The 2 Johnnies joked they are the Irish Ant and Dec ‘without the money’ as they teased a potential move to the UK after ‘sniffs’ of interest from the BBC.

But the popular podcast duo from Co. Tipperary, who are RTE’s hottest new stars, admitted it would take a lot to get them to leave their home, revealing that they only took their drivetime show on 2fm ‘Drive it with The 2 Johnnies’ on the condition that they could broadcast from their native Cahir.

Johnny Smacks, said: “When the head of 2fm came to us and we were like, ah I don’t know...because we enjoyed radio and we filled in for awhile and we were like we will do it in a few years, and then we were like maybe we should, so we straight away said we’d do it but we are not leaving Tipp.

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“So he’d no choice,” he added with a smirk, in an interview on Angela Scanlon’s Ask Me Anything chat show.

Johnny B added: “There weren’t sure how it was going to work.

“We can get lunatics with strong accents on the radio to talk about what is going on with their lives, it is Liveline with a bit of David Guetta in between.”

Pressed on reports of interest from the UK, Johnny Smacks told the Irish BBC host: “We’d go to the UK alright, ah look there has been sniffs…from like the BBC, but only sniffs.”

It comes after Irish Mirror revealed that the duo, real names John O'Brien and John McMahon, were 'in talks' with the UK radio bosses about 'a big money move' across the pond.

Discussing their success story and the building of the 2 Johnnies ‘empire ‘, including half a million podcast listeners weekly, ten number one singles and sold out 3Arena shows, Angela compared the pals to Ant and Dec, to which Johnny Smacks quickly quipped back, ‘without the money’.

Johnny B went on to joke: “We’ve never been to the jungle but we did a gig in Carlow once.”

The pair went on to admit that it has not been as smooth sailing as it may seem behind the scenes, saying: “It sounds class doesn’t it? But if you knew the panic behind the scenes.”

The comedy duo also opened up about Johnny Smacks’ upcoming wedding and his unromantic proposal, where he collapsed on the plane home from Dubai where he bought the ring.

“We bombed around Abu Dhabi in 42 degree heat and sourced the ring, and we were delighted and woke up the next morning a little bit seedy and had to fly home. And I didn’t know where to put the ring.

“So I got on the plane and I wasn’t feeling great, we had too much fun the night before.”

Johnny B interjected: “He collapsed on the plane, it was pretty funny. Got dragged down the back, there were two of them pulling him by the heels, and all he was worried about was the ring.”

Opening up about another embarrassing story due to the nature of the chat show, Johnny Smacks also revealed how his mother still cut his toenails until he was 19.

“That was only until like before I left home, at about 19. My mother did cut my toenails until I was at college age, she’d be like you are not able to do them right. And you will get an infection. And here we are, 12 years on, what have I got, a bloody infection.”

Meanwhile, Johnny B lifted the lid on his long haired days in a heavy metal band alongside Kodaline.

He said: “I was in a heavy metal band. That video is probably from 2009, and I had long hair, almost down to my ass. And everyone used to ask, ‘how is your hair so luscious’ apart from ‘why are your songs so brutal’.

“I was in a heavy metal band and I still love it and listen to it every day, all the time.”

“One of the bands we used to play with all of the time was Kodaline, but back when they had a different name, back when they were called 21 demands.

“And I'll never forget we were playing a gig across from Bus Aras, and Kodaline came in and they were the only band to have backing tracks. So they had sound effects and stuff and were so professional.

“And all of us were in the back with our long hair going ‘who are these arseholes’ and is it any wonder they were the only band that actually made it like.”

*Angela Scanlon's Ask Me Anything airs this Saturday night on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player at 9:40pm.

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