The 2 Johnnies are back on TV.
While it was uncertain if they would be returning to the screen after they announced they would be leaving 2FM after two years with the station, the lads made sure that Late Night Lock-in would be back.
Yes, it returned and the Johnny Smacks and Johnny B told VIP Magazine they had no doubt it would be.
“I think it did better than the other shows that were in the previous spot. It’s a fast-paced show. It’s something different. There is an appetite to do something different,” Johnny B says.
Last season, they juggled their podcast, the radio show, their TV show and of course, their Junior B hurling team.
Johnny Smacks jokes reflecting on the time: “We would nearly be shaking hands with each other but we made it through another week. So it’s great now to have that little bit of extra time and give it that extra bit of love.”
Do they have time to treasure what an incredible few years the lads have had?
“Because we keep moving onto other stuff we never look back and be like what a year it’s been. It was only this morning I was like, there was a plaque that our promoter in Australia gave us for selling out a tour in Australia and it was like a map of Australia. I had almost forgotten that we were in Australia,” Johnny Smacks confesses.
“That seemed like a year and a half ago and we are only back with five weeks. Stuff like that it’s all seems like a blur, a really great blur. But yeah we should probably live in the moment a bit more. Look, it’s a real busy time and it’s unreal. I am sure when we are showing our grandkids scrapbooks in years to come we will have some mad memories and I hope that we remember it all.”
They previously said that “something had to give” with their busy schedule, that was the radio show. So now they have stepped back from their five day a week role, do they have their lives back?
Both laugh with Johnny Smacks telling us: “We will release a public statement when we get our lives back. We are probably only now starting to see the time benefits of leaving the radio. And we loved the radio. But when it came to the time that you put into it and the time you got off, we had our personal lives to live as well.
“We wanted to drive on with other stuff. When you are going on tour it’s hard to commit to everything. Something had to give and it was the radio. It’s only now that we are seeing the benefit of it. Because we left the radio, brought out an album, promoted the album and did a big gig in St Anne’s Park, left on Tuesday to go to America for three weeks and then to Australia to come back to the TV show. We will probably see the benefits in December.”
Johnny B adds: “Now we actually have Sundays off and a half day Saturday. The podcast too, it’s just a time pit, if we had nothing else to do in the week bar the podcast, it would take the seven days. That is the most important part of the Two Johnnies universe, the podcast. So the more time we have, the more time we put into that. I am finishing that bit earlier in the evenings like before we could be here until 10 o’clock every night.”
Johnny Smacks: “My dog now knows that I am its owner. Usually when I it’s like why is this lad knocking around two or three nights a week.”
The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In airs Thursday at 9.35pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
