Irish Stew Podcast

John Lee & Martin Nutty

Irish Stew, the podcast for the Global Irish Nation featuring interviews with fascinating influencers proud of their Irish Edge. If you're Irish born or hyphenated Irish, this is the podcast that brings all the Irish together Listen Notes

  1. Kwame Daniels brings exuberant, immersive Frederick Douglass-inspired North Star from Belfast to New York

    6d ago

    Kwame Daniels brings exuberant, immersive Frederick Douglass-inspired North Star from Belfast to New York

    When Frederick Douglass left Belfast in 1845, only seven years after escaping slavery, he declared: "Wherever else I feel myself to be a stranger, I will remember I have a home in Belfast." That remarkable statement from a Black abolitionist finding radical welcome in a 19th-century Irish city is the beating heart of North Star, the immersive musical and theatrical experience that Northern Ireland-based DJ, broadcaster, and creative producer Kwame Daniels brings to New York's Irish Arts Center, June 3–21. Irish Stew cohosts Martin Nutty and John Lee met Kwame at the Irish Arts Center a few days before opening night and recorded this episode in the IAC Library He relates that his journey to Belfast began in a Ghanaian household in East London, where identity was worn proudly inside the home and navigated carefully beyond it. "As soon as we entered the house again, it was absolutely back to the background, the roots, and the culture," he recalls. "But outside, there was almost a code-switch going on. We were firm in our identity, and yet we were also aware of our surroundings and how we had to move within them." That same fluency served him when he arrived in Derry in 1997 and found a city divided along lines he didn't yet understand. Music became his passport across the sectarian divide. "I was bringing in sets of decks (the equipment DJs use to play, control, and manipulate music). That's the conversation, all the other conversations come out of that." Kwame relates that Douglass's Belfast story with his evocation of finding a home in the city hit him with the force of revelation. "A Black man, an enslaved man on the run in 1845 and that's his response to being in Belfast. That has to be the starting point for us to reset." The result is a 77-minute production, one minute for every year of Douglass's life, an immersive experience fusing hip-hop, jazz, gospel, classical, and electronic music with spoken word, choral arrangements, and the honest voices of young people from both Belfast and New York. "You're going to be presented with a level of musicianship that is extraordinary, and it's unlike anything you've ever seen." North Star runs June 3–21 at the Irish Arts Center, tickets at irishartscenter.org. Next up from Irish Stew, Fresh Stew LIVE with Terry Golway on his new thriller Terror From America: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, recorded before sold out audience in the Malachy McCourt Room at Ernie O’Malley’s Pub in NYC with the fiddler Eileen McLain and actor Mick Mellamphy enhancing the experience. LINKS NORTH STAR Irish Arts Center info and ticketsInstagramKWAME DANIELS InstagramFacebookLinkedInORGANIZATIONS Bounce CultureSolabIRISH STEW LINKS Website Home PageFacebookInstagramLinkedInMedia Partner: IrishCentral Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 18; Total Episode Count: 159 Send us Fan Mail

    45 min
  2. Encore for The Floating Hospital, Celebrating 160 Years of Service on June 2, 2026

    May 25

    Encore for The Floating Hospital, Celebrating 160 Years of Service on June 2, 2026

