Gay Byrne RIP

Declan A Walsh · 05-11-2019 05:26PM

ToBeFrank123 wrote: »

.............

Also when they started shunting off guests after their interview rather than letting them stay on the couch as happens with UK and US chatshows.

.............QUOTE]

As I was saying in an earlier post, it was normal practice in Gay Byrne's day to shunt off the guests. That's nothing new. The only exceptions to that were when there was a special tribute programme or the various occasions when they had a panel on for the whole programme.

ToBeFrank123 · 05-11-2019 05:26PM

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Amazing that people are compiling lists of people who will be on tonight to give a tribute.
Word of advice: Avoid the show if those lists are going to annoy you, it is what remotes are for.

Who did you think would be on a tribute show to him anyway?

hmm let me see, A List celebrities from the UK and Ireland. Geoffrey Archer would be one, as Gay was very good to him as he admitted himself.

Parkinson, Graham Norton, one or two like that.

Definitely not Z listers from the RTE canteen to tell us how Gay said hello to them once and it meant the world to them and that was the measure of the man and so on and so forth.

ToBeFrank123 · 05-11-2019 05:28PM

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

ToBeFrank123 wrote: »

.............

Also when they started shunting off guests after their interview rather than letting them stay on the couch as happens with UK and US chatshows.

.............QUOTE]

As I was saying in an earlier post, it was normal practice in Gay Byrne's day to shunt off the guests. That's nothing new. The only exceptions to that were when there was a special tribute programme or the various occasions when they had a panel on for the whole programme.

Nonsense. As you can see with this article. Wogan was moved sideways when Norton was on.

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2019/1105/1088830-gay-byrne-allowed-people-to-exist-says-graham-norton/

That was fairly typical.

blueshade · 05-11-2019 05:28PM

sideswipe wrote: »

Mad how times have changed, when Gay started off TV presenters were put on a pedestal. I only just watched that interview with the woman that had the kid with the Bishop (can't remember her name). If he was a presenter today and had acted like that he'd be ran out of town and would be living in Al Porters basement.

That wasn't one of his finest hours. The Ireland of that day and age is so long gone that a lot of young people have no idea what this country was like. Take the condom episode, I remember the absolute uproar and outrage in Ireland when the first condom vending machine was put in a pub toilet. A lot of people were incensed at the idea of it.

There were people saying that it would lead to promiscuity and the mindset that sex was for procreation not recreation still existed. He highlighted feminist issues at a time when women were still struggling to be heard and not many were prepared to give them a voice. When a woman could be refused the pill if it was against her GP's religious beliefs to prescribe it. Just because someone disagrees with someone else's perspective doesn't mean they should ''be run out of town'', unfortunately modern day fookwits are causing a lot of pandering to be done which is ultimately going to bite them in the arse.

paleoperson · 05-11-2019 05:28PM

Looks like outrage culture got a chance to unleash its fury over Mr. Tayto saying he was sad about the passing of Byrne:

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/discover/tayto-deletes-gay-byrne-tribute-tweet-following-backlash-961950.html

It was a harmless enough tweet. If you don't want to hear from a corporate account for a brand-name like that then why the **** are you following it?! I don't follow those accounts and I really wonder who does.

FrancieBrady · 05-11-2019 05:31PM

ToBeFrank123 wrote: »

hmm let me see, A List celebrities from the UK and Ireland. Geoffrey Archer would be one, as Gay was very good to him as he admitted himself.

Parkinson, Graham Norton, one or two like that.

Definitely not Z listers from the RTE canteen to tell us how Gay said hello to them once and it meant the world to them and that was the measure of the man and so on and so forth.

Geoffrey Archer is an A-List celebrity??? Did you just timetravel from the 1980's?

I'm sure the list will be made up of people who knew him. If that isn't enough for you, as I advised, use that remote.

andekwarhola · 05-11-2019 05:32PM

Can see both sides myself.

Definitely had that oleaginous RTE establishment thing and was often prone to letting personal prejudice show in interviews.

We also sometimes fall into the trap of overexagerting the personal influence of single people re: societal change. You could argue they there was a slowly growing desire for social change in Irish society and that the state broadcaster would have slowly reflected that anyway.

What Brian Eno, I think, once called Scenius as opposed to Genius. Its natural to pin a lot on talented individuals when in fact they often represent a breakthrough point of more subliminal trends in wider society or indeed, in this case, the people behind the Late Late Show themselves.

On the other hand, it's hard not to appreciate how central The Late Late Show was to Irish broadcasting and society - especially in terms of how much a lot of modern, popular broadcasting has gone down the toilet - and you can't deny that he was a talented old skool broadcaster, definitely compared to some of the imbeciles on TV and radio these days.

