Prattle on but Gay still talks the talk
Byrne, who has been engaged in a war of words with Dunphy since questioning the logic of the programme going head-to-head with the Late Late Show instead of going for an alternative night, said he was being "attacked vociferously" by the TV3 presenter.
"I think his recent outburst was so incredibly abusive and verbally aggressive, hostile and foul-mouthed," said Byrne, who was accused by Dunphy of getting paid for "sitting on his arse".
The grandaddy of all chat show hosts said he would feel disloyal to RTÉ if he appeared on a TV3 show after working for the national broadcaster full-time for over 50 years, and still enjoying a retainer for occasional work.
But he laughed off Dunphy's claims about his RTÉ pay cheque. "Last week he said I was getting 100,000 a year. This morning I hear it was 200,000. Is he bidding for me?"
Gaybo will be watching both Pat Kenny and Eamon Dunphy this Friday night after being commissioned to write a critique for a Sunday newspaper, but he was more concerned yesterday with promoting his own return to the celebrity interview circuit.
Byrne is hosting three major interviews before live audiences in the National Concert Hall (NCH) in Dublin in October and November, starting with legendary golfer Seve Ballesteros on October 13 and continuing with former British prime minister John Major on November 8 and astronaut Neil Armstrong on November 17.
Armstrong is a particular coup as he rarely does interviews, confining his public appearances to six university lectures per year and Byrne was blunt in admitting an attractive, though undisclosed, appearance fee was the key to securing his agreement.
Tickets for the interviews range in from 40 to 80. If they succeed in filling the NCH's 1,200 seats each night, a new series will be planned for next year, with target guests including Hillary Clinton and Elton John.
The series is devised by an independent company, Newpark Productions Ltd, whose directors include Cathal McCabe, former head of music at RTÉ and a one-time producer of Gay Byrne's radio show, but RTÉ will be recording for radio broadcast some time next year.
Gay promised they would be probing interviews he guaranteed John Major would not escape the embarrassing issue of his secret affair with Edwina Currie but he said any areas he missed could be covered by the audience, who would have a chance to ask questions from the floor following the 45-minute main interview.
He isn't thinking of returning full-time to a career in interviewing and he wasn't keen to offer advice to the latest pretender to his throne.
"No," he laughed. "And if I had any tips I wouldn't give it out of spite after what he said about me."
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
