Gaybo

mickd

Did anyone watch this two part series? I thought it was very insightful about an ireland that has changed and the career of the man himself

Morgans

Caught a bit of it last night.

Delighted to see some lad in the audience tackle him and his condescing demeanour to a drunken guest. Seems to be as modest as ever, arrogating himself credit for the revelations on clerical abuses in the 80s, after the Granard teenage death. It was the people who had enough of the silence, and the fact that you were the only outlet for the population to discuss the issue in a monopolised broadcaster, does not mean that you deserve creit. Remember how you brushed aside the story as insignifigant on the late late.

I've never met the man, but I never liked his attitude. Always too smart for the joe public audience. His treatment of Annie Murphy shows to me, despite having a reputation for open arguement in the older days, he was a man of old ireland, rather than any force of change.

Telefís

The series was disappointing for a number of reasons - namely it was too short and not analytical enough.
Made by RTÉ's ever-favourite chummy production company Tyrone Productions, it revealed nothing new bar some info about Gay's financial insecurities, and mostly conveyed the Late Late in a glowing light.

Fundamentally it was too short - resulting in it cramming just the same old 'iconic' interviews and features into the programme, leaving little/nothing new to be featured.
The majority of the content has now been seen three times by most Gay Byrne fans, via the tons of archive material used in his final Late Late in 1999, Gerry Ryan's 'Hitlist' programme recently, and now this series, whatever about a myriad of other programmes using clips.
The same lazy old stuff, over and over again - a comprehensive archive trawl was not done for this production.

This was a series that could have made three hours or perhaps even four.
It was obvious Tyrone were aching to make this programme and couldn't wait any longer in case someone else got there first, so they churned out a short two-part series using the same old readily accessable material, and used very few (congratulatory) contributors. No in-depth or alternative analysis, no opposing view of Gay himself, no placing of himself or the shows into a broader context.

As for Gay himself - fundamentally I've always liked him, but saying that I find him very distant despite his homely image. Perfectly summed up I think by a flagship interview he did for the Sunday Times in 1998 where the journalist described him as being 'courteous but not warm'. I've always found him to be exactly this when he speaks about himself or when he's being interviewed - he is mannerly but distinctly cold.
This came across especially at the beginning of the interview in the first of the two programmes - he warmed up a little as things got going.
But the going-over-old-ground nature of the programmes was blatently evident even in the manner Gay was speaking. Having seen him do numerous interviews about his life in the past few years, it was so easy to see how bored he was with the whole thing - he goes into 'churn it out' mode, answering the same old stuff he's been asked a million times over. Frankly I don't blame him - it was as equally boring for the viewer as it was for him.

It is a shame that this rushed, brief production looks set to become the defining television analysis of Gay Byrne, the Gay Byrne Show and The Late Late Show as made by RTÉ - what a shame.

Dr. Dre

Always liked Gaybo, top bloke.

BolBill

Didn't catch any of it. Once I heard that he made it himself you just knew it was gonna be him patting himself on the back. I've never liked the man, his condescending nature towards the audience and his backward thinking, always reminded me of the old school backward Irish. The annoying habit of him slipping into a so-called American accent trying to be funny would have me tearing my hair out. To cap it all though is the fact that he has "retired" but the taxpayer still forks out 200,000 Euro, yeah 200 grand, a year retainer so he doesn't "work" for anyone except RTE, and there was me thinking that retirement meant you stopped working. U2 should take the Harley back. The man is a waffler that got lucky, the less of his smug little head on the TV the better.

Mossy Monk

couldnt have put it better myself BolBill

mickd

Morgans wrote:

Caught a bit of it last night.

Delighted to see some lad in the audience tackle him and his condescing demeanour to a drunken guest. Seems to be as modest as ever, arrogating himself credit for the revelations on clerical abuses in the 80s, after the Granard teenage death. It was the people who had enough of the silence, and the fact that you were the only outlet for the population to discuss the issue in a monopolised broadcaster, does not mean that you deserve creit. Remember how you brushed aside the story as insignifigant on the late late.

I've never met the man, but I never liked his attitude. Always too smart for the joe public audience. His treatment of Annie Murphy shows to me, despite having a reputation for open arguement in the older days, he was a man of old ireland, rather than any force of change.

