As she starts her new show on RTÉ radio, Doireann Garrihy is in generous if somewhat egocentric mood. “We’ve decided to create our own bank holiday, called Doireann’s Day,” the broadcaster announces on the inaugural edition of 2FM Drive with Doireann Garrihy (weekdays). She then follows up her legally dubious proclamation with an even shakier ecclesiastical addendum. “We’ve toyed with the idea of calling it St Doireann’s Day. Is that a push?”
Less than a year after her departure from 2FM lit the spark for a chaotic exodus of fellow presenters, Garrihy has returned to the troubled station, if not as its saviour then at least with theatrically elevated notions of her worth.
Certainly, the broadcaster and podcaster is the highest-profile presence on 2FM’s newly revamped schedule – she’s also a host of RTÉ One’s Dancing with the Stars TV juggernaut – restoring some celeb lustre to a line-up that has looked threadbare since she left last May alongside her Dancing with the Stars cohost Jennifer Zamparelli and the 2 Johnnies.
But if Garrihy feels entitled to be back on air, she doesn’t show it, beatific pretensions notwithstanding. She approaches her first show in a spirit of larky verve and knowing attitude: the presenter opens proceedings with an impersonation of the Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty, wryly remarking that “she only got as far as the car park” after exiting Montrose’s radio centre.
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While Garrihy is a seasoned radio performer, however, with five years’ experience on the 2FM breakfast slot, this is her first stint as a solo presenter. Or it would be if she weren’t accompanied by Taran O’Sullivan and Hugh Carr, here as “a few voices to have the craic” – a characterisation that soon falls foul of the trade descriptions act.
The host and her new cohort are undeniably animated, but there’s not much in the way of sparkling banter or uproarious laughs. Instead the trio get to grips with the show’s format, asking questions about each other – we learn that Garrihy has four hours of screentime each day – and introducing new contests with names like Ring Ring. “How exciting is this? This is our first caller to the show,” Garrihy says, gamely if exaggeratedly.
There’s also the aforementioned Doireann’s Day, which features contestants fielding questions about their job to win a day off work; Garrihy doesn’t completely park her saintly designs, cheekily playing a clip of devotional music before the quiz.
While all a bit generic, the first programme goes off as well as can be expected. Gradually, the trio stake out their roles – Carr as the wide-eyed youngster, O’Sullivan the would-be edgy pal, Garrihy the chatty but undisputed leader of the pack – while any early tentativeness gives way to a more relaxed atmosphere.
Possibly excessively so: Bosco’s Box, a segment inspired by the old children’s show, triggers some audible tittering. “There’s no double meaning there,” Garrihy says, trying to suppress her own chuckles. Low humour it may be, but it’s the most high-spirited moment of the first day.
Ultimately, it’s an understandably slow start, though maybe the better for that. And while it’s obviously too early to gauge how Garrihy’s second tenure at 2FM will turn out, one wonders whether her return will be enough to revive the station’s fortunes. She’s only a presenter, not a miracle worker.
