Is it too late to save the Late Late Show (Mod warning post #434)

ghiertal wrote: »

"I've done five years of the 'The Late Late Show' and felt it was time to reflect."Tubridy plans on studying interview techniques in a bid to "up his game" come autumn.

Should RTE not have waited for him to finish his training before paying him 700 grand a year... He's had his go at presenting the Late Late, and he has been poor.. Move over Tubridy and give somebody else a go... Lords knows ANYBODY will be a better presenter than him..

Tubridy's show is not a patch on Gaybo's show. Gaybo had much better guests, was always in control and was able to successfully blend the funny with the sad. Gaybo would not allow guests to mock him as a rule (Sinead O'Connor singing Our Father over and over being the only time) whereas with Tubridy, many have exploited his weakness. With politicians, he comes on too falsely aggressive. With misery stories, he is condescending and somehow fake. With celebs, he is too overawed. With children, he is perfect.

EyeSight wrote: »

I don't think RTE will change him unless ratings plummet. But right now it's a safe show that gets the ratings in.
As bad as Tubirdy is, I think the main problem is the guests. They should shorten the show and that will allow them to be more selective.

When he first took over he kept saying he wanted it to be similar to Conan or the Tonight show. If he wanted that he wouldn't have misery guests on. He would also get the guests involved in either a skit, game or some fun interaction. E.g. Kimmels: Celebs reading mean tweets.

I love how he calls out internet folk criticizing him as hiding away. I would gladly say all of this to his face. PM me for a chat Ryan

True, the guests tend to be either poor, inappropriate or on too often. I think everyone agrees that the show is way too long. Even Tubridy admiited that.

Today and Conan work in the USA but I doubt if Tubridy would have the guests or the material to pull it off here! Again, that's the problem: Ireland does not have the guests or material to go around. The Saturday Night Show seems way better at coping with varied topics leaving the Tubridy Show to be one sprawling mess.

It is hard to know what to do with the show. Yes, probably 65% at least comprises of older people. Hey Presto! Get Daniel O'Donnell on every week, sorted!

briany wrote: »

I could not be convinced of the higher weekly quality of Byrne's guest unless I saw some sort of week to week guest list from his heyday. Too easy to remember only the highlights of 35 or so years and believe that's how it was all the time. Byrne, though, was (and still is) a quality interviewer.

Byrne was also lucky (?) enough to be standing on the fault line between old Catholic Ireland and the modern day and that friction really fed his show. A lot of his 'good' guests were things that would barely raise an eyebrow today, like a newly divorced woman with a new sexual lease of life, an edgy comedian, or a controversial politician.

Actually ,the second two of these wouldn't raise an eyebrow because they probably wouldn't even get on. We seem to live in very bland and homogenized times where having anyone on who would do or say anything untoward is deemed an unacceptable risk by TV producers. A bit of disagreement is good, it generates tension. Anything that shakes guests and hosts out of that complacent trance they're always in is good, but if the old taboos have been broken and you're afraid to touch the new ones out of fear of causing offense (ironic), what are you left with? The answer : not much.

This is all very true. Gaybo was a great and still is a great interviewer. However, some of the then wild topics as you say would be tame today. But the guest quality was far higher with true legends of music, comedy and film on as well as quality debates and discussions.

Pat Kenny's 10 year tenure had its ups and downs and the quality of guests was slipping too. But Kenny always proved to be an able and professional interviewer.

Tubridy's tenure is by far the weakest. Why is this the case? First off, he relies on second rate guests often and/or guests we have seen way too many times. True, we may look at the guest list of a 1993 or 1994 Gaybo show and see it to be quite similar! But that's the problem. For 20 years or so, the Late Late Show has relied on Louis Walsh and other standbys too often. The guest material often admittedly isn't there anymore. Gaybo was lucky to have a quality stream of guests for almost every show whereas it may only be once every 6 weeks for Tubridy's. The big names often don't come to Ireland anymore, preferences being Eastern Europe, Middle East and China instead. Then, there's the issue of budgets: RTE don't have the cash to pay guests to appear hence everyone who is willing to appear for free to promote their book get on.

"I'd love to be more myself because I'm much more easygoing in real life,"
"I want to loosen up a little bit, lighten up and become more conversational."
"I'm going to take it less seriously."
"I'm actually going to do it more seriously, but"
"I'll do it with a smile on my face rather than with worry on my brow. "
"Ithink we give the viewers good shows, but "
"I could do better. it's a fact."