Speaking of old ireland nice to see that begrudgery is still alive. Its still seems that unless you are on your hands and knees in humility only then you are a top bloke. I too was delighted to see some lad tackle his questioning why a guest turned up drunk, if you remembered how that ended up Gay made him look like a tool. Complete contrast to Wogan how allowed George Best to turn up sloshed and run/ruin the show. Sorry but i dont get my jollies looking at pissheads on tv. In fact the drunken guest was world renowed psychiatrist
RD Laing. As Gay pointed out it is as much in the guest's interest that they are sober because anything that is said under the influence can have personal/legal ramifications for the guest. Unlike other chat show hosts who are squemish he tackled the situation head on and fair play to him

As far I can gather he stated how himself and two other women read letters from people who had other sad experiences similar to the Granard case. It hadn't been done before. Not his fault that RTE had a monoply. It was the first time it was discussed if he deserves credit or not its debatable. With regard to Annie Murphy rather than pat her on the head like everbody else was doing, he was devils advocate. It was unconfortable viewing. As Fintain O'Toole said Gay Bryne had no agenda so I don't know what that 'force of change' comment is about.

Morgans

Interersting and good post Mickd. You are wrong to generalise me as a begrudger but you dont know me, so how could you tell. Anyway. I dont care that Gaybo gets 200,000 a year. If they werent paying him that from my license fee, they would be spending it on something else. (Something better may be, but who knows.)

However, he always struck me to be a broadcaster whose audience in general was made up of housewives who liked his radio program in the morning and the entertainment on Friday/saturday night. The type whose ego was inflated by being the one star of Irish TV at a time when the population was vastly different to now. That doesnt matter really, but what got to me was since I was able to have a critical mind, he always struck me as being a condescending presenter, always saw himself as being one better than the audience.

To be honest, his dealing with the drunken guest was fine, and you are quite right that George Best, Oliver Reed etc make bigger fools of themselves on tv programs when drunk and it is equally wrong that they are exploited. He tackled it head on fine with RD Laing, but in fairness wouldnt be in the same league as those other stars, and wouldnt have been too much hassle had they walked off. Gay was being tacked by a member of the audience who asked him who was he to make rules by which everyone should live by. He didnt answer in the clip that I saw.

Gay as a broadcaster was fine, (the night where the woman won the car the day after her daughter died is legendary) but as long as I can remember having a critical mind, I didnt like his dismissive attitude to those who didnt see eye to eye with him. His condescending father figure approach to all those Sinead O'Connor interviews, his sychophantic attitude when there were guests more famous than Gay Byrne in the studio. Just because he was a big fish in a small pond...werent there rumours circulating that he was going to go to the states.

His condescending high handed attitude once again came through when reading the headline in teh Sunday Tribune on teh Granard tragedy on the late late. Dismissed it out of hand, of no importance that a 15 year old died in childbirth. Anyway, it was only when the people of Ireland decided that the carry on that was going on in Ireland had to stop, out of sympathy for the girl at the centre of teh tragedy that they forced the news. Gaybo and his producer were in some way trying to take credit for blowing the whistle on the clerical and abortion that came in the following decade because they read out letters that the public sent in. Wasnt Fr. Michael Cleary a regular guest on the program, and his "if your son turns out to be half the man that Bishop Casey is, he will be lucky" comment at the end of Anne Murphy interview summed up his attitude. He wasnt playing devils advocate in that interview. He was more in the old ireland, bury your head in the sand, attitude than he pretends to be, and now he gives himself credit for the exposure of teh clerical abuse. You can have your own view on him Mickd, but thank God I dont have to look at him any more.

murphaph

mickd wrote:

Speaking of old ireland nice to see that begrudgery is still alive. Its still seems that unless you are on your hands and knees in humility only then you are a top bloke. I too was delighted to see some lad tackle his questioning why a guest turned up drunk, if you remembered how that ended up Gay made him look like a tool. Complete contrast to Wogan how allowed George Best to turn up sloshed and run/ruin the show. Sorry but i dont get my jollies looking at pissheads on tv. In fact the drunken guest was world renowed psychiatrist
RD Laing. As Gay pointed out it is as much in the guest's interest that they are sober because anything that is said under the influence can have personal/legal ramifications for the guest. Unlike other chat show hosts who are squemish he tackled the situation head on and fair play to him

As far I can gather he stated how himself and two other women read letters from people who had other sad experiences similar to the Granard case. It hadn't been done before. Not his fault that RTE had a monoply. It was the first time it was discussed if he deserves credit or not its debatable. With regard to Annie Murphy rather than pat her on the head like everbody else was doing, he was devils advocate. It was unconfortable viewing. As Fintain O'Toole said Gay Bryne had no agenda so I don't know what that 'force of change' comment is about.

