Irish Stew Podcast

After Origin Theatre’s artistic director Mick Mellamphy welcomes our paying (!) audience to the 1st Irish Festival’s first live podcast event, we introduce theatre makers, Derry’s own Labhaoise Magee of Fair Play Productions and Big Telly Theatre’s Crissy O' Donovan who was raised in Dublin, worked in GB, and is now based in Northern Ireland.

Fair Play brought Sinéad O'Brien's "storytelling masterclass" No O...

We found the right guides for Belfast’s burgeoning food and festivities scene in Michael Stewart and Caroline Wilson.

Caroline is a lawyer-turned-serial-entrepreneur of food and drink experiences. She founded Belfast Food Tour, co-founded Taste and Tour, Ahoy Belfast, Fooday and Belfast Gin Fest and she’s on the Board of Visit Belfast and The Strand.

A well-known man about Belfast, Michael Stewart, spent close to 40 years in hospital...

Join us as we get “Lost Outside of Belfast” when we take a 25-minute cab ride from the city center to Hinch Distillery in bucolic County Down. With Head Distiller Will Stafford as our guide, we explore the sensory journey of whiskey making from the meticulous process of mashing, fermentation, and distillation to savoring the heady aromas of the “angels’ share” seeping from the aged wooden barrels shacked ceiling-high in the caverno...

We commemorate the 100th Anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby this week with Patrick O'Sullivan Greene, author of Gatsby: Death of an Irishman. 

Patrick guides us through F. Scott Fitzgerald's troubled Midwest upbringing, his quest for status, his ambivalence towards his Irish heritage, the sociopolitical climate of early 20th-century America, and the careless Jazz Age excess portrayed in Gatsby.

Patrick pe...

In this episode of the Irish Stew Podcast, host Martin Nutty discusses his experience celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the American Irish Historical Society, meeting its executive director, Dr. Elizabeth Stack. Despite her success in revitalizing the society, news of her removal for cost-saving measures casts a shadow on its future. 

The episode reissues a conversation from July 2024, when cohosts John Lee and Martin Nutty met ...

Join us as Larry Kirwan spins us back to the vibrant, violent New York City of the 1980s and the lives of the mostly undocumented Irish who called a patch of turf there home, in his novel Rockin’ The Bronx.

 
Best known as the frontman for the legendary Irish-inflected rock & roll band Black 47, Larry delves into themes of immigration, Irish and Hispanic cultural intersections, the shifting fortunes of the navvies and the na...

“St. Patrick’s Day Today, Hungover Tomorrow.”

Seeing that slogan on a St. Patrick’s Day T-shirt sent William Spencer Reilly on a mission to “reclaim the day” from negative stereotypes to what is best about Irish culture. So, he created the Sober St. Patrick’s Day® Grand Celebration, a culture-rich, family-friendly, attractively priced, alcohol-free way to enjoy the “great day for the Irish.”

We delve into Bill’s life in theater produ...

Join us in the Queen’s Quarter at the former derelict buildings that Anthony and Andrea Kieran transformed into Belfast’s stunning five-star boutique hotel, Regency House.

Their story intertwines personal histories with The Troubles (including when Anthony was the victim of two bombings in one day in South Armagh), their serendipitous meeting in Washington, D.C., his work for NASA, their decision to move to Belfast, their unplanned ...

Join us for the first stop on Day 2 of our Lost in Belfast Road Trip as we visit the magnificent City Hall to meet Lord Mayor Micky Murray. 

The city’s youngest and first openly gay Lord Mayor shares refreshing new perspectives on his changing city, saying “Where Belfast is now and where we're going is a lot more exciting than what's happened over the last 50 years.”
The Lord Mayor talks about his political journey, Al...

The third stop on our “Lost in Belfast” series is the city’s oldest cultural organization, The Linen Hall Library, located in an 18th-century building across the street from City Hall and a reminder of Belfast’s days as “Linenopolis” when it dominated the global linen trade.

Our conversation with director Julie Andrews delves into the library's rich history since its establishment in 1788, its role as a neutral space for politi...

For the 2nd year in a row, Irish Stew hosts Maedhbh Mc Cullagh, the director of the Capital Irish Film Festival, who discusses the festival's offerings, the audience's response, and the challenges and rewards of organizing such an event in Washington, D.C.

Eva Birthistle joins John Lee and Martin Nutty to discuss her directorial debut, Kathleen Is Here, a gripping psychological thriller. The conversation explores the ideas...

Gerry knows gin from his time behind the bar and from sipping his favorite tipple from the other side of the stick.

But he found his perfect gin, though he could imagine just how it would taste, a taste he finally captured in his now award-winning Jawbox Gin.

Join us as Gerry tells us how the idea for creating a gin just wouldn’t let him go, the Belfast stories behind the Jawbox name and striking logo design, how he managed to time t...

Join us in the first leg of our “Irish Stew Gets Lost in Belfast Road Trip” in the vibrant Cathedral Quarter at its prime culinary destination Waterman House as we explore the recipe for restaurant success with Chef and Founder Niall McKenna.
Niall dishes on his culinary journey from West Belfast, training under influential chefs like Paul Rankin, the evolution of his multiple restaurant ventures including James St. and Hadskis...

Star Trek said it would happen in 2024, but for Paddy Cullivan, 2032 will be the year of Irish Unification. Through hot takes on Irish history and AI-fueled visions of Ireland’s future, Paddy charts the course to unity in 2032 through his antic, visionary one-man show I Can’t Believe It’s Not Ireland, on the eve of its US Tour.
Paddy is best known for fronting The Camembert Quartet on Ryan Tubridy’s Tubridy Tonight and then The...

Ted Smyth, former diplomat, C-Suite executive, and current President of the Advisory Board of Glucksman Ireland House NYU, returns to Irish Stew for a fourth annual end-of-year discussion on American and Irish politics.

Topics covered

• The Democratic Party post loss of the White House and the US Senate
• The US news media and the election
• The Irish election and the housing crisis
• Ireland's diplomatic clash with Israel
• The...

Founded by actor/philanthropist Paul Newman in 1994 to “press play” for children affected by serious illness, Barretstown serves thousands of young people and families at its magical County Kildare castle and beyond with impactful programs across Ireland and the UK.

Our guest Dee Ahearn has been the driving force behind the Barretstown success story, joining in 2010 as CEO after an international career in marketing and com...

In this episode of the Irish Stew Podcast, host Martin Nutty welcomes back Maurice Casey to discuss the exciting developments in his life since his last appearance. Now a Research Fellow at Queen's University in Belfast, Maurice talks about his first book 'Hotel Luxe, An Intimate History of Communism's Forgotten Radicals'. The book has garnered garnered critical acclaim and was shortlisted for an An Post Irish B...

Only 11% of podcasts make it to episode 50 and only 6.4% get to 100.

So, excuse The Stew if they’re feeling a wee bit chuffed to drop episode 100 today.
For this milestone show, co-hosts John Lee and Martin Nutty are on the receiving end of questions from Wexford’s own, attorney Shelley Ann Quilty-Lake, who grills the pair on their four-year journey, their podcast concept, the show’s evolution, their changing intervie...

Cady Coleman splashes down on Irish Stew to help us explore“The Final Frontier” through the pages of her new book, Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change.

Part memoir, part chronicle of the astronaut’s life, part manifesto for the power of mission, Sharing Space explores the significance of collaboration, diversity, and making the most of your missions in bringing people together to ...