    While Team Irish Stew preps for its Fresh Stew LIVE before a paying (!) audience on June 1, past guest Sean Granahan and The Floating Hospital he leads are gearing up for June 2, the evening of their 160th anniversary Summer Gala. Given the charity's deep roots serving Irish and other impoverished newcomers to New York, John and Martin are revisiting their conversation with Sean to shine a fresh light on the Floating Hospital and its mission-critical fundraising effort. Sean is a Pennsylvania-born lawyer with Mayo and Dublin roots who has spent two decades leading the Floating Hospital, a charity founded to provide basic healthcare to the Irish and other destitute arrivals crowded into New York’s first slum, Five Points, where tuberculosis was grimly called "the natural death of the Irish." Today the Floating Hospital is New York City's largest healthcare provider to families in homeless shelters and domestic violence safe houses, caring for 30,000 people annually across pediatric, mental health, and dental services. Sean notes that since its origins 160 years ago, The Floating Hospital has stood on its "three-legged stool" of meeting immediate needs of displaced people, providing essential health education, and delivering care to its neighbors in need. The charity's colorful maritime era saw ships taking kids on fresh-air harbor cruises while delivering vaccines and health education, a chapter paused after 9/11 when their vessel, the Lia, was retired. After 20 years at the helm, Sean still dreams of sailing again, saying, "The ship is magical. If you want to get 500 kids vaccinated, all you do is say, 'We're going out on the ship on Friday,' and you'll have a thousand." A volunteer stint keeping the then-struggling organization afloat rerouted Sean's career from corporate law to community service. He and his staff continue navigating funding threats and political headwinds to serve the city's most vulnerable families. Now we can help, through attending the Floating Hospital Summer Gala or providing a donation to support the organization that helped so many Irish and other newcomers survive and thrive in New York. FLOATING HOSPITAL LINKS WebsiteSummer Gala TicketsGivingFacebookInstagramLinkedInBlue Sky IRISH STEW LINKS Website Home PageFacebookInstagramLinkedInMedia Partner: IrishCentral Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 17; Total Episode Count: 158 Send us Fan Mail

    47 min
  3. Fresh Stew Preview: Irish Stew Going LIVE with Terry Golway

    May 11

    Fresh Stew Preview: Irish Stew Going LIVE with Terry Golway

    Balmy spring weather lured Irish Stew cohosts John Lee and Martin Nutty to Central Park to record this episode in an urban pine forest, steps from the site of Seneca Village where so many Irish immigrants once lived. Backed by a chorus of birdsong, the podcasters preview their most ambitious show yet: Fresh Stew LIVE, a podcast recording before a live audience with historian and now novelist Terry Golway on Monday, June 1st, at Ernie O'Malley's,140 E 27th Street, New York City. Tickets are on sale at Eventbrite. Terry will spin tales from his new thriller Terror From America: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure, telling how New York to break up the Fenians responsible for Irish American dynamite campaign in London in the 1880s. The evening will open with a fiddler to set the Holmesian and Irish mood setting the stage for the centerpiece conversation with Terry, with dramatic flourishes from actor Mick Mellamphy and musical accents from the fiddler. Once the program winds down, Terry will stick around to sign books (cash or check only) while legendary uilleann piper Chris Byrne of Black 47 fame leads a session to keep the craic going, The evening will include prize drawings and the first drink on in Irish Stew. The Fresh Stew LIVE episode with Terry Golway recorded that night will drop in early June. Links Tickets:  Fresh Stew LIVE with Terry Golway Terry Golway Book Link:  Terror From America: A Sherlock Holmes AdventureWebsiteFacebookLinkedInErnie O’Malley’s Irish Stew Links Website Home PageFacebookInstagramLinkedInMedia Partner: IrishCentral Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 16; Total Episode Count: 157 Send us Fan Mail

    15 min
  4. Three Films, Five Voices: Irish Stew Wraps the Capital Irish Film Festival