Agree 100% with your analysis mickd. Loads of chat show hosts haven't got the balls to tackle p!sshead guests (Shane Mcgowan springs to mind) and drunkards on TV are about amusing as when you're the only sober one in the pub cos you're driving or something.

Byrne is a tad arrogant-so what, so is Michael O'Leary but we all fly Ryanair when the price is right. He has a right to be a bit arrogant though-he went off to England and learnt the skills that equipped him to effectively run the whole Late Late, which was the flagship of RTE, monopoly or not (and we all know that RTE was only a monopoly in the sticks-everyone in Dublin and the East coast had 6 channels long before NTL! Same for everyone in Ulster and anywhere near the border-all 6 channels. Plenty of choice but the Late Late was still grabbing all the viewers of a Friday night. It was watched in our house in favour of any of the UK stuff, but I don't remember Kenny Live having the same enthusiasm directed toward it!

BolBill

Morgans wrote:

Interersting and good post Mickd. You are wrong to generalise me as a begrudger but you dont know me, so how could you tell. Anyway. I dont care that Gaybo gets 200,000 a year. If they werent paying him that from my license fee, they would be spending it on something else. (Something better may be, but who knows.)

However, he always struck me to be a broadcaster whose audience in general was made up of housewives who liked his radio program in the morning and the entertainment on Friday/saturday night. The type whose ego was inflated by being the one star of Irish TV at a time when the population was vastly different to now. That doesnt matter really, but what got to me was since I was able to have a critical mind, he always struck me as being a condescending presenter, always saw himself as being one better than the audience.

To be honest, his dealing with the drunken guest was fine, and you are quite right that George Best, Oliver Reed etc make bigger fools of themselves on tv programs when drunk and it is equally wrong that they are exploited. He tackled it head on fine with RD Laing, but in fairness wouldnt be in the same league as those other stars, and wouldnt have been too much hassle had they walked off. Gay was being tacked by a member of the audience who asked him who was he to make rules by which everyone should live by. He didnt answer in the clip that I saw.

Gay as a broadcaster was fine, (the night where the woman won the car the day after her daughter died is legendary) but as long as I can remember having a critical mind, I didnt like his dismissive attitude to those who didnt see eye to eye with him. His condescending father figure approach to all those Sinead O'Connor interviews, his sychophantic attitude when there were guests more famous than Gay Byrne in the studio. Just because he was a big fish in a small pond...werent there rumours circulating that he was going to go to the states.

His condescending high handed attitude once again came through when reading the headline in teh Sunday Tribune on teh Granard tragedy on the late late. Dismissed it out of hand, of no importance that a 15 year old died in childbirth. Anyway, it was only when the people of Ireland decided that the carry on that was going on in Ireland had to stop, out of sympathy for the girl at the centre of teh tragedy that they forced the news. Gaybo and his producer were in some way trying to take credit for blowing the whistle on the clerical and abortion that came in the following decade because they read out letters that the public sent in. Wasnt Fr. Michael Cleary a regular guest on the program, and his "if your son turns out to be half the man that Bishop Casey is, he will be lucky" comment at the end of Anne Murphy interview summed up his attitude. He wasnt playing devils advocate in that interview. He was more in the old ireland, bury your head in the sand, attitude than he pretends to be, and now he gives himself credit for the exposure of teh clerical abuse. You can have your own view on him Mickd, but thank God I dont have to look at him any more.

Hear Hear !!!!

murphaph

Well, he's still dividing opinion in fairness to him.

BaZmO*

Too much make-up tbh!

B.

mike65

murphaph wrote:

Well, he's still dividing opinion in fairness to him.

Yep nothing new there! I was watching Uncle Gaybo from when I was 9-10 until he and the Late Late Show format got tired (sometime in the early 90s I guess) he was hugly important cos he did'nt fly the flag for a particular cause or Party (I don't have a clue about his personal politics) so he let whatever happened happen. Back in the day no-one else would have done the same, Gay was maybe lucky in that he became to big to tame but that was our luck as his radio and tv programmes threw light where none had been shone. Sometimes he got it wrong but then who has'nt? Its was live and sometimes he was'nt on form.

Its just a pity he went on too long, the Late Late should have retired with him.

Mike.

DublinWriter

mickd wrote:

Complete contrast to Wogan how allowed George Best to turn up sloshed and run/ruin the show. Sorry but i dont get my jollies looking at pissheads on tv.

That only happened because Wogan's production team filled the Green Room and Best's dressing room to bursting point with alcohol knowing full well that Best was a recovering alcholic. Disgraceful.

