Mario

Mario (Japanese: マリオ, Hepburn: Mario, [ma.ɽi.o]) (English /ˈmɑːrioʊ/; Italian: [ˈmaːrjo]) is a fictional character in the Mario video game franchise, created by Nintendo's Japanese video game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as the company's mascot and the eponymous protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation. Depicted as a short, pudgy, Italian plumber who resides in the Mushroom Kingdom, his adventures generally center upon rescuing Princess Peach from the Koopa villain Bowser. His younger brother is Luigi.

The Mario franchise is the best-selling video game franchise of all time. Over 210 million units of the overall Mario series of games have been sold. Outside of the Super Mario platform series, other Mario genres include the Mario Kart racing series, sports games such as the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf series, role-playing games such as Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, and educational games such as Mario Is Missing! and Mario's Time Machine. The franchise has branched into several mediums, including television shows, film, comics and licensed merchandise. Since 1995, Mario has been voiced by Charles Martinet.

Marian Hill (American duo)

Marian Hill is an American songwriting duo from Philadelphia, made up of production artist Jeremy Lloyd and vocalist Samantha Gongol, heavily featuring improvisational jazz musician Steve Davit, debuting in 2013 with their first EP 'Play'. In 2015, they released the album 'Sway'. The New York Times published a review of the duo after the release of Play, comparing them to other well-known electronic and R&B-influenced groups. The duo is going on tour in 2015 across the US. Their name is based in the two main characters from the musical The Music Man: Harold Hill and Marian Paroo. They made their television debut on The Late Late Show with James Corden in September 2015. A track that appears on both their EP and album, 'One Time', became a top 40 hit on U.S. alternative radio in December 2015.

History

After meeting each other at Haverford High School, Jeremy Lloyd studied music theatre at Yale University, Samantha Gongol music business at New York University, and Steve Davit music industry at Drexel Univeristy. 'Whiskey', the first song the two ever wrote together, describes a woman in control of her own sexuality. They moved on to create songs like 'Lips' and 'Got It', mixtures of blues, jazz, heavy bass and delicate vocals. On 25 November 2014, Romanian pop star INNA released Diggy Down, which gives Marian Hill feature credit for the hook of 'Got It', the video of which received 1,000,000 views before their show at Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia. After their first collaboration with Davit, the audience demanded more saxophone, resulting in the iconic sound produced by the duo and their collaborator presently. Currently, Marian Hill has nine songs to their name and one album called 'Sway'.

Mario Rosenstock

Mario Rosenstock (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish actor, comedian, impressionist and musician.

Career

Rosenstock first came to the attention of the Irish public playing the role of Dr. David Hanlon in the soap Glenroe in the 1990s.

However, he is now best known for the popular Gift Grub segments which have featured on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show on Today FM since May 1999 which Rosenstock created alongside Today FM DJ/Undertones frontman Paul McLoone in 1999 when McLoone served as a producer for the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show. Gift Grub is a series of comic sketches, impersonations and parodies that have featured Rosenstock assuming the personae of Bertie Ahern, Ronan Keating, Colin Farrell and Roy Keane amongst many others; he also provides the manic voice of Right Price Tiles radio spokesperson "Daft Dave".

Rosenstock performed an impersonation of José Mourinho in a parody of a song from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This spread like wildfire on Internet message boards and eventually it was played on a Sky Sports broadcast. Mourinho had heard the song and enjoyed the impersonation so much he asked Rosenstock to perform a private show for him and the Chelsea squad. Rosenstock later released, with Mourinho's blessing, a single version of "José and his Amazing Technicolor Overcoat". He also released another song ("I Sign a Little Player or Two") on the internet with a parody of Mourinho in an interview then breaking into song.

The Mario Rosenstock Show

The Mario Rosenstock Show is an Irish topical sketch comedy show that first aired on RTÉ Two television in Ireland on 12 November 2012. The show features Mario Rosenstock's performing as characters from the world of sports, politics and entertainment.

A second series of the show had been confirmed in December 2012. The second series began on Monday 16 September 2013.

Controversy

An episode of the first series contained a sketch showing a man spitting into a bucket before receiving Holy Communion at mass. An association representing the Irish Catholic Bishops formally complained to RTÉ about the sketch, saying that it is "grossly offensive to all Catholics".

Character Sketches Series 1

RTÉ2

RTÉ2 is a free-to-air general entertainment channel operated by Irish national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. It is available to 98% of viewers across the Republic of Ireland through Saorview and available in Northern Ireland through Freeview. It is also available through digital television services Virgin Media Ireland, Sky Ireland, eVision and in Northern Ireland on Virgin Media. Content from RTÉ2 is available on the RTÉ Player both nationally and internationally.

RTÉ2 broadcasts in both standard definition and high-definition.

History

In the 1970s the Irish government considered three options for the introduction of a second television service: the re-transmission of BBC1 Northern Ireland; authorization of an independent commercial service; or charging RTÉ with the establishment of a second national channel. It was the last of these that was finally chosen.

The channel, the Republic of Ireland's second, began transmissions on 2 November 1978 with an opening broadcast of a gala ceremony from Cork Opera House. Owing to a technical fault, audio from BBC2 was played during the countdown instead of the proper soundtrack, and when the channel commenced programmes, there was no audio for the initial 15 seconds or so. At first the new channel broadcast in the evenings only. The first broadcast on RTÉ 2 was on 6 June 1978, it was largely aimed at those in "single channel land". Programmes included The Streets of San Francisco and Duchess of Duke Street.