The Late Late Show returns for its 54th season tonight. If each episode were to start with a "previously on the Late Late Show" segment it would be a mind-bending collage of stern bishops, poems from the audience, rabble-rousing feminists, celebrity raconteurs, boastful politicians, angry pop stars, toy-infested children and befuddled boybands, with Gay Byrne (the paternalistic ur-host) morphing into Pat Kenny (his Pat-ernalistic successor) and Kenny morphing into Ryan Tubridy (the chummy incumbent) like different incarnations of Doctor Who.
The show still averages 600,000 viewers a week with last season’s Toy Show garnering the highest audience of the century, though last season, at one point, Brendan O’Connor’s Saturday Night Show actually beat them in the ratings.
It's an unapologetically old-fashioned talk show in a media world dominated by slick US patter (the Jimmies Fallon and Kimmel) and comedic, celebrity good sportsman ship (Graham Norton). Its ongoing success is, as I've written before, both religiously reassuring and existentially baffling.
The line-for the opening programme will include Helen O’Driscoll, the mother of two boys killed by their brother Jonathan in Charleville, Co Cork a year ago. Former Formula One president Max Mosley will also feature.
With executive producer Kathy Fox on maternity leave, this year's season is helmed by former Saturday Night Show executive producer, and Late Late Show alumnus Larry Masterson. I spoke to him to see if he could shed some light on the Late Late Show phenomenon.
So you're back on the 'Late Late Show'? Back to the Late Late after six or seven years, yeah. I was with Pat for the last two or three years of his run, then I moved over to the Saturday Night Show and now I'm called back again to the Late Late Show.
Has the 'Late Late' changed? [It] has changed and it's changed essentially because choice for viewers has grown enormously. There's far more channels available now. There's huge choice. Apart from terrestrial channels there's the whole issue of Netflix and so on. That's had a huge impact. And social media – how people watch their television – has changed.
But I think the biggest change of the lot is that because of the downturn, celebs aren't coming to Ireland anymore. Very few people come here to launch a book or a record or a movie or whatever, and that's what viewers in particular don't realise. So there are huge difficulties for shows like the Late Late Show, The Saturday Night Show etc.
I remember when I took over the Late Late Show the first time, eight or nine years ago, people like Gordon Ramsay and the Top Gear guys, they were all coming in. This doesn't happen anymore. When people say to me: "Why can't you be more like Graham Norton?" Well, we're not in London. We're here. We don't have that choice of guest.
What do you do instead? I think you have to work an awful lot harder, but I think you also have to concentrate an awful lot on generating Irish stories and talking to Irish people. And surprise, surprise, Irish people love Irish voices and love Irish stories and people absolutely warm to it.
Is it made more difficult because there are two chat shows on RTE every week (Ray D'Arcy's Saturday show starts soon) and possible a third on the horizon (with a Brendan O'Connor programme planned for 2016)? It creates a lot more competition, but I did the Saturday Night Show last year, and we were one of only two shows, the other being the Claire Byrne show, who increased our share.
What did you think of the decision to end the Saturday Night Show? I was surprised, but at the end of the day decisions were made way above my head. I don't know much about it and I'm sure there's a logic and a rationale there, but I was happy the show ended on a high.
What's the difference between the 'Late Late' and the 'Saturday Night Show'? There are a number of things – [the Late Late Show is] out before the Saturday Night Show which means we have the first bite of the cherry in terms of weekly events. But I think the key difference is the fact we're a bigger canvas and we can go a bit in depth. You really couldn't do that on the Saturday Night Show and, I have to be honest with you, it was frustrating.
For example, something I intend doing over the next year or so, is to bring back the notion of the big debate, the big panel where we address issues in a uniquely Late Late Show way – things that people are talking about out there, [things] that are resonating with people around the country. You can actually devote half-an-hour or 35 minutes, or more if necessary, to a longer debate on the Late Late Show. That's something I'd like to do.
Do you have any other changes planned? Nothing major. I would like us to start to get back to – and the Late Late Show didn't drop this completely – but [back to] reflecting events and what people are talking about. For example, immigration is an issue coming down the line. I think maybe that is something we could talk about on the Late Late Show, how Ireland copes with that. There are huge issues out there that people are interested in – corruption, transparency issues.
Has the role of the 'Late Late Show' changed? I think it's changing. This is the 54th season. Fifty-four years. It's incredible. If you phone any agent in New York, London, Los Angeles looking for a guest and you say who you are they automatically know about the show. It has an extraordinary reputation abroad.
Here at home we've all grown up with it, and I think people grow into the Late Late Show. It's the show we love to love, and it's the show we love to hate, and part of the pleasure is criticising it on a Monday morning: "Did you see that rubbish?" You switch on a Friday night and I'm not saying you're going to enjoy it every Friday night, but most of the time you get something out of it. There's something in it for everybody.
Many people now watch with phones out, Tweeting their reactions. How does that affect things? It's not a bad thing. And you have to take a balanced view of Twitter. A lot of it is hate for the sake of hate but if it's generating discussion, if there are water-cooler moments then I'm perfectly happy.
When do you start planning a show? Monday morning, but in fairness you'll have a certain amount of stuff booked ahead – so-and-so has a book, or someone has a movie coming out. But maybe more than half the show will be a blank slate on Monday morning. We'd be following events as they unfold. This week there'd be a number of stories unfolding and we'd be following that
What can we expect tonight? The first show is always the most difficult one. The Dáil is back, the politicians are back, the silly season is over. It's about show two or three that we start to tip in. The first show is always a difficult one to go by. That's not to say that it won't be an exciting, interesting show, but I'm not going to tell you anything about it.
Ah go on . . . I can't. It's all a secret. But it'll be a very interesting show. It'll be a good show.
How is working with Ryan different from working Brendan? I'm not being coy, I'm genuinely not, but would you believe that I'm about to go into my first serious meeting with Ryan in about a half an hour? [This interview took place on Wednesday] So I haven't really worked with him.
Brendan was very much the journalist and approached everything from a journalistic point of view and was very disciplined. I’m looking forward to seeing what Ryan brings to the table, but watching him on the screen you’re struck by his intelligence, his quick repartee. He’s insightful and extremely personable, which is all part of being a chat show host.
I’ve got to get to know him, and he’s got to get to know me as well.
In the Gay Byrne era the 'Late Late Show' seemed to have a clear role and identity. I do wonder what its identity is now [He pauses.] You know what you're going to get on Graham Norton's show. You're going to get three or four well-known celebs having a bit of fun, or not, as the case may be, and selling their wares. But you don't know what to expect on the Late Late Show. You don't know what might happen. Now, it could be a car crash situation, or the opposite, but I think that's the attraction.
What's the ongoing appeal of the show? I always compare the Late Late and to a certain extent the Saturday Night Show to a good night out. If you or I go out for a night out, we talk gossip, a bit of politics, we talk about what's happening with Enda [Kenny], we talk about tragedy, pop culture, sex will come into it, as part of the gossip. Irish people particularly like that spread. They go from the serious, sad story, to the give-away, to the human interest story, to the celeb.
Is there anything the Late Late Show can learn from the Saturday Night Show? [He laughs.] I'll pass on that one.