I think Gaybo was the consumate professional and one of the best broadcasters ever, but personally he was a fairly dislikable character.

You have to seperate the man from his work if you really want to see him in any sort of perspective.

Telefís

Yes - above all Gay was/is the consummate professional. Yes he was a housewife favourite, yes at times he came across as arrogant, yes he had the airwaves to himself, yes at times he came across as patronising (though unintentional I think) - but his qualities as a broadcaster far outweighed all these faults.

As with all presenters people like or dislike them - Gay was no different.
But his abilty to handle any situation, and the way you as a viewer could always have confidence in him to handle it well (as opposed to Pat for example) made him a true professional.

He was a person that could speak in an offical manner, in a conversational manner or an intimate manner, and deal with virtually any situation and any person, adjusting the tone accordingly. There are exceptionally few people who can do that.

One presentation problem though I always found with him is that he could never look to the camera while an audience was there - as a viewer you often felt left out as he chatted or even just directed his gaze towards the audience behind the camera instead of to the camera itself.
A homley, charming feature perhaps, but he did come across as dismissive and cold when he did this, and even when he did address the camera as his eyes would roll a lot, he'd speak in an tired, almost exasperated fashion like he was on radio, and his overall conversational radio persona never translated well to screen.

By all accounts it did when talking to guests, but not directly to the viewer.
This is one area where Pat is better - okay he uses and autocue, but the odd time when he doesn't he handles the to-camera situation better than Gay.

Gay may have been paid €200,000 to start with as this also included his fee for 'Make 'em Laugh' and possibly the remainder of the Late Late in 1999.
This figure has been blown way out of proportion and is simply not accurate as far as I'm aware.
WWTBAM, one of the highest rating programmes ever on RTÉ Television came subsequently.

DublinWriter

Telef&#237 wrote: »

One presentation problem though I always found with him is that he could never look to the camera while an audience was there - as a viewer you often felt left out as he chatted or even just directed his gaze towards the audience behind the camera instead of to the camera itself.

That worked. It gave him an avuncular distance and made you feel part of the Late Late audience (smell of boiled sweets and clicking of knitting needles).

BolBill

Telef&#237 wrote: »

Gay may have been paid €200,000 to start with as this also included his fee for 'Make 'em Laugh' and possibly the remainder of the Late Late in 1999.
This figure has been blown way out of proportion and is simply not accurate as far as I'm aware.
WWTBAM, one of the highest rating programmes ever on RTÉ Television came subsequently.

Trust me, he still gets 200K a year from RTE, or the taxpayers depending how you look at it. In regards to WWTBAM, the whole reason the show was scraped is because Uncle Gaybo was too expensive and had dthem over a barrel in regards to employing somebody cheaper. The mans a leech.

DublinWriter

Telef&#237 wrote: »

By all accounts it did when talking to guests, but not directly to the viewer.

It just dawned on me today one of the reasons why Gay was so good.

On both the Radio show and the Late Late, Gay had a fair mix of 'regular' ordinary people with a tale to tell or axe to grind. I think it was the only show ever where the man auld wan from up the road could be the guest preceeding Peter Usinov.

Every guest now on both Kenny's Radio show and the current Late Late are media pro's with product to sell. This sanitises a show that used to be wonderfully random, slightly edgy, but always entertaining.

But poor ol' plank has gone too far down the Light Entertainment career path to be ever able to play to his strengths again.

Telefís

Yes there is little variation nowadays, most guests just go into 'churn-it-out mode' - media savvy celebrities.

Bill the reason WWTBAM was scrapped was because Eircell, who sponsored it to the tune of millions, was taken over by Vodaphone. Evidently the new management didn't think they were getting value for money from the ad-stings, or more likely their entire advertising and sponsorship budget went into the vast advertising campaign that accompanied the change-over as you may recall.
Gay's fee had nothing whatever to do with the show being put on hold, and you probably know it.
And considering the vast advertising revenues generated, Gay's fee would have been covered many many times over by this alone.

There is pretty much nobody in Ireland that can sponsor a comparitively small television programme to the tune of several million euro which WWTBAM requires, except telecommunications companies - all of which are wrapped up in trying to get one over on the competition at the moment.

Hence the hugely expensive WWTBAM set is currently holed up in equally expensive private storage.

RainyDay

Telef&#237 wrote: »

Hence the hugely expensive WWTBAM set is currently holed up in equally expensive private storage.

They should call Martin Cullen - He's the expert in finding places to store usless & expensive technology at a high cost.

mickd

Morgans wrote:

Interersting and good post Mickd. You are wrong to generalise me as a begrudger but you dont know me, so how could you tell. .