Declan A Walsh · 05-11-2019 05:32PM

ToBeFrank123 wrote: »

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Nonsense. As you can see with this article. Wogan was moved sideways when Norton was on.

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2019/1105/1088830-gay-byrne-allowed-people-to-exist-says-graham-norton/

That was fairly typical.

I take Graham Norton's point that they were allowed to exist. However, I meant that the guests did not remain in the studio on camera. I was not referring to how he looked after them off-air, or in the green room. That's where those exceptions I mentioned come in.

Force Carrier · 05-11-2019 05:34PM

ToBeFrank123 wrote: »

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Nonsense. As you can see with this article. Wogan was moved sideways when Norton was on.

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2019/1105/1088830-gay-byrne-allowed-people-to-exist-says-graham-norton/

That was fairly typical.

Gay Byrne and the LL was the first talk show I remember that kept guests on (if they were willing) when the next guests came out. So you ended up with a group. And they could interact with each other. I presume that is where Graham Norton got the idea from.

nkl12xtw5goz70 · 05-11-2019 05:37PM

blueshade wrote: »

The Ireland of that day and age is so long gone that a lot of young people have no idea what this country was like.

Byrne once asked married couples questions to see how well they knew each other. One question was about the color of the nightdress the wife wore on her wedding night. When she said she didn't think she had worn one, a bishop attacked Byrne, accusing him of peddling filth. That's just one small example of what Ireland was like in those days.

Declan A Walsh · 05-11-2019 05:38PM

Force Carrier wrote: »

ToBeFrank123 wrote: »

Gay Byrne and the LL was the first talk show I remember that kept guests on (if they were willing) when the next guests came out. So you ended up with a group. And they could interact with each other. I presume that is where Graham Norton got the idea from.

That was definitely the exception rather than the rule by the latter half of the 1970s. Okay, it was common enough on the LLS (I stand corrected) in the first half of the 1970s. If you look back at most of the serious interviews that have been referred to on this thread, you will notice that the guest was gone off camera once their item was complete. As I say, you were more likely to see the guests staying for special tributes, or, otherwise, when it was a panel for the show (and not guests in the normal sense).

Declan A Walsh · 05-11-2019 05:40PM

Erika Broad Stalemate wrote: »

Byrne once asked married couples questions to see how well they knew each other. One question was about the color of the nightdress the wife wore on her wedding night. When she said she didn't think she had worn one, a bishop attacked Byrne, accusing him of peddling filth. That's just one small example of what Ireland was like in those days.

"The Bishop and the Nighty" affair - that has been mentioned a few times already on this thread!

Junkyard Tom · 05-11-2019 05:40PM

paleoperson wrote: »

Looks like outrage culture got a chance to unleash its fury over Mr. Tayto saying he was sad about the passing of Byrne:

If you don't want to hear from a corporate account for a brand-name like that then why the **** are you following it?!

I'm thinking you seem quite outraged by outrage culture.

blueshade · 05-11-2019 05:43PM

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

I'm thinking you seem quite outraged by outrage culture.

In fairness, it's hard for anyone sane to not be outraged by outrage culture. I read yesterday that on the advise of the Actors Union in Britain the expression ''ladies and gentlemen'' will no longer be used because of how gender fluid things are now. A recent production of Macbeth where men dressed in tutus played the witches was cited as an example of this progress. Still, I suppose they won't miss the applause since people have to use jazz hands instead of clapping since it might cause anxiety.

branie2 · 05-11-2019 05:56PM

I wonder if the prank pulled on Gay by Mike Murphy outside Trinity College will get a mention tonight.

Strazdas · 05-11-2019 05:58PM

Strange that Gay passed up the chance to interview Bill Clinton not once but twice for his Meaning of Life show. The reasons he gave sounded rather flimsy.

Did he not like the former President for some reason?

FrancieBrady · 05-11-2019 06:02PM

branie2 wrote: »

I wonder if the prank pulled on Gay by Mike Murphy outside Trinity College will get a mention tonight.

Duffy tried to play it on the show today and describe what was happening over the top of it...didn't really work.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 05-11-2019 06:03PM

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Her family asked RTE to remove the link as it was really distressing for them to have to listen to the call over and over.

Wow, yes, understandable.

ToBeFrank123 · 05-11-2019 06:09PM

Another thing I remember about the LLS is Byrne was willing to give any and every Irish band a chance, whereas more conservative presenters might be reluctant.

That included unfortunately Boyzone

And also the ultimate two fingers to the church, Tommy Tiernans first performance!

