RTÉ catches a lot of flak for being bad at the big things – the broadcaster’s record in drama and comedy remains reliably dismal, for instance. But it doesn’t receive enough credit for what it’s good at. One niche in which it excels is what might be called “small moment” TV – shows that don’t make a huge fuss (and which are cheap to produce) but speak effectively to a wider human experience.
A great example is the returning The Meaning Of Life (RTÉ One, Sunday, 10.30pm). In 2015, when it was a post-Late Late vehicle for Gay Byrne, the series went viral courtesy of a rant about God by occasional comedian and full-time clever-clogs Stephen Fry. Fry’s pugnacious atheism has slightly fallen out of favour – why not let people believe what they want? – but the Meaning Of Life has continued, with Joe Duffy in the inquisitor’s chair.
As the title indicates, the idea is to go deeper than a traditional interview. That’s certainly the case with Duffy’s latest guest, Eurovision winner Johnny Logan. In a hotel function room in Meath, he is invited to talk about his father’s spirituality, his memories of his late brothers and what he expects when he arrives at the pearly gates.
It’s an engaging watch, aided by the concise sub-30 minute run-time (an hour of this might be unbearable) and by the fact that, as with many Irish people, Logan’s spirituality is deeply felt and slightly muddled.
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Logan says that whenever he goes on stage, he experiences the presence of his late siblings by his side. Paradoxically, though, when the end comes, he’d rather have a humanist funeral than something austere and Catholic. He believes a good send-off needs jokes – and the church wouldn’t like that. Religion but not too much – here is Irish spirituality laid out on a platter.
Duffy poses a few Eurovision questions but not so many as to derail the philosophical underpinnings of the conversation. Logan says that he recorded Hold Me Now, his second Eurovision-winning song, after it was rejected by an agent in London who wanted the Irishman to be a generic pop crooner. “I realised I can’t live with this,” he says. “I went back to Ireland”.
The singer was born Seán Sherrard. Johnny Logan is a stage name he was encouraged to adopt by a manager in Italy. He reveals to Duffy that he distinguishes Seán and Johnny. One is a husband and father, the other a Eurovision-conquering entertainer.
It took his mother’s death for him to reconcile the two. On stage in Sweden shortly after her death in 2011, he decided to speak from the heart about his loss. Suddenly, Johnny Logan was sharing the spotlight with Seán Sherrard. “People liked Seán a lot more than they did the image of a pop star,” he says. “I became myself during that period.”
In his day job hosting Liveline, Joe Duffy has a reputation as a latter-day patron saint of misery. If you want to whinge, Liveline is your first destination (and if you enjoy the sound of strangers whinging, what else are you listening to?). But hosting The Meaning Of Life, he is a thoughtful and sensitive inquisitor.
He also knows when to keep a straight face. Some interviewers might wince about asking their subject what they would say upon arriving at heaven. But Duffy is careful not to wink or play for laughs. His reward is a thoughtful and informative answer. “I’ve done my best, I’ve screwed up many times,” is how Logan imagines his conversation with St Peter. “Can I see my mum and dad now?”