Apologies for that, your are right I don't know you.
I doubt that there is a chat show host worth his salt who doesn't think he is better that the audience

With regard to the member of the audience the interaction went
AM They are your rules
GB Who are you? Are you a doctor?
AM No
GB Well you know me I am Gay Byrne, Who are You?

The audience member did not contribute further having been chastened by his tangling with Gay. Yes it was arrogant but The Late Late was his show he was the producer and certain rules had to be adhered to like turning up drunk. These are not rules for people to live by they applied to his show. Meg Ryan would not have behaved to Gay Byrne the same way she did to Michael Parkinson. If the guest walks good riddance

With regard to the clerical abuse he cannot take credit for bringing that to the forefront. Part of that credit goes to Sinead O'Connor who tore up the picture of the pope, she knew what was going on long before the media did. But his subsequent response to the Granard tragedy was one of the most moving pieces of radio broadcasting ever done with the reading of letters sent in by people who experienced similar tragedies and this was 1984.

He did do a short season of chat shows in the states summer 1985 but it didn't work out for whatever reason. Probably preferred to be home and RTE did bump up his salary when the states came looking for him.

The Annie Murphy interview was not nice, Gay was obviously a friend of Casey and handled it badly dropping comments like that then trying to justify them in the documentary was bad form. Your are right when you said he was of old Ireland in some of his views. There were times you got to see the man the night he announced his eldest brother had died, he used to do the voiceover at the start of the show, its was a poignant moment. I would still conclude that for all his shortcomings and arrogance he was the best chat show host ever. Your not going to tell that Pat Kenny is better. Now if ever there was a big fish in a small pond !!!!!

murphaph

mickd wrote:

There were times you got to see the man the night he announced his eldest brother had died, he used to do the voiceover at the start of the show, its was a poignant moment.

Twas indeed. I will always remember him fighting back the tears that night. Wasn't his brother called 'Al'? I remember when gay told the audience that it was his brother, most of the audience didn't know his brother did the famous intro, neither did I up till then which made it even more poignant.

DublinWriter

mickd wrote:

With regard to the clerical abuse he cannot take credit for bringing that to the forefront. Part of that credit goes to Sinead O'Connor who tore up the picture of the pope

She did that on an American chat-show and it was a silly and childish act.

I don't know what was more cringe-inducing, that, or her appearance with Van Morrison and the Cheiftans on the same show.

However, considering it was around the time of the fatwa on Salman Rushdie, I would have been very impressed at her 'bravery' if it was a picture of Ayatollah Khomeini that she tore up.

DublinWriter

Maybe it's just me, but I noticed something very odd in a copy of Gaybo's autobiography 'Time of my Life'.

Look at the photographs where he's receiving his honoury PhD from TCD.

Now tell me those mortor boards weren't airbrushed in.

Now I know the tradition is for guys never to wear any headgear at commencements in TCD. I did see Bob Geldolf getting an honoury PhD about 2 years ago in TCD but he was wearing the 'floppy' PhD bag & string type hat.

The two pictures of Gaybo were credited to two different sources - The Irish Times and RTE. I would imagine it unlikely that the sources for the pics airbrushed the mortor boards in themselves.

sunbeam

I haven't seen the pictures in question, but most photos I have seen of honorary conferrings at TCD such as this one show both male and female recipients at least carrying, if not wearing mortarboards. Tudor bonnets (ie the floppy hats as worn by Geldof at his recent UCD honorary graduation) are worn at other Irish institutions.

I can vaguely recall seeing Gaybo on TV wearing the mortarboard at the time. I never was a fan of his, but after several years of Pat Kenny, have grown to appreciate his ability to let interviews develop naturally rather than sticking rigidly to a preprepared format.

murphaph

Don't females wear a mortar board at all degree and post graduate levels and males just wear it at doctorate level? Some old tradition about keeping women 'in their place' or some old bullsh!t like that.

Novocaine

Did anyone see Gay on this? To be honest in terms of hosting an awards ceremony Gay is well and truly past it. Then again, the room seemed to be boiling hot. Only when talking to Wogan did he finally relax a bit and expose a bit of the warmth that Housewives came to love him for. He should give radio another shot definitely.

Television hasn't been good to him in the past year or so. That Class reunion thing was dire. Should I give a crap who Daniel O' Donnell went to school with?

Exactly.

BolBill

HE'S F-ING RETIRED !!!!!!!!! stay off the TV and Radio.