Is it too Late Late?

Once a staple of Irish culture, it will take a lot to make the Late Late show successful again.

There was a time in Irish history when Friday nights meant being glued to your seat for two hours. These were the glory days of the Late Late Show, when a barn owl and the phrase “Ladies and gentlemen; to whom it concerns…” meant damn good entertainment.

With Gay Byrne at the helm, the Late Late became a staple of Irish culture. It opened the country up to a wave of liberalism in the early sixties that challenged the old Catholic conservative guard and made them more accountable and open to criticism. It took on highly controversial topics on a regular basis and some of the most memorable moments in Irish TV history, as the old saying went, “started on The Late Late Show”.

“Uncle Gay” was in charge of the show between 1962 and 1999, punctuated only by a season he spent working on English TV in 1968/ 69, making him the longest serving host on the longest running talk show in the world. But since he rode off into the broadcasting sunset on that Harley U2 gave him, the show has gone downhill steadily.

His replacement Pat Kenny, while an admirable current affairs presenter on radio and on such TV shows as Today Tonight, is just not cut out for regular interaction with other human beings. He looks awkward, and seems more interested in getting through all his questions than actually talking to his guests. Under Byrne’s stewardship, the Late Late gave us numerous shocking, controversial and sometimes bizarre moments. Under Kenny’s, all we have is a car-crash interview with Brigitte Nielsen and Paul Stokes’ “insufferable arsehole” comments. Nobody watches the Late Late anymore, and small wonder.

Pat Kenny has always maintained he would retire before he was sixty, which falls nicely in 2008; so the race is on to find the next face of The Late Late Show. But the question isn’t just as simple as “who will it be?” but “can whoever takes over bring the show back to what it used to be?”

Already people are putting bets on who’ll become presenter number four of the institution that is the Late Late and some names might surprise you. The following names are a mixed bag: Serious contenders, dark horses, rank outsiders and a few that I just felt like putting in for the craic, in the hope they’re taken semi-seriously.

Ryan Tubridy: The presumptive nominee. Genial, experienced and a good all-rounder, Tubridy has a bit of the “chosen one” about him, having taken what used to be Gay Byrne’s slot on Radio One and the Saturday night chat show slot that used to be Pat Kenny’s. While The Late Late would fit him like a glove, Ryan seems to be a presenter who receives strong feelings either way: Those who like him love him, those who don’t, erm, don’t. Plus, you have to wonder whether fronting the show would end up pigeonholing him very early in his career.

Ray D’Arcy: On paper and in theory D’Arcy would be a good choice, but communism works in theory too. While he’s a popular entertainer, and he’d be fantastic at the bright n’ breezy stuff, he just cannot do serious. Could you imagine him taking on Pee Flynn like Gay did? Of course not, but that’s what several years of wrestling with a stuffed panda will do to ya.

Mark Cagney: Ha! Believe it or not, you can get pretty good odds on Mark “Der Smugmeister” Cagney becoming the show’s next presenter. Which would be disastrous in all fairness. Although, maybe it would be funny to watch the guests try and get a word in edgewise past his Dr. Cox-like ego.

Miriam O’Callaghan: Eh?! Surely you can’t have a woman doing The Late Late?! To be honest it would be a refreshing change and not beyond the realms of possibility, however it’s unlikely she’d get it. While being a top-notch current affairs presenter, she has the opposite problem to D’Arcy in that she can’t do the light entertainment stuff.

Kathryn Thomas: Yeah, I know, a little out of left field perhaps, but is it that ludicrous? She might not be as experienced, but she’s a good presenter, young, would be a good all-rounder and could generally blow the thing wide open.

Matt Cooper: Gone are the days when Cooper was just that guy who took over Dunphy’s show, now he’s the most listened to person on drive time radio. In many ways he’s perfect for the job: incisive, pragmatic, tenacious but also possessing a crucial sense of humour. Plus, he’s from Cork, which is a bit of a bonus in the Dub-laden halls of RTÉ.

Henry Kelly: In case you were wondering, this falls into the category of “people put in for the craic” that I referred to earlier. In all honesty though, it’s not the worst idea in the world that the broadcasting legend that inspired Henry Sellers (not to mention being one of my own greatest influences) could take over the Late Late Show is it? It is? Oh, OK then…was just saying is all…

By: Paddy Duffy