    Apr 27

    Three Films, Five Voices: Irish Stew Wraps the Capital Irish Film Festival

    It’s a wrap for Irish Stew as the podcast-in-residence at the 2026 Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival in Metro DC with this episode of five conversations spanning three films: Saipan, Báite, and Conveyance. The Festival’s Opening Night feature Saipan unspools the drama that played out on that distant island between the manager of the 2002 World Cup-bound Irish football team Mick McCarthy, played by Steve Coogan and its star player Roy Keane acted by Éanna Hardwicke. Co-director Glenn Leyburn speaks to co-host John Lee about the challenge of dramatizing one of Irish football's most divisive moments: "You want to show both sides of that story and show both men as three-dimensional human beings. We realized how much they wanted the best for their country and the team but just had different ways of going about that. Drama is built from having those shifts and then having shifts within that." Co-director Lisa Barros D'Sa explained the creative process of her filmmaking partnership with her husband Glenn, saying, "The most important thing is to agree on the voice of the film and what the tone is. Once we lock that in, we know the film that we want to make. And then on set, I work a bit more with the actors. Glenn works a bit more with camera." Festival regular and Irish football fan Dan Mahoney provides some audience perspective: "I've probably been to this festival seven or eight times. I was in Dublin for the semi-final match in 1990, which was an unbelievable experience. I didn't remember the whole story, but I thought it was a fabulous film," he said. The following day, John spoke with Eleanor O'Brien, lead actor of Báite, the Irish-language murder mystery and family drama that earned the festival’s fan favorite award. "It was my first feature film where I was the lead — and challenging for that reason, and also because of the Irish in it. By no means am I a native speaker," she says, adding “It's really nice being there at the start and being able to create a character knowing that the character is with me in mind." Eleanor shares the unlikely early steps in her young career and towards the end of the conversation with the rising star, you’ll learn the Irish word for handcuffs! Co-host Martin Nutty closes out the festivities with Gemma Creagh, associate editor of Film Ireland and director of the short film Conveyance, a satirical and spooky look at Ireland’s housing crises, told through the eyes of a young couple trying desperately to find a home. “They go to see some really dilapidated, horrible places, and then they find this most incredibly gorgeous apartment in Dun Laoghaire overlooking the sea, however, it is not without an undisclosed guest of some ghostly kind,” she says. Gemma also offers a sweeping account of the Irish film industry's rise, pinpointing a pivotal moment, saying, "Game of Thrones came into Northern Ireland and it was the biggest production that had ever been in Ireland. The impact was huge." Three films, five voices, and a fitting farewell to a festival that keeps delivering. Irish Stew Links Irish Stew CIFF EpisodesFacebookInstagramLinkedInBlueskyMedia Partner: IrishCentralEpisode Details: Season 8, Episode 15; Total Episode Count: 156 Send us Fan Mail

    48 min
  5. Echoes Across the Atlantic: EPIC Museum’s Aileesh Carew in Philadelphia

    Apr 13

    Echoes Across the Atlantic: EPIC Museum’s Aileesh Carew in Philadelphia

    Though the latest Irish Stew guest is Aileesh Carew, CEO and Museum Director of Dublin’s EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, this interview takes place in Philadelphia, upstairs again at Fergie’s Pub. Both Aileesh and cohost John Lee came to the “City of Brotherly Love” for the Irish American Business Chamber and Network’s Ambassador’s Awards where Aileesh would accept the Uachtarán Award for EPIC as an organization that has shown exemplary leadership in philanthropic contributions of time and talent to non-profits in Ireland. "We are so honored to be recognized by the Irish American Business Chamber and Network, an organization that really understands and deeply cares about the Irish community, the links and the legacy,” she says. The award comes at an especially meaningful time for EPIC. “To receive the award and be recognized in our 10th anniversary year is very special to us,” says Aileesh, who has been with EPIC almost every step of the way. “EPIC’s purpose really is to tell the impact of the Irish around the world. Over 70 million people claim Irish heritage and we can chart at EPIC 1,500 years of immigration. It's the legacy of what the Irish people have achieved around the world." Philadelphia was an important destination for Irish emigres and many played key roles in the birth of the American republic. "John Dunlap was the printer of the Declaration of Independence. He was born in Bann in County Tyrone. He immigrated to Philadelphia as a boy and built one of the city's most influential printing businesses. He actually printed the Declaration working through the night on July 4th, 1776, and went on to print the first 200 copies of the Declaration of Independence." Over its ten-year history, the interactive EPIC experience rose quickly in the ranks of not only Irish but European destinations, awarded Europe's Leading Tourist Attraction three years in a row. Take that Eiffel Tower! But rather than counting their laurels, Aileesh and her team are charting the course for the next ten years. She says, "If you stand still, you go backwards, so we’ve embarked on a 10-year master plan. We're about to unveil three brand new galleries including “Isle of the Senses”f that will chart and evoke the Ireland the people left behind, what people take with them in the smell, the touch, the sense, and in their hearts.” This is Irish Stew’s second EPIC episode having featured its first director, John Patrick Greene, for episode that dropped in 2022. Next week Irish Stew shares the buzz around the Capital Irish Film Festival in conversations with the great cinema talent at the annual Solas Nua event. Links Irish Stew Newsletter Signup - on home pageEPIC The Irish Emigration Museum WebsiteLinkedInFacebookInstagramAileesh Carew LinkedInIrish Stew Links Episode Page: Aileesh CarewWebsite Home PageFacebookInstagramLinkedInMedia Partner: IrishCentralEpisode Details: Season 8, Episode 14; Total Episode Count: 155 Send us Fan Mail

