it. It's that old school comedy special, it's got the velour curtains. It's a bit Morecambe and Wise, a bit Ant and Dec, but it's got our stamp, all over it. It's the best thing we've ever done, by a mile. We're dead proud of it."
"We're looking at the schedule of things made in Ireland this year, and there's nothing like it,” adds Johnny B. “Parts of it are traditional and nostalgic, other parts of it are totally off the wall. We thought there was a gap, and it's the kind of the show we've wanted to make."
It’s as well they have this to look forward to, because this Christmas has been, and will be, much different to any we’ve had in our collective lives. It’s hard not to think of the usual routines you’d have, especially considering the long-term effects of the relatively recent recession on rural communities in Ireland.
"For years now,” says Snacks, “I've gone home to Roscrea, and met the same friends in the same pub every year on Christmas Eve, for as long as I can remember, since I started going out. That's something I'll miss, because we won't be able to all be together, because it's a good drinking town, but not a gastro-pub town, but it's like anything, we'll just adjust, like.
“Look at the pandemic, we were freaking out for a while, and then we were like, 'right, let's get on with it'. I think Christmas might take on more meaning - doing other stuff, spending more time with family, actually chatting over Christmas. It'll be different, but a good thing."
Says Johnny B, "There are a lot of cousins and relatives I won't be able to see. We'd normally be good to get together. Our GAA club would have a match every Stephens' morning, where it's the aul' lads versus the young lads, and I think myself and Snacks are qualified to be the aul' lads, now. We might have to bend a few rules, but the aul' lads usually win, and teach the youngfellas a lesson. I don't think we're going to be doing that this year, I'll definitely miss that."
2021 is uncharted territory yet for so many of us, for all the reasons we’ve been dealing with in the past few months. The 2 Johnnies face the coming year with the usual aplomb, and plans. Lots of plans.
“The podcast is our main concern,” enthuses Johnny B, “That’s our baby. We’ll be driving that on to new levels. Who knows, we might be back on the road. We’ll be making more TV, there might be more in the pipeline, more of that ‘studio special’ style.”
“If we were to get commissioned for more of that, it’d be unreal,” opines Snacks at the thought of more telly. “There’s so many things we want to do, but imagine if we had six months to plan, and no Covid? The insanity we’d be able to produce! Would love to get a crack at doing it on the regular. Dream come true.”
The 2 Johnnies Christmas Spectacular airs tonight on RTÉ2 at 10.15 PM, and is available on-demand via RTÉ Player shortly after.
