New Era for The Late Late Show

Pat Kenny sensationally announced his plans to leave The Late Late Show during the programme’s broadcast last Friday. He plans to leave the show, which he has hosted for the last ten years, to front a new current affairs programme on RTÉ. Kenny will leave the show at the end of the current season, which is in eight weeks time.



Watch Pat Kenny's announcement here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW0V3vpG9Js


Arguably The Late Late Show is the most important television show to ever be broadcast in Ireland. It has been running since 1962 making it the longest running chat show in the world. It has been broadly argued that The Late Late Show introduced Ireland to such controversial topics as; sex, divorce and contraception. The show, it seems, made Ireland a more open and liberal society.


Gay Byrne was the charismatic presenter of the show when it was introduced as a summer “filler” in 1962. He subsequently hosted the show for the next 37 years, apart from a brief stint from Frank Hall in the 1968-1969 season. Kenny received much criticism upon becoming Byrne’s replacement. The Sunday Independent’s Eilis O’Hanlon commented “what replaced it [The show featuring Gay Byrne] bore a superficial resemblance to what had gone before, but it was no more the Late Late Show than Bull Island wasa comedy.”


While the dust is still settling from such an announcement speculators are already gossiping about who could fill such prestigious shoes. Paddy Power bookmakers tipped Tubridy Tonight host Ryan Tubridy as the favourite with odds of 2/1. He is closely followed by Miriam O’Callaghan with odds of 3/1. Less likely candidates include Bertie Ahern (100/1), Podge & Rodge (250/1) and Colin Farrell (500/1).


Gerry Ryan was originally topped to be the most likely candidate to replace the shows current host. He presented the show in October 2008 when Pat Kenny was unable to attend due to the death of his mother. However, an RTÉ source revealed in The Daily Mirror last Sunday that Gerry Ryan would be unlikely to be considered because of his pay disputes with RTÉ officials. The source said: “You simply cannot bite the hand that feeds you and then expect to be rewarded for it. There’s a lot of speculation about who will become the new Late Late host but you can be guaranteed it won’t be Gerry Ryan now.”

It may be easy to draw similarities between The Late Late Show’s current host: Pat Kenny, and it’s prospective host: Ryan Tubridy. Tubridy’s Saturday night show, Tubridy Tonight, is the main competition to Kenny’s Friday Night slot. This a near mirror-image to the situation when Gay Byrne was the host of the The Late Late Show and Pat Kenny was his main competition with his Saturday night show Kenny Live. Unusually Tubridy’s show was brought in by RTÉ bosses as a replacement to Kenny Live. Both hosts also have extensive experience in radio, with Tubridy previously hosting The Full Irish on RTÉ 2fm and Kenny currently hosting Today with Pat Kenny weekdays on RTÉ Radio 1.

Another RTÉ source revealed, in today’s News of the World, that Miriam O’Callaghan is a firm favourite to replace Kenny in RTÉ’s flagship programme stating “ Miriam is a strong, modern woman - she’s sharp and sexy will bring a fresh, fun approach.”
Whoever is to become the new host has the responsibility, and the privilege, of hosting RTÉ’s most popular and influential show.