‘The ghost of Gaybo is going to be in that studio’: Previous Late Late Show hosts' first shows
A new chapter begins for iconic RTÉ chat show with Northern Irish comedian Patrick Kielty taking over as host
Pat Kenny will never forget the moment he stepped out onto the set of The Late Late Show.
Already he knew it would be a tough audience. Gay Byrne had presented the Late Late Show from the get-go. Thirty-seven years is a long time —even longer in television, some would say. Plus, the show’s die-hard viewers were notoriously fickle. The new host, whoever it was, would have their work cut out.
There were some who believed the show itself should have retired alongside the veteran presenter, who’d first stepped onto its set in 1962. Little did they know that sixty years later, we’d still be discussing the new presenter on their first night.
In an interview ahead of the first show of the iconic series he ever presented with guests George Martin, Sonia O’Sullivan, Roy Keane and Mary Black, a baby-faced Pat Kenny admitted it was going to be a tough gig.
“The ghost of Gaybo is going to be in that studio,” he smiled wryly on the eve of the show in 1999. “Some bits you’ll recognise but most of the bits we changed are cyclical things – new set, new opening animation. They [changes] would have happened, in any event on The Late Late Show every couple of years.”
Kenny knew viewers would be quick to judge.
“I think it’s unique in the history of television that it [the show] has been criticised before it’s been seen. What I’d say to the viewers, who are the real critics, is to wait and see. I think you are going to enjoy the series. I don’t want to be judged on one programme, I want to be judged over the next nine months. I hope and I believe at the end of the nine months it’s going to be a positive verdict.”
Of course, those nine months turned into over nine years.
Famously billed as the world’s second longest-running late-night talk show (surpassed only by the American The Tonight Show) The Late Late Show is regarded as an Irish television institution. It’s kept the same format since the show was first broadcast in 1962.
Two hours of live TV in front of a studio audience; a litany of guests, Irish and international from the world of sports, books, entertainment and politics.
Gay Byrne hosted the show from its inception, until 1999 when Pat Kenny took to the hot-seat for the next decade. Ryan Tubridy hosted the show from 2009 for fourteen years. Now Kielty steps into the mix, with viewers sure to tune in this evening to see how the Northern Irish host fares.
Interestingly, according to RTÉ, The Late Late Show was intended to be a summer “filler” but proved so successful with the public that it became part of the regular schedule.
The idea for the programme came from the show’s producer, Tom McGrath, who wanted to present an Irish version of the American talk show ‘The Tonight Show’.
Tom McGrath’s original idea was that the show would be informal and have the feel of people dropping in for a chat. Of course, The Late Late Show evolved to become an important forum for the airing and debating of many issues in a changing Irish society.
On Gay Byrne’s first show, broadcast on July 6, 1962, it was unusual to have a live entertainment show on so late in the day. Those first guests included Count Cyril McCormack, Ken Gray, George Desmond Hodnett and Harry Thuillier.
Fast forward to 2009. Ryan Tubridy had already come to the attention of RTÉ bosses with his flair for getting the most out of interviews with his self-depreciating personality and quick wit. He’d previously hosted ‘Tubridy Tonight’ from 2004 to 2009 and many knew that he’d be the likely candidate to fill Pat Kenny’s size tens.
On September 4, 2009, he stepped out onto the glossy new set of the Late Late Show. Producers were leaning into the US-style chat show. A couch replaced the chairs and the theme tune was rearranged, there was even a house band. Opening the show, Ryan Tubridy’s first words were to thank his predecessors, Byrne and Kenny in the role as presenters for making the show the institution that it is.
The guests on Tubridy’s first show included the Taoiseach at the time, Brian Cowen, actress Saoirse Ronan, Cherie Blair, Niall and Gillian Quinn, Joan Collins and music from Sharon Corr and David Gray.
Every Friday night thereafter, interviews, musical performances, and discourse on topical issues began overflowing onto social media. One might argue that The Late Late Show influenced attitudes, directed social change and contributed to the shape of Irish societal norms.
It has consistently achieved RTÉ's highest ratings averaging 650,000 viewers per episode and by all accounts, his anointment...sorry his appointment, was considered a success. The world continued turning in Montrose. Until this year, when Ryan Tubridy announced he was stepping down as host.
Now Kielty takes over.
The Northern Irish comedian admitted this week that he had butterflies. "It sort of feels that the anticipation and all of that stuff with people talking and you know, all of the stuff that's gone on in the past... It feels now, a couple of days out, you can see the pitch, time to get the boots on, time to make the show.
"And the one thing that I promised myself was – right the way through this, but this week more than ever – if you're not here to enjoy it, if you're not here to enjoy every little bit of this week then what's the point in doing the job.
"So will there be a few butterflies? There will be. But ultimately, I'm gonna try to take it all in and you know, suck every last brilliant moment out of it." The presenter also revealed that Tubridy had passed on a good luck message. Kielty also told reporters at a press conference this week what he’d learnt from his predecessors.
“I think growing up on the show, watching Gay do his stuff... I think the brilliant thing that he used to do was he talked to the audience as much as down the camera.” The line up for the guests on the show will be revealed later this evening.
But in a neat full-circle way, it seems as if Mr Late Late Show himself may have endorsed this move.
Ex RTÉ commissioning editor Billy McGrath told The Sun that he had been attending a stand-up competition years before, and had seen Patrick Kielty performing. Gay Byrne had also been at the event. “Gay thought Paddy had the X-factor," McGrath revealed.
"After the show, Gay went straight to Paddy to tell him how impressed he was.”
Perhaps it takes one to know one. And now, the show must go on.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
