Joined last week by members of Ireland’s Paralympic team, former president Mary Robinson, Pamela Stephenson, and The Darkness, The Late Late Show is officially back in full swing with an exciting season ahead.
We here at RSVP caught up Ryan Tubridy ahead of last week’s season premiere to talk plans for the year ahead, and his new boost in radio figures.
So Ryan, it’s the fourth season of The Late Late Show – you must be getting used to it at this stage!
I feel I’m turning into a veteran but it gets better every year. RTÉ has become my second home.
Who would be your dream guests for throughout the new Late Late Show season, then?
I’d like to have a bit of fun this season. Someone I’m kind of admiring from afar at the moment is Chris O’Dowd, because I like what he’s doing. I like his style of comedy. I like the fact he’s in films like Bridesmaids. And I like the fact he promotes his Irishness and wants to bring Moone Boy here, with that happening and keeping Roscommon alive. I love that. I also have an inordinate amount of time for Anne Hathaway. But I’d rather not discuss that and I’d like to have her on the programme for purely professional reasons, to enquire how her career is going. I have great admiration for the acting skills of Miss Hathaway. I have mentioned nothing about her in that suit and getting on that motorbike in Batman.
As guests go, Katie Taylor is top of the list. What did you think of her performance at the Olympics?
I’ve had Katie on a few shows and what I’m struck by is that she comes out onto the studio floor like a tiny, little quiet creature and then she does an interview and she’s very, very polite and very calm and very shy. And then I’m watching her in the ring punching seven shades of whatever it takes to punch out of a girl from Tagisthan or wherever, and I’m wondering how she can be the same person in a helmet and a pair of gloves. It is extraordinary.
So the new producer John McHugh must be the business then with all these impressive guest requests?
Well, when he reads this interview and he sees these demands he’s going to know that he’ll have his work cut out for him! But I just think were in for something a little different this time when it comes to guests- and that excites me enormously. I want to make it a good one this season.
What can we expect from the new season of The Late Late Show? Will there be many changes?
Not too much. The way we see it, is we do have a slight change of team behind the scenes at the top of the show so there will be a change of style for sure. But as to how that’s going to manifest itself, I don’t know. There’s a new guy in charge and he is a good sheriff in the town and I think that it’s going to be a very, very exciting year for me personally because it’s the fourth season. And I think there’s just a sense of change in the air. But I’d like to think it’s evolution rather than revolution. I think that’s the way to go.
Read the rest of Ryan’s interview in this month’s issue of RSVP on sale NOW!!!
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