Next week, the 2 Johnnies will be doing their late-night lock in show from a pub somewhere in County Meath. You have been warned. Donal O'Donoghue meets them at their HQ in Cahir.
On the edge of Cahir, tucked away in a small industrial estate, is 2 Johnnies HQ. In the yard of a mechanical services business, a discreet logo, '20th Century Pat Fox Studios’, offers a clue. Another tell-tale is an ageing car with furry dice and the legend ‘Paddy Fong Deliveries’.
Getting warm surely?
From here, Johnny McMahon (aka Johnny Smacks) and Johnny O’Brien (aka Johnny B) broadcast to the world with their podcasts and their radio show, Drive It, on 2FM as they build a showbiz empire founded on music, comedy, craic and, as they might put it themselves, lots of sh*te talk.
Their many ventures include live shows, a one-day festival, a clatter of TV series and plans to create a podcast talent stable in this corner of south Tipp. It might be a long way for some but these two local lads (O’Brien is from Cahir, McMahon from Roscrea) have built it and people come.
"That was part of the deal with 2FM," says Johnny B. "The red line was that we'd be broadcasting from Cahir."
When I arrive, the two boys are doing an interview, so their marketing man Neil (sporting a walkie-talkie as coverage can be patchy and anyway, walkie-talkies are more fun), gives me a brief tour of the 2 Johnnies multi-verse.
The previous day, 1980s Tipperary hurling legend Pat Fox cut the ribbon on the studios named after him, before having a go at the arcade punching machine and recording his podcast ("The first Irish podcast to go full video" says Smacks). The podcast studio is upstairs, the radio studio downstairs and the whole vibe is a Google-style crash pad with a laddish twist.
"This used to be a Motor Factors for Tractors," says Johnny Smacks (32). In the toilet there are images of Marty Morrissey and wrestling icon Randy McSavage, that punching machine has scores listed (Roz Purcell is no slouch) and a miniature basketball hoop above a caricature of President Higgins, surely known as Mickey D hereabouts.
"We have a lot of stuff going on," says Johnny B (37), the quieter, seemingly more reflective of the two. "We have our own podcast with a lot of moving parts. We recently launched our one-day festival in Dublin, where we will be supported by Craig David, 5ive and Seamus Moran. 20,000 tickets. June 8. MC is Dáithí Ó Sé. We have sold out the 3 Arena in Dublin this December and we have over 300,000 followers on our social media platforms. And there is the 2FM radio show and then the TV show."
Beside him, Smacks smiles. "It never ends," he says, and he doesn’t sound like he’d ever want it to.
We start with their all-new six-part TV show, The 2 Johnnies’ Late Night Lock In, which they pitch as something of a cross between iconic 1980s shows Nighthawks and TFI Friday. "There was a suggestion early on that we do it live but then they rethought that," says Johnny Smacks. "I wouldn’t blame them." He laughs – Johnny Smacks laughs a lot.
Late Night Lock In will be filmed in a now shuttered pub in County Meath (they can’t say where, you can understand why). We talk about the legend and lore of the lock-in. "The trick is to stay off the shots and stick with the pints" says Johnny B.
"You just have to know the right people" adds Johnny Smacks. I’m discovering that these lads don’t really need questions. "We want to celebrate the mad culture we have in Ireland," says Smacks of a show he says will be like nothing else on the telly. "It won't be the slickest, but you can't be afraid to make mistakes" adds Johnny B.
Slick is not something you can accuse boys of. Like back in February 2022, when their drivetime show first roared onto 2FM. Four days in and the wheels threatened to come off after they posted misogynistic video content on their website. Drive It was temporarily taken off air by RTÉ. The Johnnies put their hands up, apologised, and got back down to business.
"We just had to drive on from there," says Johnny B. Do RTÉ keep a tight rein ever since? "There’s no censorship or anything like that. Nobody says to us ‘Ye can’t be doing that’," says Johnny Smacks. "We’ve been around a while, so we know ourselves what works." But there’s always that element of unpredictability.
On a recent Late Late Show, Tommy Tiernan joked to host Patrick Kielty that between the two of them they could wreck RTÉ. The 2 Johnnies might not be far behind. "We'll be wrecking it on Thursday night, Paddy on Friday and Tommy on Saturday," says Johnny Smacks.
"I knew that we could be good," says Johnny B of their 2016 beginnings when for a year or more they weren’t making any moolah (having no mortgages or kids helped) yet McMahon was pushing for them to go ever more professional.
"I was a butcher at Supervalu, just down the road," says Johnny Smacks. "We used to do The 2 Johnnies on a Monday, having taken Sunday off. On Monday I’d go into his house, we’d do three or so sketches, put them online, and go back to our normal jobs from Tuesday to Saturday. It built from there. In 2016, we did that show in Clonmel and a GAA Club in Wexford, in Wellingtonbridge, booked us and that night after the gig I said, ‘This is more than I make in two weeks at work. It didn’t make sense to get less for 39 hours work than I could get for a 90-minute show. Johnny B had a better set-up than me with the hurley business."
His partner shrugs; the hurley-making business was getting ever tougher. "And I always wanted to be a musician anyway."
Both of them still play hurling for Cahir: Johnny Smacks between the sticks ("I used to be out the field, but my legs have given up on me") and Johnny B in the forwards. Fame has made them marked men. "We can’t play GAA while the TV show is on in case of injury," says Smacks. "That’s in our contract. Maybe we might get our faces broken or whatever. The weird thing is that there are a lot of people on other teams who would like to do that to us."
