Ryan Tubridy to step down from Late Late role when season ends

j2

Kudos to Tubridy for managing to maintain that first day on the job sense of discomfort for his entire run! I like a lot of the names suggested, as most appear to be up to the task of ensuring they're the final late late show host of all time.

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120368449#Comment_120368449

If RTE don't appoint a woman the question will be; "why didn't they appoint a woman?"

As a man I don't identify more with a chat show because the host is male.

Ultimately the Late Late is a relic from the 1960's and unless it changes radically to suit the tastes of the modern audience the host isn't going to make much of a difference.

With that said it's hardcore viewership is always going to be the older generation so it has to walk a tightrope of appealing to the younger demographic and catering to its existing audience which is pretty much impossible, so it ends up not appealing to anyone.

glitterIsland

It's sad news he is leaving. I liked Ryan and I will miss him. I liked the way he took the late late. I hope the country music special will remain. A trad special should be added too.

RTÉ will probably be lazy regarding the next host and give it automatically to Tommy Tiernan. I don't know about Tiernan.

I would love to see Gráinne Seoige take over. She was very good on TV a few years ago when she was on TV and RTÉ.

squonk

I think the problem even with scraping it is what you’d replace it with. Time was I was happier with a movie on a Friday night during the summer but now I have streaming services and ad free movies. Also RTE can’t do chat shows. Not high profile ones anyway. Most of what they’ve done to date has bombed. Tommy’s show lasted but seemed to have gone downhill from accounts here. Anything replacing it should be a limited run and maybe extended a season if it’s doing well and the presenter is happy to keep going.

that’s not what is going to happen though. RTE have TLLS as a brand and most of the wasters in the organisation are going to hide behind this and convince themselves they’re doing a fabulous job.

Tubbs isn’t getting his marching orders because the ratings slipped this season. The ratings have been in a downward spiral for years. A competent organisation would have taken action 6-7 years ago because by then he had 7 years in the gig and even that was being cautious. Instead they sat back, watched the advertising revenue stream in convincing themselves it was all good while the ratings kept going down. Now I’m guessing it’s gotten so bad that the high profile advertisers are starting to speak up so they’re finally getting their heads out of the sand.

i don’t expect an organisation that acts like this to make a good decision on a new host. Instead they’ll round up the usuals and whoever has licked the decision makers bum the cleanest in the last while will get the god. There’ll be a bounce in audience figures for the first season to see how the new person gets on so they’ll be out of jail with the advertisers. After that it’s someone else’s problem because the culprits will have moved on or up the ladder to where they can’t be held accountable for anything. Not of course that anyone in Rte is held accountable anyway. They’ll just have distance.

i can’t see any other outcome unfortunately

glitterIsland

Daithí Ó Shea would be good at it too.

squonk

Yeah maybe if they took inspiration from the afternoon show format it might be good. Two presenters and timeboxed subjects with a few regulars on to discuss various things in segments. It wouldn’t hurt as it’s be at least a variety show with a bit of simmering for everyone. The only variety at present is the type of misery that gets you off

Galwayguy35

Not seeing why O Callaghan would get it, she tried the chat show thing a few years ago and it didn't work out great for her.

G Seoige is dull and boring.

J Maguire has a voice that could be used to get information out of spies as a means of torture.

Someone I think might be good at the job would be Claire Brock, in fact she was asked about it last night on The Tonight Show and laughed it off but didn't say no either.

I reckon if RTE flashed the cash she would take the gig, VM1 salaries are probably better than when it was TV3 but I doubt they are anywhere near as good as what RTE offers.

I think the misery slot vote must be tongue-in-cheek. I could have framed it Life Challenge stories

kneemos

What we're saying is there's nobody in the country that could do a half decent job of the Late Late Show.

Brendan O Connor maybe if they gave him his balls back. They won't have anyone even mildly controversial though.

archfi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120368838#Comment_120368838

He'd be a good choice I think. Comedian and presenter, quick thinking on his feet.

The bigger thing RTE need to do is absolutely running away from the crap Tubridy left it with starting with the very poor attempt at US late night show smell off it and the misery porn.

So on my list is John Creedon and Patrick Kielthy.

Or RTE could actually define what the LLS should be (not totally rigid but a plan would be nice and not to rely on 'specials' and their own canteen) and have good guest presenters or a just a few sharing it over a series not making it all about one person.

RTE's mistake was centring the show on Tubridy, that died when Gay Byrne retired from it.

Brendan Bendar

Hhhhmmm. ..what about Oliver Callan…..or would he be too much in the Gary Lineker mould ?

Bit mouthy on SM?

Would have backing from a strong rump ‘good progressives’ I would suggest?

Maybe a little early for his time though I feel his ‘day will come’ in the future.

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120369126#Comment_120369126

Or RTE could actually define what the LLS should be (not totally rigid but a plan would be nice and not to rely on 'specials' and their own canteen) and have good guest presenters or a just a few sharing it over a series not making it all about one person.

I was thinking along the same lines. Use different presenters, see how it goes.

They also need to look at who their target audience is and what they are trying to achieve with the show. I haven't watched since Tubridy took over, but I gather that he had started to rely an awful lot on very sad stories. So is that something they are going to continue with, or is it going to be a light entertainment show? Or something in between?

It's a bit of a poisoned chalice now, imo, albeit one that commands an astronomical salary.

LennieB

Agree. I think one of the best radio shows is The Business on Radio1 on a Sat morning with Richard Curran - great interviews with people who have great life stories about how they got where they are, ups and downs they encountered along the way etc, really interesting and I often think as I’m listening to them how they’d make great guests on LLS, Richard is a really good interviewer too.

prunudo

I haven't read back over the last 10 pages but bar Kielty, haven't seen any names suggested that would make me watch, but then I'm not the target audience either.

