In came Mooney and his team! We didn't know it, but we all secretly craved much more than a weekly dose of:

DEREK MOONEY!


BRIDIE BUTTERMILK!


FUSTY FINNEGAN!

Sample some of their enthralling studio banter!

Derek: "And of course we'd like to remind listeners that Bridie's new special charity single is only available from Dunnes Stores. And all the money goes to charity."
Bridie: "Dass rite. Tis ownee a bihha fun like. For a good cause. Tis me singin' 'How much is thah doggy inna window woof woof'. Abouh a doggy. Inna window."
Fusty: "Indeed. You know, the subject of canines and their penchant for the penduluming of the rear appendage when they enter...how would one say it..."
Derek: "A state of happiness? Arousal?"
Bridie: "A happy dawg! A happy dawg wags its tail!"
Fusty: "Indeed. I have always found it fascinating. Indeed, I spoke to a man last week named Maurice Flanagan who-"
Bridie: "Maurice Flanagan! Maurice Mossy Moss! Mad Mossy Moss Flanagan dey used call him round my parts."
Fusty: "-yes, Mr Flanagan and I decided it was time to decamp the myth surrounding the uninterruptibility of such a penduluming."
Derek: "You could say 'Go home shep'. Or 'Bad doggy'."
Bridie: "Or fling a shoe ahhim. GO HOME OUDDER DAT!"
Fusty: "Yes. Yes, alternate hypotheses that Mr Flanagan and I may consider when his stitches heal."
Bridie: "Stitches, hah?"
Fusty: "Yes, you see he decided that the optimal approach to effect such a state change would be the unannounced insertion of his pinky in Mr Woof's anus."
Derek: "Fantastic! How did it go for him?"



Next for the chop was Rachel English and her road rage-quelling tones! In came Mary Wilson! Having perfected her intoxicating intonation reporting the finer points of out-of-court settlements and libel actions for many's the year, Mary was just the woman to keep frazzled motorists from ripping each others' throats out. She also seemed to possess the knack for getting the most out of her interviewees. Her conversation with Padraig Nally gripped the nation.

Mary: "Padraig, in your initial statement to the Gardai you say you 'beat John Ward like a badger'. Is that how the badgers beat you?"
Nally: "Muh?"
Mary: "Isn't it true that a pertinent factor in all of this might be your unshakeable fear of this rural pest? That at any moment of the day or night, one might creep in through the catflap to give you another trouncing?"
Nally: "Eh..."
Mary: "Did John Ward look like a badger? I think you'll find that he did not."
Nally: "You're right there."

[uncomfortable silence]

Mary: "Padraig, you also say that you beat him with a stick. Do you mind me asking what kind of stick it was?"
Nally: "A riddum stick."
Mary: "I see. A most formidable instrument."
Nally: "No, no, tis a joke. Ian Dury and the Blockheads, like."
Mary: "You feel that the jury was not composed of your peers? That they were, as you say, 'Bollockheads'?"
Nally: "Goodbye now Mary."

Ana, here's to you [clink!] and your imminent CV preparations.