Trip Report - The Late Late Show 19/09/2014

amdublin · 20-09-2014 11:44am #1

I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Late Late Show and I thought my boardsie friends might like to know how I got on. Hope this is interesting, if you have any questions you'd like answered post below.

How did I get tickets?
My friend applied for tickets a while back. The application form is on the rte website and is quite detailed. Her advice is to fill in as much detail as possible and give some interesting information on the form. Whether or not that makes a difference who knows but worth putting the effort in. About two weeks ago got an email saying we had tickets for this date and I think they also got a phone call at some point confirming we were available.
Personally my theory is that they are arranging tickets and audiences constantly and that some people might need more notice than others (e.g. if travelling from the country) compared to us in Dublin who can confirm availabilty at shorter notice.

Arrival:
Arrived at RTE and checked with two staff members at table who marked our names off and gave us our tickets - seats were allocated.
Went into the reception room which was kind of a long hall/hallway where there was someone serving wine and soft drinks in REALLY CHEAP CR@PPY PLASTIC wineglasses. Seriously would it be that much of an overheard to have 200 small ikea wine glasses stashed in boxes somewhere, bring them out every Friday and Saturday night and arrange for them to be washed and stashed away. Seriously?

Approx 9.15 they opened the studio doors and everyone rushed in like cattle. We held back and went in practically last. Allocated seating no idea why people rushed in like lunatics.

Warmup:
Do you know who did a lot of the warmup? And was very very good? The keyboard player from the Camembert Quarter. A few jokes and a bit of a song - daydreamer believer; got us all up and standing and waving our arms around (embarrassment

but sure heck a bit of craic). He had a few cr@ppy prizes which people went mental for - cocoa brown fake tan and the like - and he threw that out to people who were begging for it. Dignity people, dignity!

The stage manager also kind of talked us through the format. And then our favourite man came out. He did a bit of warmup/said hello to a few people. He was warm, confident and charismatic. Something which imo does not come across on tv every Friday night.

Tom Vaughan Lawlor
Meh. I find him contrived. I don't find him "as posh" as everyone goes on. And personally I think he likes playing up his "poshness" and his umming and ahming is personally annoying. He made reference to his wifes "cut glass English" accent which I make me think he enjoys their "poshness" even more. He reminded me a lot of Mr Bean during the interview. This is not a good thing.

Americano singer. Sorry I cannot remember his name

Conor?
I enjoyed this overall... His backing singers did hold my attention more than him. The camera definitely adds 10lbs!!!! The girl on the right was very attractive and curvy in a the best way irl. But when I glanced on the screen she did look way bigger than she really was. Very pretty girl.

Viewer Competition
Woo hoo the picnic basket of cash was back!!!!!! Lol!

Katie Hopkins
What was that really annoying walk/swagger/posing thing she did coming out??? Crazy.
And the way she was sitting down with her legs open, not attractive.
I think this woman is a pain. But I think the audience were as bad rising to her. It was really "low grade" (is that the right word??), I felt like I was part of the Jeremy Kyle show which I would never choose to be. I was embarrassed.
I do agree with what she was saying, just not the way she says it - which yes, we all know she is doing for reaction (people in the audience thinking they were so clever stating the obvious *rolls eyes*).

In terms of the journalist/responder.
Nice lady. Katie - mean to her? Undeniably.
Does she need to lost weight? I think she does... Personally if it was me I'd say to Katie, look a person is made up of a load of different things to be a happy person e.g. mind, body, soul. Some of them more important than others some needing more work than others. So yeah I need to do some work on the body but in the meantime I'm trying to keep my mind and soul healthy and happy.
But there is no two ways about it Katie Hopkins said thing to Andrea that were mean - and apparently says means things to her children. Not cool... not cool.

Sharon Corr
From fat to omg SKINNY!!!! Beautiful as ever, but jesus christ skinny.
Lovely song. Very very carpenters. I really liked her performance.
Nice girl but complete borefest of an interview. Got a little bit better when she got passionate about music/u2/apple at the end. And Miley Cyrus etc.
Yawnnnnnnn

Michael Harding
Brilliant, brilliant! Loved him!!!!! Fantastic. Tom Vaughan Lawlor can use all the big words he likes and talk sh1te about the abyss and duality forever and it doesn't impress me/inspire me/emote me. Whereas Michael Harding. Wow he made me think. Loved his interview...and told him so in green room later :-)
Think Tubs still needs to work on "silences" and "pauses" a lot more. With someone like Michael just let him speak and let it sit.

Vacuum cleaner game
The dumbing down of the lls continues. Most of the audience liked it. I thought it was the stupidest thing. Seriously SOMEBODY in the lls production crew call a halt to this stupidity.

Paul Carrack
Nice old school song. Liked that.

Mario Rosenstock
Ah wasn't the worst I suppose. The sky sports thing was done very well.

Overall summary
We had a WONDERFUL time. In the flesh the show is really entertaining as a live show. As I said at the very outset Ryan Tubridy is warm, charismatic and confident. What the heck happens when he is translated through a camera??

