When they hung up their boots in 2fm in May, the hugely-popular Tipperary presenting duo Johnny B and Johnny Smacks said "something had to give" workwise, and that they "wanted their lives back".
Fast forward four months, The 2 Johnnies have joked that they'll "release a public statement when we get our lives back".
They certainly haven't been slacking since their 2fm drivetime show came to an end. Speaking to press ahead of the second run of their show kicking off, Johnny Smacks was candid about how life has been since they departed the airwaves.
He said: "I think it's only now that we're seeing the benefit of it because we left the radio, brought out an album, promoted the album, did a big gig in St Anne's Park, left on the Tuesday to go to America for three weeks, came back home for a week, off to Australia, back again into the TV show... I'm sure we'll see the benefit in December!"
He added with a laugh: "We'll release a public statement when we get our lives back! We are probably only now starting to see the the time benefits of leaving the radio and we loved the radio. Absolutely loved it.
"But when it came to the time that you put into something and the time that you have off - we've got our personal lives to live and we wanted to drive on different stuff. You're going on tour, it's hard to commit to everything, something had to give. It was the radio."
Johnny B continued: "To be fair, now we actually have Sundays off and maybe a half day Saturday or that. Johnny's building a house, I'm renovating at home as well.
"The podcast too was just a time pit. If we had nothing else to do in the week bar the podcast, it’d still take us the seven days.
"That is the most important thing in our universe is The 2 Johnnies podcast. So the more time we have, the more time we put into that."
Johnny Smacks added: "My dog now knows I'm his owner. When I walk in the evenings he's not going, why is this lad knocking around this house two or three nights a week?"
Their live-wire show The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In is billed as an "unpredictable mix of celebrity guests, live music, silly games and stand-up comedy".
They agreed that they feel more confident going into the second run.
Johnny B explained: "Having the first series under the belt is massive for us because last year we didn't quite know how it was going to work or if it was going to work. So now that we understand the principles of what we're trying to do, you can push and pull, you can break the rules a little bit more."
Johnny Smacks helpfully jumped in with an analogy: "It's like flying a plane. I'm sure the first time a pilot lands a plane, it's probably not one of those real smooth ones, you probably bump off the runway. No one claps.
"This time we're hoping when we land the plane, someone's going to start to slow clap. It's like getting air miles. Last year was a great experience. It worked out really well. The ratings were great and it's on series two. Try and make it bigger, better, bolder and wilder."
We need your consent to load this Instagram contentWe use Instagram to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Johnny B concluded: "I think we're not as afraid to take chances because we know from last year what worked, what didn't work. And so we're able to mess about a bit more.
"This year we can stand back a little more and see what shape is it taken as a series, not just fight or flight from episode to episode."
Despite living in one another's pockets work-wise, they say there's very little friction between them.
"Across different mediums, we feel like we're still on the same kind of crusade," Johnny B said. "We feel like we're representing our constituency of country people, you don't hear those accents enough on television and radio or the topics we talk about in the podcast."
"We're best friends behind it all and that's the most important thing," Johnny Smacks continued. "Like Jesus, if we ever weren't, we wouldn’t be doing this. That’s a fact."
Although they come across as effortlessly affable, a certain steeliness, hard work and dedication underpins all of their projects.
"We're very involved as well. I think that can be a good thing or a bad thing", Johnny Smacks said. "But I mean, down to the lights on the stage and what the stage looks - everything gets ran through us, which is the way we want it and the way we like it.
"You have to keep an eye on everything. I remember somebody saying to me that Daniel O'Donnell still irons his own shirts and keeps an eye on the crew before his gigs. He's still working. He's still successful.
"That's why - he never took his eye off the ball, so we can't take our eyes off the ball."
The lads are clearly not lacking in ambition and drive. Have they got big plans for next year?
Johnny B said: "We do have some big picture, blue sky ideas that we’re working on. That’s where out outdoor show Pints in the Field came from.
"The first time we talked about that, I thought we're nuts, this is never going to work, but it did. So we have a couple of big, bold ideas like that we're working towards."
For more television news click here
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