    23 min
  6. No Ordinary Heist is No Ordinary Film: Live at CIFF26 with Director Colin McIvor & Producer Ruth Carter

    Mar 29

    No Ordinary Heist is No Ordinary Film: Live at CIFF26 with Director Colin McIvor & Producer Ruth Carter

    No Ordinary Heist had just finished rolling when Irish Stew cohosts Martin Nutty and John Lee took to the AFI Silver Theatre stage on the second night of the 2026 Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival in metro-Washington, DC. Before a near-capacity crowd of almost 400, the podcasters-in-residence led the post-screening Q&A on the gripping new Irish thriller inspired by the 2004 Northern Bank robbery in Belfast, still one of the largest bank robberies in British and Irish history, with £26.5 million in cash stolen. On stage with John and Martin are the film's Belfast-raised director and co-writer Colin McIvor and Dublin-based producer Ruth Carter of Picture Locked Productions. The conversation explores the riveting human stories of the film set against the backdrop of a city emerging from The Troubles, the meticulous casting of Eddie Marsan and Éanna Hardwicke in leading roles alongside memorable Irish supporting talent, and the editorial choices that kept audiences white-knuckled throughout. "The old cliche is that you create your heroes and then you trip them up every two minutes. Just what else can you do to screw it up for them," Colin says explaining the creative philosophy behind the film's tension. The discussion broadens to explore the thriving all-island filmmaking ecosystem, with Ruth noting the increasingly seamless collaboration between Northern Ireland Screen and Screen Ireland saying, "We're really lucky in Ireland because we have such great support both in the South and in the North. They really go with an all-Ireland approach as much as they can." Reflecting on how far Northern Ireland's film industry has come since 2004, Colin adds, "It's hard to believe that when I was a student coming through, that we would be where we are. We have got a place in the filmmaking industry now." An engaging night of Irish cinema, covering everything from the craft of tension-building to the state of all-island filmmaking, all in this episode of Irish Stew. With thanks to the Northern Ireland Bureau for their support of this screening and Q&A, Solas Nua and Festival Director Maedhbh Mc Cullagh for naming Irish Stew in the Capital Irish Film Festival Podcast-in-Residence and to John Collins for recording this episode. Links No Ordinary Heist IMDbWikipediaColin McIvor IMDbRuth Carter Picture Locked ProductionsIMDbLinkedInInstagramAll Irish Stew Libations Episodes - Ten episodes. All in one place. Capital Irish Film Festival EpisodesIrish Stew Links Episode Page: Fergus CareyWebsite Home PageFacebookInstagramLinkedInBlueskyMastodonMedia Partner: IrishCentralEpisode Details: Season 8, Episode 13; Total Episode Count: 154 Send us Fan Mail

    23 min
  7. From Burgerland to Fergie’s Pub: An Irish Publican’s Philadelphia Story