The dumbing down of the lls continues. Katie Hopkins, the vacuum sh1te "oh sure it all makes a great show" Seriously is that we want to aspire to be, the Jeremy Klye show of Friday night???
RTE, you must aspire to do better, to be the lls of old. The classic old lls of just pure GOOD STUFF. Make a decision to say no to tabloid rubbish.

So back to what I was saying about us enjoying it as a live show, so great, 150 audience members went home happy. But what about all the people at home watching on tv (i.e. me normally!!!!) don't we deserve to be happy with the show? Should the staff be aspiring that 150 people are happy or the whole country is happy???
And this brings me to a point that I have made me before. I DON'T THINK PEOPLE WHO WORK IN RTE WATCH THEIR TV SHOWS. Example "Irish Ukranians, not Russians". I have a theory that no one was watching that. They can give a spiel all they like that it was stuck and they couldn't get back to Primetime. Sure, and you couldn't just pull it and put the picture when a technical glitch happens? Sure.
I think if anyone had been watching they would have rang in/texted their friend/got on to SOMEBODY/ANYBODY and told them what was happening and needed to be fixed.

So I think RTE staff need to start watching the lls AT HOME and not be lead by us the live audience who are all a bit tipsy and happy with our free glass of plonk inside of us and a freebie present in our hand bag.

What happens during the ad breaks
A big load of running round! People running out to the bathrooms. Staff running round - swopping microphones on people. Makeup person came in last ad break to top Tubs up, he was looking a bit shiny and fix his hair.

Green room.
How did we get in there? That my friends I am sorry will remain secret. I have ended up in places like that before or blagged my way in over the years. How to do that is something that you will have to figure out yourself

What's it like? Very very ordinary. A (longish) room with three square couches lining up either side of the walls. Coffee tables down the middle of the room with trays of sandwiches. Cabinet with tv on it down one end of the room. A (temporary) bar set up on a table with a white table cloth down the other end.

Green Room Bathrooms
I asked a staff member to show me the bathrooms from the green room, she had to bring me downstairs and swipe me in - it looked like I was in corridors where some of the Republic of Telly sketches were filmed

Welsh Megaman · 20-09-2014 11:54am

Great stuff, amdublin!

What happens during the commercial breaks?

And more importantly, tell us about the Green Room!

Dish dish dish!

amdublin · 20-09-2014 12:46pm

Phew!

Think I am done!

amdublin · 20-09-2014 12:51pm

Further info (green room)
No Tom Vaughan Lawlor - why would you bother staying on at all in the green room if you were first guest???
No Katie Hopkins. God only knows tbh! I don't think I would have liked to met her/get a photo with her.

So who was there?
Michael Harding. Very nice man. Your typical Irish fella. Seemed up for the craic and seemed to like talking to us.
Ryan Tubridy.
Musicians (none of the main singers)
Sax player from Camembert Quarter
lls staff
Andrea - journalist
Groups of randomers
Unknowns didn't know who they were
Michael Harding's publisher
The scotish/uk jersey fella and his girlf were there for a short while I think.

BabysCoffee · 20-09-2014 1:10pm

Was your face shown on 'de telly AmDub?

Fred Swanson · 20-09-2014 1:17pm

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amdublin · 20-09-2014 1:18pm

BabysCoffee wrote: »

Was your face shown on 'de telly AmDub?

I think so. We were sitting near the girl who answered back to Katie Hopkins. (After the man said "who are you, who are you")

amdublin · 20-09-2014 1:19pm

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Got a Love/Hate box set. And some pamper session - hair and makeup done in Dylan Bradshaw worth €100 (or a male equivalent for the fellas)

Fred Swanson · 20-09-2014 1:24pm

This post has been deleted.

RayM · 20-09-2014 1:27pm

amdublin wrote: »

hair and makeup done in Dylan Bradshaw worth €100 (or a male equivalent for the fellas)

I wonder what the male equivalent is... I mean, €100 would get me ten haircuts.

amdublin · 20-09-2014 1:27pm

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

It was really really *good. The staff are all great and everything runs like clockwork.

Which reminds me, at the end of the show. Tubs thanked us for coming and also thanked all the crew/floorstaff/researchers/everyone who works on it.

*I only wish I would be saying this every Friday night at home.

amdublin · 20-09-2014 1:29pm

RayM wrote: »

I wonder what the male equivalent is... I mean, €100 would get me ten haircuts.

Apparently a haircut, energising scalp treatment, head massage ...

BabysCoffee · 20-09-2014 1:31pm

Does Tubridy's job look hard?

amdublin · 20-09-2014 2:01pm

BabysCoffee wrote: »

Does Tubridy's job look hard?

Good question.

In one sense no, can you read a teleprompter, can you read cue cards?
Do you do presentations / questions and answers in work? If so you could probably throw your hand at it?????

On the other hand would you want to do it? Me personally, not for all the tea in China.
I think he does a good job in the flesh, why oh why do we not see that on our screens I wonder?