I.. I.. I... Why does he even have an opinion in this.. RTE own The Late Late Show, not Ryan Tubridy... It's up to the bosses in RTE WHO presents the show and in what fashion.. It's not up to Tubirdy to decide if needs to improve or not, everybody can see that he is simply not good enough.... But nobody in RTE has the b*lls to pull the trigger... The simple fact is that Brendan O'Connor makes a far more entertaining show with a smaller budget and lesser guests..i.e. what a presenter should be able to do..

But I'm waiting for Groundhog Day again in early September 2014.. Tubridy smiling on the front of the RTE Guide, "immensely looking forward to the new season". Further down in the article you will read that he feels "like it's the first day of school again" and he is "going to have to pull up his socks"... And I'll still be there hammering my head off the wall..

I can say, hand on heart, I wouldn't bother watching the LLS except for the boards thread. I've said it before, but here goes...the night of the 50th anniversary show, (total car crash tv at times), Gaybo and Pat Kenny wiped the floor with Tubs without even trying.
Tubs has to stick with his cue cards, he is unable to empathise with guests, his listening skills are dreadful. That night, he was speaking to various people in the audience, and despite one guest saying something heartfelt, and requiring follow up, no, Tubs cards obviously said...'go to next guest'. Pat Kenny picked up the ball for him there, and focused on the previous person, and drew them out further, which is what Tubs should have done.
Brendan O Connor's show hadn't the best season, this year, in my opinion, but as a presenter, he is streets ahead, because he is what he is. He isn't putting on an act. I recall him interviewing the mother of the conjoined twins, (Angie Benhaffaf), and he said something about parents wishing for the best for their kids (I can't remember the exact words), but he had tears in his eyes.
I heard that same lady, very articulate, great interviewee, being interviewed by Tubs, on his radio programme, and he just did not get it.
It's appalling to think that all these years on, he is still getting away with such a poor performance, and getting paid such a salary for it.

I remember the Tom Cruise interview and how Olga Kurylenko was hardly even looked at by Tubs (is he even heterosexual)?

Dean Norris was a great treat last year and a genuine surprise/catch.

But those interviews were great in spite of Tubridy.

You couldn't get much more enthusiastic than Cruise and Norris.

Look at how George Stromobo (Canadian CBC) interviews our "boring" Irish celebrities and how you learn stuff about Williams that you never knew, look how engaged they are, look how engaged they ALL are.

They respect him and that's a subtle but powerful thing.
The content is light years ahead.





Yes, this man (I couldn't believe he still existed, surreal to see him)

darkdubh wrote: »

And the bit where he interupts the guest to show them a picture of themselves from 1982 on the monitor and haha what mad hair you had back then.

"How does it feel looking at that?" *gestures toward the screen with hand*

ghiertal wrote: »

I'm posting a link to this video again to show the absolute contempt which he shows to a young reporter at the IFTAs. Yet he thinks that he deserves respect from his guests and treats RTE with disdain by hopping over and back to the BBC while RTE has to get someone to cover his show.


Ryan Tubridy IFTA Red Carpet Interview


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-4wWTEa554

Wow, that's excruciating. The way he started conversing with "Darren Kennedy" was obviously very rude, but what I most take from that clip is how unappealing a character he is. Not that he's obnoxious, or anything; just that he's entirely average and unexceptional. He was forty years old in that clip, yet he looked like a nervous teenage girl. I thought it hilarious when he espoused the importance of "nerds" ("Nerd Time...Nerdamentary") and then, when asked which documentary he expected to win, patently didn't know any nominees! Also, was any of his gags funny?!

Laura Slattery in the Irish Times: In defence of Tubridy, host of the 26th-ranked radio show.

But why does a space HAVE to be found for him.... How many goes does having your grandfather in the organisation entitle you to? Get rid of him, for the sake of the payroll more than anything else, and give somebody else a chance.. He's a contractor, so just dont renew his contract. Let's see how eager the BBC are to take him on full time.

Seems to me that the renewal of his last few golden contracts with RTE had more to do with somebody in RTE management being afraid that Tubridy would leave and become a success somewhere else, rather than valuing what he actually brings to the organisation..