    Mar 16

    From Burgerland to Fergie’s Pub: An Irish Publican’s Philadelphia Story

    North Dublin native Fergus “Fergie” Carey didn’t just open a bar in Philadelphia, he helped invent a neighborhood, a scene, and a sense of community that stretches from Center City to the Irish arts world and back again. In this on‑location episode recorded upstairs at Fergie’s Pub on Sansom Street, Irish Stew cohost John Lee traces Fergie’s journey from Burgerland on O’Connell Street to becoming one of Philly’s best‑known publicans and civic connectors. Fergie recalls the bleak job prospects of 1980s Dublin, his short, ill‑fated stint in Houston, and the sudden sense of being “revered because you’re Irish” when he finally landed in Philadelphia and started a job at El Taco Grande the very next morning. He walks us through bartending at McGlinchey’s, the leap to open Fergie’s with his Palestinian partner Wajih Abed in a rough‑and‑tumble City Center street, and the chaos of a first night saw the Guinness run dry in 40 minutes. We explore how Fergie built a career as co‑owner or founder of beloved spots like Monk’s Café, The Goat, The Jim, and soon The Monto, while never losing sight of the core lesson he learned in fast food: you’re managing people, not walls. He talks about keeping a pub current yet grounded in tradition through his self-invented live-band karaoke, Quizzo evenings, Saturday trad sessions, ballad nights, and the hugely popular “pub sing.” We also hear about Fergie’s deep engagement with Philadelphia’s civic and Irish cultural life, from Inis Nua Theatre Company and Beckett in the back room, to his tours to Ireland and charity concerts like his recreation of The Last Waltz. We spoke on eve of the Irish American Business Chamber & Network’s Ambassador’s Awards Luncheon, the signature annual Irish event on the city’s calendar, after which those in-the-know kept the craic going at the nearby Fergie’s Pub. Among them were local business and civic leaders John Cummins and Adele Farrell who will share their insights on the Irish American Business Chamber & Network and tales from their own Dublin-to-Philadelphia success story on a future episode of Irish Stew. Links Fergie’s Pub WebsiteFacebookInstagram All Irish Stew Libations Episodes - Ten episodes. All in one place. Libations EpisodesIrish Stew Links Episode Page: Fergus CareyWebsite Home PageFacebookInstagramLinkedInBlueskyMastodonMedia Partner: IrishCentralEpisode Details: Season 8, Episode 12; Total Episode Count: 153 Send us Fan Mail

    25 min
  8. Mollie Guidera: This Language Is Ours

    Mar 9

    Mollie Guidera: This Language Is Ours

    A language returned Mollie Guidera returns to the Irish Stew for a second conversation. Since her first appearance in November 2023, she has published The Gaeilge Guide and grown Irish with Molly into the fastest-growing Gaeilge community in the world — more than 10,000 students across 75 countries. But what Mollie is really doing is harder to quantify: dismantling the barriers that sit between Irish people and their own language. The problem was never the language Fourteen years of compulsory classes, taught through the very language you were trying to learn, left a generation feeling guilty for failing at something that was never properly taught. Mollie's argument is simple: the language is logical, patterned, and far more learnable than people believe. The problem was always the delivery. Hidden in plain sight We spend time on Hiberno English — the way Irish survives in everyday speech. "Is the dinner not ready yet?" Nobody in America says that. Say it in Irish and it makes perfect grammatical sense. From Wilde to Joyce to Sally Rooney, the Irish literary tradition is Hiberno English in action — a colonized people turning the language of their oppressor into a thing of beauty. The key holder The episode carries the presence of Manchán Magan, who passed away last year. Mollie recalls asking Manchán for advice on a documentary about her offshore students — Hong Kong, Moscow, Alaska — and his reply coming back immediately: go for it. His wife's words at the Irish Book Awards said it best: Manchán opened the door and showed us all the way through. We just have to walk. The language is yours Fluency is a myth. What matters is showing up consistently, with curiosity, and without shame. The language is yours. It always was. Episode Quote "People have this negative reaction to Irish — and yet this regret for not learning it. There's a very complicated relationship. But I don't think the language itself is complicated." — Mollie Guidera Links Mollie Guidera Website: Irish With MollieBook: The Gaeilge GuidePodcast: Irish with MollieInstagramTikTokIrish Language Resources TEG: Irish Language CertificationAn Siopa Leabhar - Irish Language Book StoreAll Irish Stew Irish Language Episodes - Ten episodes. All in one place. Irish Language EpisodesIrish Stew Links WebsiteFacebookInstagramLinkedInBlueskyMastodonMedia Partner: IrishCentralEpisode Details: Season 8, Episode 11; Total Episode Count: 152 Send us Fan Mail

    57 min
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4.8
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About

Irish Stew, the podcast for the Global Irish Nation featuring interviews with fascinating influencers proud of their Irish Edge. If you're Irish born or hyphenated Irish, this is the podcast that brings all the Irish together Listen Notes

Information

  • Creator
    John Lee & Martin Nutty
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    160
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Irish Stew Podcast
  • Show Website
    Irish Stew Podcast

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