I never liked Turbridy as a host, felt he killed interviews, especially with some of what should have been interesting guests and always focused on the misery. The carry on of the show during covid finally killed off any interest or faint credibility I had in it. Although that was something the whole of rte was guilty of, not just the LLS.

techman1

Probably the Covid period killed his credibility and he became utterly establishment and governmental voice. Its very hard then to return to being a fully fledged entertainment host. I think he never got any traction especially since Covid. Also the line up of guests (usually woke wanne be celebrities) where you had to be utterly careful what you said scared him away from the whole thing.

As for the potential replacements, they are all safe and boring RTE types, Claire Byrne and Sarah McInereney are too serious and current affairssy for light entertainment but they tick all the RTE boxes. The misery slots well get much bigger and not sure they could convincingly carry off the Toy show. We all know Tubridy was a bit out of his depth with big name celebrities, but I think because these have no light entertainment kudos they will be even further out of their depth. When Gay Byrne was doing it the big name celebrities like Peter Ustinov and Billy Connolly saw him as their peer not a mere TV mandarin

hamburgham

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120368742#Comment_120368742

Yes, people with interesting stories not "celebs" flogging a programme or book.

Despite all the banging on he does about empathy, I think he has a very limited emotional range. I always think a good storyteller can make a trip to the shops sound interesting, funny, whatever. Similarly a good interviewer can get something engaging out of most people whether they're famous or not, especially if they're something unusual about them. Tubridy could never do this and thought a 'celeb's' mere presence was enough and drew absolutely nothing out of them.

I also couldn't stand the way he'd flog to death any Irish connection the guest had, no matter how tenuous. And then encouraging them to tell us how wonderful we are, it was pathetic.

I stopped watching years ago apart from the occasional time something on it might catch my eye while channel hopping.

BorneTobyWilde

Daithi O'Se is Mr RTE

Could he get the nod

https://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/irish-showbiz/daithi-ose-says-hed-jump-22724545

https://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/irish-showbiz/daithi-ose-says-hed-jump-22724545

BENDYBINN

/Anybody know who actually decides//

squonk

I see Sarah McInerney is doing the commentary on the paddy’s day parade. Wonder if It’s a sign.

cbreeze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120367401#Comment_120367401

They'll disrupt the programme and have to be marched out of the studio for a spell in the RTE cells 😁

UsBus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120369529#Comment_120369529

Doubt she'll get it, stiff as a poker.

An even scarier thought is that yoke Emer O'Neill on the parade commentary getting the gig. Painful to listen to, chips on both shoulders, she ticks all the pc boxes though. She would definitely finish the late late once and for all

walshb

Surely Dermot Bannon’s a shoe-in? He’s been on the show enough..his first fooking guest would probably be himself!!

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120369384#Comment_120369384

Despite all the banging on he does about empathy, I think he has a very limited emotional range.

Agreed. I put that down also to the fact that - imo - he has no real interest in people and totally lacks curiosity about others who live entirely different lives to his privileged bubble.

He never seemed to grasp when to simply let someone speak, and when to intervene appropriately. For example, I happened to hear a clip of the radio show years ago with Angie Benhaffaf, mother of the conjoined twins from Cork, a while after they had had their surgery.

All he had to do was let her speak, she had such an interesting story, was extremely articulate and willing to talk. Nope. Constant interruptions, butting in, not taking anything on board that she was saying. Awful stuff.

techman1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120369444#Comment_120369444

I think yes, he could be the last one standing at the end of all this. The fact that he said he would jump at it means he is up for it and has the confidence to pull it off. I think he is in fact the best choice. However he doesn't tick some of the RTE diversity boxes but I think Claire Byrne and possibly Sarah McInerney will rule themselves out as it come close to decision time. They will be happy to have been in the running but I think it is too daunting a task for them at the end of it all. They saw the online abuse Tubridy got and that will scare them especially if they will be the ones to finally kill off this behomoth, they will then be remembered for that and their media careers will be over.

Interesting that Daithi O Shea, Emer O Neill and Sarah McInerney are the presenters for todays Dublin parade but only Daithi has the gravitas , Sarah McInerney is good but more like a reporter than anything else

walshb

My main issue with Ryan is his awful childish/immature/hyper way of interviewing.

He comes across juvenile, and lacking that quick/sharp and in-tune intellect.

and cannot understand this view that he made the toy show his own. The toy show with him was just ridiculously hyper and contrived. It never flowed at all. Chap really believed he was D man for toy show. Not a chance!

A really poor broadcaster/interviewer!

squonk

Just looked up Emer O’Neil and hopefully it went be her based on her LinkedIn profile. They might as well give the gig to Enoch Burke given how her bio reads. He’d be just that bit more edgy and full of himself.

freshpopcorn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120368963#Comment_120368963

I don't think he'd do it was to time consuming!

Brian Scan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120369668#Comment_120369668

"..........but only Daithi has the gravitas" 

Whatever Daithi has, it's not gravitas.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120369762#Comment_120369762

It's Kerrynas.

Ryan built (in his own mind at least) a big brand around himself as the Toy Man, a persona he cultivated so much that he was hardly without mentioning it on almost every radio show. I haven’t heard his radio show much lately, but when I did I haven’t heard him mention the Toy Show, and glancing at the radio thread I haven’t seen much reference to it. Was he asked to drop the mention of it as a wind-down of that persona? Did the failure of Toy Show The Musical have any connection with his stepping down from LLS, be it cause or effect?