Mario Rosenstock's Cork show to include skits of Vogue Williams and the Two Norries
Mario Rosenstock performs four shows at Cork Opera House.
Mario Rosenstock is exactly how I imagined he would be when I chat to him over Zoom ahead of his nationwide tour. He’s hilarious, excited, and ready to make me laugh from the get-go.
The impressionist and satirist will bring Gift Grub to the Cork Opera House from Wednesday, March 8 and this time around, Rosenstock promises plenty of new sketches that are sure to have the audience in stitches.
With notes about the upcoming show sprawled around him, Rosenstock tells me the Cork audience have always enjoyed his work and love “the piss take”. After all, Gift Grub Live 2023 will see four nights at the Opera House alone.
Now 52, it all kicked-off for Rosenstock when Gift Grub started on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show back in 1999. Throughout his 20s, 30s and 40s, life was “a bit frantic” and as he entered his 50s, Rosenstock started to stop and reflect.
“I think at a certain time in your life, you sort of go, ‘I need to just put my head up here for a minute and just have a look around and a look back and just go, where do I come from?’ and all that sort of stuff. Basically, it's just a period of reflection, which led me to think Jesus, I had quite an unusual time of it,” he explains.
The talented impressionist had what he described as an unusual and unstable upbringing. Due to the situation at home, he spent much of his childhood with his grandparents in Waterford.
“I think I probably felt a bit of shame about that throughout my life until I got a bit older and realised there’s nothing to be ashamed of. A lot of people have dysfunctional families and there's no harm in that and you came out of it okay and you're a good person and not everybody has a perfect life.”
His youngest daughter Bellamie is now ten, while his eldest, Dash, is now 15 and a typical teenager. “He's mortified by everything. Getting a photograph of him now is like getting a picture of the Yeti,” he says.
But Dash knows his dad’s job is pretty cool. Both he and Bellamie especially love his impression of Leo Varadkar.
“Dash especially, he gets political subtlety and nuance. He's really into politics,” he says. “They're all up to speed, those guys who are 15. They live in the world of social media, they're well able to consume narrative now these days.”
Speaking of politics, what are his thoughts on Bertie Ahern rejoining the Fianna Fáil party? (Impressions of Ahern were among Rosenstock’s firsts on Gift Grub.)
“It's a funny one because we're coming up to the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and there's no question that Bertie had played a big role in helping to bring peace to this island,” he says. “So, I guess it's how we balance the good that a man does against man's recklessness and maybe personal failings. I think history has its own scales of justice which shift as the years go by and we'll see how those scales of justice runs, especially if Bertie runs for president against Gerry Adams in 2025.”
When we get on to the topic of his show, Rosenstock’s enthusiasm kicks it up a gear and he says he cannot wait to delve into the impressions he is preparing.
New characters include Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, presented as always together “like Bert and Ernie”. Speaking of duos, podcasters Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally will also feature in the show.
“You won't believe it when you see them,” he says, fiddling with his phone as he tries to send me over a sneaky preview of the characters. After some trial and error on WhatsApp, eventually, the images land on my side of the screen - and I can’t help but howl with laughter.
“I have a petrol pink boiler suit. I have a bun on the top of my head with ringlets for Joanne and I've beautiful long blonde hair for Vogue,” he explains. It is just as hilarious as it sounds.
Other new characters include Katie Taylor and Professor Luke O’Neill. Not forgetting his beloved Cork audience, Rosenstock will also impersonate the Two Norries as well as a bearded Roy Keane. You'd imagine Rosenstock's status among his Cork fans is secure for another while yet.
- Gift Grub Live 2023 is at the Cork Opera House March 8-11. See ticketmaster.ie
