Drink is part of who I am, says Ryan

UNDERPAID, under-appreciated and under the influence — sounds like the kind of character who might ring the Gerry Ryan Show on a Monday morning to share their disgruntlement with the nation.

But the character in question is Ryan himself who, according to his memoirs, drinks too much, is paid too little and receives way too little credit from the critics.

In the forthcoming Would The Real Gerry Please Stand Up, the 52-year-old broadcaster admits to regularly downing a third of a bottle of whiskey and drinking in an average week three times the alcohol limit recommended by doctors.

Unrepentant, he says drink is part of who he is and the lifestyle he leads, and doesn’t believe his career has suffered.

“Alcohol has definitely made me less healthy than I should be, but I don’t think I’ve paid any price professionally for my drinking,” he writes.

“For better or worse, the Gerry Ryan you listen to on the radio, or watch on the television, is a guy who drinks too much. That’s part of the package.”

Ryan, who is one of RTÉ’s biggest stars, earning almost €600,000 for his morning radio show on 2FM, reveals he came close to leaving the station last year after starting negotiations with Newstalk on a package “worth several millions more” than RTÉ’s offer.

He says he should be paid at least as much as top earner, Pat Kenny, whose salary is close to €900,000. The negotiations with Newstalk dragged on, however, and Ryan eventually signed a new contract with RTÉ, although he reveals that the last words he heard from Newstalk owner, Denis O’Brien, on the matter were: “Well, maybe next time...”

Ryan is critical of RTÉ’s “arrogance” and management’s treatment of him on numerous occasions over his 30 years at the station, including their investigations into the infamous “Lambo” affair, when he made up a tale about slaughtering a lamb while on a wilderness survival trial, and the various unsuccessful attempts to find him a suitable television show.

However, his tone is less poor mouth than mischievous bluster, and he is open about his love of life’s luxuries and his readiness to indulge in them.

Despite living out much of his life on air, he is tight-lipped about the break-up of his 26-year marriage to wife, Morah, earlier this year and his new romance with head of Unicef Ireland, Melanie Verwoerd.

Gerry Ryan will be signing copies of his book in Eason’s on O’Connell Street in Dublin this Friday.