Mario Rosenstock born 31 August 1971, is an Irish

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

, impressionist

Impressionist (entertainment)

An impressionist or a mimic is a performer whose act consists of imitating the voice and mannerisms of others. The word usually refers to a professional comedian/entertainer who specializes in such performances and has developed a wide repertoire of impressions, including adding to them, often to...

 and musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 who is best known for his parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 music singles and his role in the Gift Grub

Gift Grub

Gift Grub is a series of short comic pieces broadcast on weekdays on the breakfast show of Irish commercial radio station Today FM since 8 May 1999...

comedy series on Irish radio station Today FM

Today FM

Radio Ireland Ltd, trading as 100-102 Today FM is an Irish commercial FM radio station which is available nationally. The station, which commenced broadcasting on Saint Patrick's Day in 1997, can be received nationally and carries a mix of music and talk...

.

His grandfather, George Rosenstock, was in the Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

 and fought in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. His uncle is Gabriel Rosenstock

Gabriel Rosenstock

Gabriel Rosenstock is an Irish poet, haiku writer, translator and author. He was born in Kilfinane, County Limerick in 1949. He currently resides in Dublin.-Biography:...

, one of Ireland's most notable Irish language poets and member of INNTI with Michael Davitt (Poet), Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill

Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill

Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill is an Irish poet.Born in Lancashire, England in 1952, of Irish parents, she moved to Ireland at the age of 5, and was brought up in the Dingle Gaeltacht and in Nenagh, County Tipperary. Her uncle is Monsignor Pádraig Ó Fiannachta of An Daingean, the leading authority alive on...

 and Liam Ó Muirthile.

Career

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

Glenroe

Glenroe was an Irish television drama series broadcast between September 1983 and May 2001 on RTÉ One. The programme was a spin-off from Bracken, a short-lived RTÉ drama itself spun off from The Riordans. Glenroe was broadcast on Sunday nights at 20.30, generally from September to May. The show was...

in the 1990s.

However, he is now best known for the popular Gift Grub

Gift Grub

Gift Grub is a series of short comic pieces broadcast on weekdays on the breakfast show of Irish commercial radio station Today FM since 8 May 1999...

segments which have featured on the Ian Dempsey

Ian Dempsey

Ian Michael Dempsey is an Irish presenter of television and breakfast radio. He is the long-running presenter of the breakfast show on Today FM, self-titled The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show, which runs from 07:00 - 09:00 each weekday morning...

 breakfast show on Today FM since 1999. Gift Grub is a series of comic sketches, impersonations and parodies that have featured Rosenstock assuming the personae of Bertie Ahern

Bertie Ahern

Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....

, Ronan Keating

Ronan Keating

Ronan Patrick John Keating is an Irish recording artist, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Keating debuted on the professional music scene alongside Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately, in 1994 as the lead singer of Boyzone. His solo career started in 1999, and...

, Colin Farrell

Colin Farrell

Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....

 and Roy Keane

Roy Keane

Roy Maurice Keane is an Irish former footballer and manager. In his 18-year playing career, he played for Cobh Ramblers in the League of Ireland, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United, before ending his career at Celtic in Scotland....

 amongst many others; he also provides the manic voice of Right Price Tiles radio spokesperson "Daft Dave".

Rosenstock performed an impersonation of José Mourinho

José Mourinho

José Mário dos Santos Félix Mourinho is a Portuguese football manager and the current manager of Real Madrid. He is commonly known as "The Special One".Mourinho is regarded by some players, coaches and critics as the best ever coach in football....

 in a parody of a song from the musical Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor dreamcoat

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...

. This spread like wildfire on Internet message boards and eventually it was played on a Sky Sports

Sky Sports

Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...

 broadcast. Mourinho had heard the song and enjoyed the impersonation so much he asked Rosenstock to perform a private show for him and the squad. Rosenstock later released, with Mourinho's blessing, a single version of "José and his Amazing Technicolor Overcoat

José and his Amazing Technicolor Overcoat

José and his Amazing Technicolor Overcoat is a comedy sketch first performed for Gift Grub on Ireland's Today FM.-Song:The skit parodies the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as well as Real Madrid manager José Mourinho...

". 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.

In 2005, he starred as Keano in the comedy musical play I, Keano

I, Keano

I, Keano is a comedy musical play about footballer Roy Keane leaving the Republic of Ireland national football team before the 2002 FIFA World Cup....

, which concerns Keane leaving

2002 Roy Keane incident

The Roy Keane incident was a public quarrel in May 2002 between Republic of Ireland national football team's captain Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy when the team was preparing for its matches in Japan in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. It resulted in Keane, the key player, leaving the squad...

 the Republic of Ireland national football team

Republic of Ireland national football team

The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....

 during the run-up to the 2002 FIFA World Cup

2002 FIFA World Cup

The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...

.

In 2005, Rosenstock achieved the Christmas number one single in the Irish music Charts, with a parody of Will Young

Will Young

William Robert "Will" Young is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominenceafter winning the 2002 inaugural series of the British music contest Pop Idol, making him the first winner of the now-worldwide Idols-format franchise...

's song Leave Right Now

Leave Right Now

"Leave Right Now" is a popular song written by Eg White and performed by Will Young. It appears on Young's second album, Friday's Child, and was released as the first single from the album, and Young's fifth overall. The single went to number one in the UK Singles Chart, selling 117,700 in its...

(which itself was a Christmas number-one in 2003). The parody concerned Roy Keane's controversial departure from and his falling-out with Alex Ferguson

Alex Ferguson

Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE is a Scottish association football manager and former player, currently managing Manchester United, where he has been in charge since 1986...

. As of 2011, Rosenstock is the last Irish national to top his country's Christmas charts; since 2006, winners of British series The X Factor

The X Factor (UK)

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...

have topped the Christmas charts in Ireland every year.

Between December 2007 and May 2009, Rosenstock worked on a puppet comedy series entitled Special 1 TV (originally I'm on Setanta Sports

Setanta Sports

Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...

), which was presented as a parody weekly football talk show hosted by "José Mourinho". Rosenstock voiced all the puppet characters on the sketch, with the exception of "Rafael Benitez", who was performed by Keith Burke, including the main character Mourinho, his studio co-hosts "Sven-Göran Eriksson" and "Wayne Rooney", and regular phone-in callers like "Alex Ferguson", "Arsène Wenger", "Roy Keane" and "Mick McCarthy", as well as the non-football-related characters, Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...

, Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

, Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 and Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....

.

Outstanding Achievement Award at the 11th annual PPI (Phonographic Performance Ireland) Radio Awards.