Episodes

Former champion boxer John Duddy from Derry and one-time construction worker Newry’s own Ciaran Byrne share their unlikely paths to acting on stage and in film in part two of our first live podcast recording for Origin Theatre’s 1st Irish Festival. The two friends delve into how their life experiences inform their performances, personal traumas from The Troubles, and the critical role of theater in post-conflict healing and education. Sharing compelling narratives throughout, Ciaran and John ...

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 One is Coming to Origin 1st Irish this year, while Big Telly staged the immersive Grann...

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 hospitality--and was he ever hospitable to us, helping us arrange...

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 cavernous Hinch whiskey warehouse. Next, Claire McLernon guides us th...

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 peels back the intricate layers of Fitzgerald's character, revealing t...

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 Dr. Stack at AIHS to discuss her background, her efforts in promoting...

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 nannies, the unnamed scourge of AIDS, Reagan-era politics, and his creat...

“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 production, how it served him in developing Sober St. Patrick’s D...

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 venture into the hospitality business, and the peak experienc...

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, Alliance Party affiliation, priorities in office, LGBTQ+ community efforts, an...

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 political and cultural dialogue, and its extensive collections, includin...

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 behind the film, along with Eva's move to the other side of the camera...

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 the Jawbox launch just as the gin category was taking off,...

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, and the buzz surrounding his Waterman House Cookery School. For Ni...

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 Late Late Show, playing with everyone from Sinead O’Connor to Ru...