They are possibly the most Marmite duo on the Irish airwaves - but radio listeners will be hearing a lot less of The 2 Johnnies from the end of this month.
The pair have announced that their 'Drive It with The 2 Johnnies' afternoon show on 2FM will come to an end this month, with the last show going out on May 31st.
They are the second big-name act to leave the station in recent weeks, following the departure of Doireann Garrihy from the breakfast show with co-hosts Carl Mullan and Donncha O'Callaghan.
However, the Tipp duo won't be resting on their laurels, as their debut album 'Small Town Heroes' will be released next Friday, and they have a busy summer of gigs - including their own festival at St. Anne's Park on June 8th, and dates in Australia and America - and their ongoing podcast to continue.
In a statement, Johnny Smacks said: "We came into 2FM with the idea of having a laugh on the afternoons, cheering people up and getting more mad scones on the radio from every county in Ireland telling stories and auld yarns. After two and a half years of unreal craic my jaws need a rest from all the laughing. Thank you to our unbelievable team who backed us and brought our crazy ideas to life, to our brother Aindriú de Paor, our producers/mammies Anita and Caroline and to our on-air sister Aifric O’Connell the show wouldn’t be what it is without you, thank you so much. And the biggest thank you of all is for you the listeners, the show was all about ye, so to Bob in Waterford, Geezer John, Mouse and the lads, Pip in Toronto and all our listeners thanks for laughing along with us. There are great people working in 2fm and we wish them all the success in the world. For now, we’re looking forward to our world tour and the release of our debut album and we promise we will keep ‘shutterin’ away on the podcast every Monday. Who knows we may be back on the radio someday but for now as we say on the show ‘We’re out the gap’."
The Two Johnnies courted controversy at the beginning of their 2FM stint after they were slammed for posting video discussing women in a derogatory manner on Facebook. They issued an apology and were briefly taken off-air.
