Four Late Late Show talking points, including Baz Ashmawy’s 'quiet and private' wedding
Baz Ashmawy with Patrick Kielty on the Late Late Show. Ashmawy spoke about his wedding last April and the return of DIY SOS
Northern Ireland’s First Minister and Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill joined Patrick Kielty to discuss the recent standoff between the Orange Order and nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, and Friday evening’s banning of the Drumcree parade.
O’Neill shared her relief at the decision to prevent the march once more, which she learned about en route to the RTÉ studio. She also criticised the failure to intervene sooner.
“We said from day one, the Secretary of State could step in, he could have stopped this nonsense, he could have put an end to it, but unfortunately, he chose not to until the eleventh hour,” O’Neill said.
She also addressed the potential implications of the standoff on a future United Ireland, arguing that Northern Ireland is a more inclusive place since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, citing the inclusive success of events like the recent Fleadh in Belfast as an example of respect between communities.
“We won't allow a small minority of people to drag us into the past. We won't allow a small minority of people to disrupt all that's been achieved over the last 28 years. We have a really, really positive story to tell.”
host Baz Ashmawy was on the to mark the fifth season of his programme, which revamps the homes of struggling families through community volunteer work.
He said restores his faith in humanity time and time again.
“You think you'd get used to seeing people give up their time and be so empathetic and be superheroes, but you just never get used to it, and it just blows me away every time,” he said.
He added that he forms a close bond with every family they feature.
“I just fall in love with them. They open their doors to me and they share these stories with me, and I'm very lucky and blessed to get to become friends and close to them. I adore them.”
Ashmawy, who recently welcomed a second grandchild, also spoke about his wedding in April to his partner of over two decades, Tanja Evans.
“We snuck off and got married in April,” he said. “Do you know what, a lot of your life is out there, and everything's very public all the time. For us, and for our family, we just wanted to do something very quiet and very private, and we just snuck under the radar and we just did it. It was great.”
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Comedian Deirdre O’Kane revealed she had her DNA analysed and learned she had considerable French ancestry, much to her delight.
She said her 20% French DNA didn’t come as a surprise, given the notions she feels she grew up with.
“There were a lot of notions in our house, definitely,” she said. “In the 80s, my dad very briefly drove a yellow Mercedes. Now, not for long. He didn't have the confidence. We're not meant to drive yellow cars, lads. You really do need to be in the south of France for that stuff.”
She said a nun at her boarding school saw her father drive the car and compared her to Jackie Onassis.
“I was about 14 years old at the time. I had never heard of Jackie Onassis. For years, I thought Jackie Onassis was a girl in sixth year because that was the only Jackie that I knew.”
She also described the "beautiful chaos" of family life and the challenges of raising teenagers — and the rage that features in her new show.
“If you have teenagers in your house, there's a lot of hormonal rage, and if they're in the house at the same time as a woman of a certain age, that's another bit of rage. And then, if you have old people in your life, they're raging. They're raging against the dying of the light. So that's a lot of rage.”
Impressionist Mario Rosenstock spoke about the awkward encounters he has had over the years with the people he parodied.
He spent time in elevators at Today FM with both Brian Cowan and Joan Burton, and he discovered politicians like Michael Noonan, Micheál Martin, and Paschal Donohoe had been listening to his radio sketches. This was particularly hammered home when speaking to Taoiseach Micheál Martin on his podcast.
“He told me that at one stage he had missed a crucial finance meeting with Paschal Donohoe because he had pulled the limo over to the side of the road to finish a sketch. I didn't believe him, but a year later, I met Paschal Donohoe, and he came onto the podcast and he went, ‘Yes, Mario, it's absolutely true. And may I say that I was also late for that meeting because I was also listening to the same sketch on the side of the road.’ So they do listen.”
He said one of the most intense encounters was with Cork soccer legend Roy Keane, who challenged Rosenstock to make him laugh.
“Roy Keane, back in 2006, wasn't the Roy Keane that exists now. Roy Keane was a fierce, savage, uncontrollable monster in 2006,” he said.
“He had asked to meet me, and I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a prank, but he asked to meet me, and he said he wanted me to do him in front of him.”
