Richard Hogan: We're all the richer for having the Toy Show

The Toy Show is more than a TV show — it illuminates how we are now... and we're in pretty good shape

Patrick Kielty dressed as the Grinch pictured during the opening of The Late Late Toy Show 2025. Picture Andres Poveda

There are few events that have occurred in my life when the entire nation seemed to be connected as one:

• Ray Houghton’s winner in ‘88,
• Bonner’s save in Italia ‘90,
• Sonia O’Sullivan’s silver medal in the Sydney Olympics,
• Katie Taylor’s gold in 2012,
• Roy Keane’s departure from Saipan in 2002,
• And more recently, Troy Parrott’s late winner against Hungary.

These are just some moments where the entire country held its collective breath. We were united as Irish people watching our representatives perform and achieve success at the highest level. 

The Late Late Toy Show too, I think, is something that is uniquely Irish and brings us all together for a couple of hours once a year.

Ah, you can humbug it as commercialised garbage all you want, but The Late Late Toy Show is far more than an overly commercialised programme about children’s toys.

It has come to represent how we are at a particular time in our country’s history.

After watching last Friday’s performance, it seems like we are in good shape.

Keelan Tiernan (10) and Dylan Bowe (10) from Dublin with Roy Keane at The Late Late Toy Show 2025.

I love the build-up to it, the kids thinking about what pyjamas they will wear for it, the food they will eat watching it, and wondering what the theme will be this year.

The whole thing has become a perennial favourite in most houses in the country.

I think adults nearly get as much of a kick out of it as children do. Well, I do anyway. Even when we didn’t have kids, myself and my wife would watch it. 

There is a Proustian quality to that show, it allows us to access the skin of an earlier self, a more innocent self — one that dreamed of Santa and reindeers.

The show started with Patrick Kielty bouncing onto our screens dressed as the Grinch.

What followed was a touching insight into the world of children. Best friends Keelan and Dylan, both 10-years old, touched the hearts of the nation.

Keelan showed us all what it is like to live with Tourette syndrome, his honest emotions coming out for the country to see — “sorry, I’m a bit nervous,” he said to the fact he was experiencing tics.

Sensing his best friend being overwhelmed, Dylan started to practice breathing techniques with Keelan to calm him down. It was one of the most genuine and loving moments on Irish TV.

Two beautiful boys caring and supporting each other. It was just such a wonderful display of kindness and friendship.

Roy Keane surprised them both by coming out and offering words of encouragement, he congratulated Dylan for being such a good mate and he hugged Keelan, who blurted out “I play midfield too”.

It was an endearing moment and showed us all what Keane is about: Not a hard man but a gentleman who cares deeply for others. A true Irish legend.

Keelan Tiernan (10) and Dylan Bowe (10) from Dublin, Toy Demonstrator at The Late Late Toy Show 2025.

Keelan sang Lewis Capaldi’s song Someone You Loved, and told Patrick that he loved Capaldi even before he found out he had Tourette syndrome.

I remember as a child reading that John Lennon was dyslexic. It was a very important moment in my own development because if my great hero and idol had what I was struggling with in 80s Ireland perhaps I wasn’t stupid.

I could see what I felt all those years ago in Keelan. His hero has the same thing he has, and so it is okay. And maybe, just maybe, it’s okay to be who you are.

In true toy show magnificence, Capaldi delivered a message to the boys, inviting them to attend his concert as VIPs next summer.

Both Dylan and Keelan were bawling, and in a further moment of tenderness, Keelan handed Dylan his used tissue to dry his eyes. It was just magic. No script could ever write the beauty of that moment. The entire country needed that tissue too.

IT was a very emotional toy show. It felt like RTÉ gave a collective hug to the nation, telling us all it’s okay to be who we are, and to celebrate our unique lives, and that an illness or condition does not define us.

What a beautiful message at Christmas.

There is another aspect to this show that often gets missed and that is how much funding it received from the public and where that money goes.

I am an ambassador for Make a Wish Ireland and I know how important funding is to help children and families at a vulnerable time.

So, for organisations like Barretstown, Jack and Jill Foundation, ISPCC, Pieta House, and many more, the toy show is far more impactful than just a show giving kids a couple of hours on TV. It literally changes lives.

This year I had the incredible privilege to get a look at the set of the toy show the following day. As I walked around it with my two youngest children, I kept thinking about Gay Byrne and all the toy shows I had watched as a kid.

There I was, nearly 50, walking around my childhood. The toy show is more than just a show. It is in our DNA. 

It illuminates how we are now, how we treat each other and how we think about inclusivity. It was a wonderful few hours, celebrating the innocent world of the child.