Hitchens · 20-09-2014 2:45pm

great report AM.

were you the beautiful girl sitting next to the pretty girl that they showed?

:)

CountyHurler · 20-09-2014 6:22pm

amdublin wrote: »

Got a Love/Hate box set. And some pamper session - hair and makeup done in Dylan Bradshaw worth €100 (or a male equivalent for the fellas)

I wonder would Dylan let you watch the DVDs while he's doing your hair..

Lady Chatterton · 20-09-2014 6:53pm

Thanks amdublin for taking the time to file your LLS report, it makes for interesting reading.

Over the last few years I've spoken to quite a few people who have met Ryan or worked with him and no one had a bad word to say about the man, he appears to be very genuine and down to earth. Having said that, I feel that the LLS is a bad fit for him, I think he'd be better suited to making history programmes or documentaries for television and radio. He needs to work on projects that he actually feels passionate about. I also feel that he is fantastic with children so maybe he could present or produce educational programmes for children and young people.

Hitchens · 20-09-2014 7:05pm

MrsD007 wrote: »

Thanks amdublin for taking the time to file your LLS report, it makes for interesting reading.

Over the last few years I've spoken to quite a few people who have met Ryan or worked with him and no one had a bad word to say about the man, he appears to be very genuine and down to earth.

Ditto for Gaybo. I met him some years ago outside of RTE and you couldn't meet a friendlier person.

dublinman1990 · 20-09-2014 7:29pm

Well said amdublin. I am glad that you had a good time at the lls last night.

I hope you enjoy from goodies from last night too.

coylemj · 20-09-2014 8:14pm

Thanks amdublin, great report. I was at the LLS a few years ago when PK was the host, there's a few details that I'm sure haven't changed...

For the greater part of the show the audience is in relative darkness, this changes very suddenly when the host switches to take a question from a member of the audience (or ambush someone celebrating a big birthday or anniversary) and the lights suddenly 'go up' which dazzles you for a couple of seconds.

There are four large flat screens above the audience which normally shows them what is being broadcast and it's where they see any video clips which are included in the show by way of introducing a guest or to put some issue in context. It's why when looking at the LLS from home and there's a shot of the audience, you'll see a lot of them looking up to see if they're on the tele!

We had the same cheap wine in plastic glasses in the long room outside the studio but I'm pretty sure the seats were not allocated back then. We weren't bothered to rush in so we were near the back but it made no difference as far as we were concerned.

Welsh Megaman · 20-09-2014 8:17pm

Forgot to ask amdublin...

Did everybody groan when a clip was shown?

Fred Swanson · 20-09-2014 9:50pm

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amdublin · 21-09-2014 8:21am

Hitchens wrote: »

great report AM.

were you the beautiful girl sitting next to the pretty girl that they showed?

:)

No, I was the striking girl sitting next to the attractive girl

MrsD007 wrote: »

....Having said that, I feel that the LLS is a bad fit for him, I think he'd be better suited to making history programmes or documentaries for television and radio. He needs to work on projects that he actually feels passionate about. I also feel that he is fantastic with children so maybe he could present or produce educational programmes for children and young people.

You said it MrsD.

Watching him live I cannot pinpoint what he could do differently to improve it. I think at this point RTE need to bite the bullet say to him, it's not you but it just has not worked out.

dublinman1990 wrote: »

I hope you enjoy from goodies from last night too.

You know I am not really a L/H fan, plus I wouldn't really be into pampering and preening.
I am going to do something in work with them - raffle them or auction them and get some money for our staff charity. My friend is giving me theirs so I will get a nice little bit of cash to donate.

coylemj wrote: »

Thanks amdublin, great report. I was at the LLS a few years ago when PK was the host, there's a few details that I'm sure haven't changed...

For the greater part of the show the audience is in relative darkness, this changes very suddenly when the host switches to take a question from a member of the audience (or ambush someone celebrating a big birthday or anniversary) and the lights suddenly 'go up' which dazzles you for a couple of seconds.

There are four large flat screens above the audience which normally shows them what is being broadcast and it's where they see any video clips which are included in the show by way of introducing a guest or to put some issue in context. It's why when looking at the LLS from home and there's a shot of the audience, you'll see a lot of them looking up to see if they're on the tele!

Yep tv's were the same. But different re the lights - we were in light all the time.

Oh you know in the set, does it look like there are big load of big lights hanging down on either side of the audience? They are posters with pictures of lights

Kind of trompe l'oeile

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

Forgot to ask amdublin...

Did everybody groan when a clip was shown?

No! And I didn't even notice the volume of them on the night. Was it as bad as usual???

This again comes back to my point about the lls production crew not watching it from a "at home perspective". The filming experience is different from the Friday night at home experience.

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I am sure they look at the names to see if anyone stands out. The questions are fairly innocuous and of an "entertaining nature". The form is on the rte website if you want to look at it.
You are not signing any data protection disclosure etc, I think it would be a data protection breach (using information for something other than it was provided for) if they were doing checks on your name etc...