Seriously?. "Ah not really," says Johnny B. Surely it is safer in goal then? "It’s the sideline I’d be worried about," says Johnny Smacks as Johnny B takes the baton. "There will always be trash talking during the game but there are handshakes and banter afterwards."
Earlier this year, when they lost the county semi-final, it hurt like hell. "I was picking up my hurls from the goal after when a young lad and his mam came looking for a photo," says Smacks. "I was there with a big smile but inside I was in bits."
Johnny B says he rarely reads what's written about them any more. "Although I'll read this one" he adds, which I'm not sure is good or bad. Does he think they don't get a fair whack from the media? "Ah it’s OK," says Johnny Smacks.
O’Brien is not convinced. "Remember when someone misquoted us about giving the one-finger salute? Down the country the one-finger salute is this (he raises a digit in the classic steering-wheel greeting) and a journalist thought it was a different salute. So, he ran a story based on that." Smacks laughs. To be fair, there are times when you’re not sure if the boys are winding you up. I’d read somewhere that they first met in O'Keeffe's night club in Clonmel: True? Johnny B shakes his head. "That was a joke." Rather than any Stanley meeting Livingstone moment, their friendship evolved through hurling. "I met Johnny at GAA training," says McMahon. "I suppose I half-liked the look of him."
Eventually, they moved in together. Two Johnnies and a third lad called Johnny who obviously didn’t make the cut. "He didn’t have the same drive," says McMahon with a laugh, although Johnny Eile still gets tickets for their gigs and doesn’t have to queue up like everyone else, so all’s good. Their first gig as a duo – O’Brien, who worked in the family business making hurleys, was already established as a musician and comic – was emceeing a charity Strictly Come Dancing gig in 2016.
The following year at the Clonmel Junction Festival, they performed for the first time as The 2 Johnnies. An epic national tour followed ("We did a heap of shows from Charleville to Carrigaholt") and in 2018 came the podcasts with guests such as Liam Gallagher, Tommy Tiernan (one of their comedy heroes) and Marty Morrissey in a hot tub. Then there were the TV shows, The 2 Johnnies Do America and The 2 Johnnies Take On . . . and that was before radio came calling.
"It’s a six-year overnight success," says Johnny Smacks of the story so far. But their empire is ever expanding: a newspaper headline from last year proclaiming that the duo was storming Ireland without ever leaving Cahir, already outdated.
They recently signed with London-based United Talent Agency and stress that the 2FM gig is not the most lucrative arm of their interests. "It’s the podcasts: 100%", says Johnny Smacks. "RTÉ is probably the fourth or fifth in terms of money."
Who is the Johnny with the business head? "We both are," says Johnny B. "And we have a good team around us." I wonder about their audience; is it mainly male? Johnny B shows me social media stats for the previous week: 51.8% female, 48.2% male. "We made a couple of bold moves, probably the boldest being moving to Spotify exclusively," he adds.
On their podcast wish-list is Peter Kay and Mike Murphy. "I met him once," says Johnny B of the Irish TV great. "My grandmother, May O’Brien, God be good to her, got to spin the wheel on Winning Streak. Mike’s a legend."
Last December 28, Johnny Snacks tied the knot with his long-term girlfriend Annie. "She was going out with me when I was driving around with no tax on me car," he says. Johnny B was the best man, well one of them. "It was a two-man job," he says. The stag was a mystery tour "over the mountains" before returning to Cahir in the wee hours.
So how has Johnny Smacks changed since the nuptials? "His phone screensaver used to be just me and him but now it’s him and his wife," says Johnny B, whose screensaver remains unchanged: that’s himself, Smacks and Sawdoctor Leo Moran with a Cahir hurling jersey. Does he feel betrayed? "A little bit, yeah," says Johnny B. And Johnny Smacks, laughing, says nothing has changed, only that "the missus is just happy that I got sense and got the car taxed."
The shows go on. "We want to grow our live festival, have plans for new podcasts and having signed up with United Talent Agents, we plan to tour overseas," says Johnny B. "Australia next summer and then back to America." But bringing it all back home is core, with the duo sponsoring the hurling team as well as the local mini marathon ("I nearly got injured giving out the medals last Sunday," says McMahon) and local enterprise.
"It’s very important for us that we do stuff for the town, because we take a lot from it, like our material and the rest," says Smacks. "We live here, play GAA here and we love this town." They are also scouting for new talent. "We’re looking for the next 2 Johnnies or 2 Jennies. Our ultimate plan is that we become a stable for other talent: people with drive. We have the space and we have the means and that’s the plan."
Despite all they insist they’re still just a pair of regular Johnnies. "We’re certainly a bit more comfortable but the day-to-day life is unchanged," says Johnny McMahon. "I used to drive into Supervalu. Now I drive in here. We still have the same group of friends, have never been on a red carpet and never been at one of those jazzy parties. For us its a few pints on a Sunday and watching a match. The difference is that we are doing something that we absolutely love."
Beside him Johnny B nods. A couple of years back O’Brien said his dream was to build the biggest house in Cahir, overlooking the town, with a Hollywood-style sign alongside, spelling out ‘TIPPERARY’. He wasn’t joking (I think) "We still live in the same house, but I would love to put a big Tipp sign up on the hill if we could get the planning," he says now.
Of course, the reality is that 2 Johnnies have already put Cahir and Tipperary on the showbiz map: it’s just all about driving on from here.