FrancieBrady · 05-11-2019 06:28PM

branie2 wrote: »

I wonder if the prank pulled on Gay by Mike Murphy outside Trinity College will get a mention tonight.

Another story around that prank.
The producer who worked on that prank Leo Masterson was on Duffy today and he was talking about it, he said that Bryne hated to be finally caught but the very next week, completely coincidentally they caught a woman in a prank in Dublin somewhere and it turned out to be Gay's sister. He thought there was a vendetta on the Byrne family.

randd1 · 05-11-2019 06:30PM

Strazdas wrote: »

Strange that Gay passed up the chance to interview Bill Clinton not once but twice for his Meaning of Life show. The reasons he gave sounded rather flimsy.

Did he not like the former President for some reason?

Perhaps it was the whole sexual predator thing that put him off? A lad like Gaybo would be much closer to the rumour mill about certain high profile people than we would.

branie2 · 05-11-2019 06:32PM

ToBeFrank123 wrote: »

Another thing I remember about the LLS is Byrne was willing to give any and every Irish band a chance, whereas more conservative presenters might be reluctant.

That included unfortunately Boyzone

And also the ultimate two fingers to the church, Tommy Tiernans first performance!

There were protests outside RTE the night Tommy Tiernan was on

Tell me how · 05-11-2019 06:45PM

branie2 wrote: »

There were protests outside RTE the night Tommy Tiernan was on

Some indicator of how Ireland has changed, from ommy being booed when he first appeared on a prominent chat show to him being seen by many as the leading chat show host in the country.

(Granted, Tommy changed too in the context of his content as a standup and his behaviour as a host)

RabbleRouser2k · 05-11-2019 06:47PM

Strazdas wrote: »

Strange that Gay passed up the chance to interview Bill Clinton not once but twice for his Meaning of Life show. The reasons he gave sounded rather flimsy.

Did he not like the former President for some reason?

There's been some questions regarding how 'consensual' many of Clinton's relationships were-some of the women who made allegations against him claimed they were victims of sexual assault.

It would be like interviewing Mike Tyson and not questioning him on the rape allegations.
I doubt he would have interviewed Hillary either-she made some comments on victims of rape not long after the reveal of the affair.

It wouldn't be the fawning 'Oh, you're fab, sweetie' interview that Tubridy would give.

tylercheribini · 05-11-2019 06:49PM

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

There's been some questions regarding how 'consensual' many of Clinton's relationships were-some of the women who made allegations against him claimed they were victims of sexual assault.

It would be like interviewing Mike Tyson and not questioning him on the rape allegations.
I doubt he would have interviewed Hillary either-she made some comments on victims of rape not long after the reveal of the affair.

It wouldn't be the fawning 'Oh, you're fab, sweetie' interview that Tubridy would give.

Lolita Express, need I say more? Tubridy would no doubt find a connection between the Kennedy's and Clintons.

Naggdefy · 05-11-2019 06:51PM

tylercheribini wrote: »

Lolita Express, need I say more? Tubridy would no doubt find a connection between the Kennedy's and Clintons.

Clinton as a 12 year old shaking JFK'S hand no doubt

tylercheribini · 05-11-2019 06:53PM

Naggdefy wrote: »

Clinton as a 12 year old shaking JFK'S hand no doubt

Ha touche, I actually forgot about that,it would be the centerpiece of the whole show.

randd1 · 05-11-2019 06:59PM

Naggdefy wrote: »

Clinton as a 12 year old shaking JFK'S hand no doubt

Clinton with that handshake was merely just thanking Kenndy on the riding and sexual assault tips he just gave him.

Lefty Bicek · 05-11-2019 07:10PM

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

RIP. Definitely one of the best talk show hosts ever.

The only thing I ever didn't like about Gay Byrne was that he afflicted us with Joe ****ing Duffy. A talentless moaning scourge nudge nudge wink winked through the back doors of RTE in the early 90's by unkey Gaybo.

Is that who I think it is, first off the mark here, at 18 seconds in ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw7NLdMwM-U

RabbleRouser2k · 05-11-2019 07:13PM

The sadness of that clip-of the moment Gay realised the tragic situation that befell this woman-is that so many of those in the clip are no longer with us (not just that poor woman's daughter).

And sadly... some others are not too well themselves. I know Brendan Kennelly is not in good health at the moment.

Edit: Once something is on the internet, it can not be removed.

https://web.archive.org/web/20111212145532/http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJO6ckm-o-k&gl=US&hl=en

It's amazing how much of that night I still remember-the woman sitting in the interview chair. She was a former sex-worker, I remember that interview.

Gay Byrne RIP

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