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Why does everybody hate Ray D' Arcy all of a sudden?

WhiteWalls

I remember when he was on Today Fm and presenting the Rose of Tralee and he could do no wrong. Now he is on Rte radio and television and he gets awful criticism. This is despite him not changing at all in my opinion.

Do people not like him because he is now earning a lot of money?

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Shint0

I think there should have been a clause in his contract where he is not allowed to refer to his wife on air. It's just boring, predictable, egocentric and one-dimensional. At least Brendan O'Connor was able to make attempts at dry wit and spontaneity during the course of interviewing guests, he was able to show empathy and respond rapidly to any awkward moments which arose, the Panti interview being an exception. Replacing him with Darcy was a mistake.

muddypaws

maudgonner wrote: »

Contrast that with his replacement on Today FM. By all rights I should loathe Anton Savage: his privileged background, family connections in the business, and well, let's be honest, he has an incredibly smackable face But I think he's great - knowledgeable on a wide range of topics without being obnoxious, genuinely interested in the people he interviews, always in good form. He seems to have a great rapport with his colleagues, gives credit to his crew (always makes it very clear that his producer choses the music, which is excellent and frequently complimented). Oh, and he NEVER mentions his family.

Yes. I am now listening to him when I resisted because of the reasons you listed, but I really enjoy his show and like him.

[Deleted User]

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Deleted User wrote: »

To be honest, I just think it is a case of people subconsciously judging him more harshly because he has become less attractive with ageing (primarily because of hair loss) and because people are more judgemental of height nowadays and he is relatively short compared to most males nowadays. Nothing wrong with becoming less attractive with ageing, happens to us all. People didn't have harsh opinions of him when he had hair and nobody really was aware of his lack of height.

its nothing to do with what he looks like

its what comes out of his mouth is the problem

People seemed to have ramped up their "hate" of him since he began his prime-time tv show. When he was on the radio people didn't seem *that* bothered by him.

maudgonner

Deleted User wrote: »

People seemed to have ramped up their "hate" of him since he began his prime-time tv show. When he was on the radio people didn't seem *that* bothered by him.

When he was on Today FM he wasn't being paid such huge wages (presumably) and they weren't funded from the license fee.

He also hasn't been parachuted into the slot at the expense of another broadcaster (O'Connor), who people feel was doing a better job. And there's also the hypocrisy that he frequently criticised RTE and their highly paid presenters while he was on Today FM, only to turn around and take a huge salary (and indulge in a bit of nepotism by bringing his wife with him).

He still got plenty of criticism though - have a read through the thread on the radio forum and you'll see that.

murphy01

Agricola wrote: »

One of the main reason's Ray is so chronic on a chat show is he has zero interest in 99% of the people he's interviewing. I'm sure a lot of interviewers find themselves in a similar boat but you have to be able to make a fist of sounding engaged, listening and asking pertinent questions that the listeners might want to hear. Ray would be grand if the weekly topics were fitness and atheism!

Totally agree on this. Haven't heard his radio show (thankfully) but from the small number of his tv shows I have seen he comes across as really fake and disinterested. He seems to sing off the questions that he wants to get through... no attempt at a conversation like Graham Norton.

It should appear natural but with D'Arcy it just all seems really fake.

Badly Drunk Boy

I haven't liked him since the days he did DJ at Nijinsky's nightclub in the Curragh in the late 80s/early 90s.

2smiggy

osarusan wrote: »

Haven't been exposed to him for more than ten consecutive seconds since whatever programme velcro girl was in, so have no idea what he's like now.

Easy to avoid him these days, surely?

I just have to be very quick after live line to change stations so as never to hear his voice again

mrsdewinter

Deleted User wrote: »

To be honest, I just think it is a case of people subconsciously judging him more harshly because he has become less attractive with ageing (primarily because of hair loss) and because people are more judgemental of height nowadays and he is relatively short compared to most males nowadays. Nothing wrong with becoming less attractive with ageing, happens to us all. People didn't have harsh opinions of him when he had hair and nobody really was aware of his lack of height.

But Gay Byrne is also short. Famously so. And he aged a hella lot over the 27 years he was on the Late Late.
Ray had a huge potential fanbase from his Den days, and he's thrown it away.

whisky_galore

Deleted User wrote: »

To be honest, I just think it is a case of people subconsciously judging him more harshly because he has become less attractive with ageing (primarily because of hair loss) and because people are more judgemental of height nowadays and he is relatively short compared to most males nowadays. Nothing wrong with becoming less attractive with ageing, happens to us all. People didn't have harsh opinions of him when he had hair and nobody really was aware of his lack of height.

Load of bollocks, you can be a good interviewer/host without being an oil painting.

Arghus

My first stirrings of disquiet with anything D'arcy related came about a decade ago. A long time ago I will admit, but when it comes to simmering annoyances - age will not wither them.

Anyway, he was presenting the Today FM show. It was rare I got the opportunity to hear it, so I was amazed to hear them talking about metal. Metal as in Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath etc, etc. Now, I'm not a hardcore metaller by any means, but I did grow up listening to it and still enjoy it and appreciate it as a wide and varied genre of music.

I was intrigued to hear such a discussion taking place on daytime radio. They were discussing it as a form of music; I knew they weren't going to start blasting Slayer or Pig Destroyer, but I was still interested in hearing what Ray and whoever else he had on giving their view about the genre. Nuanced opinions I wasn't expecting, but sometimes it can be interesting to hear an outsider's perspective on something you know well enough about.

Well, it was a load of rubbish. No, it was worse than rubbish: it was willfully ignorant drivel. I could deal with the piss being taken out of the music - a lot of metal is childish and ridiculous - but I thought there would be some honest attempt to understand it's appeal to people. But no. Ray clearly went into the discussion with the firm opinion, based on the handful of somewhat heavy songs he'd heard in his life, that the entire genre from top to bottom was utter crap. And worst of all: he was going to tell us why he was right.

Sure enough the texts started pouring in - A lot of people made extremely fair points about the musical ability required in a lot of the more technical strains of the music. Or about the purely visceral impact being an appealing characteristic of the whole genre. And more than once it was pointed out that you can't dismiss everything based on a few tunes. But D'arcy held firm: it was stupid music for stupid people. All of it.

It drove me mad listening to that. I know people might discuss things like that out on the street, but that's too be expected: the man on the street is just that. But, when you decide you're going to dedicate time on the national radio to discussing something, why not try, at least a bit, to talk right about it? Ray was entitled to say he didn't like it - lots of people agree with him - but why be so genuinely dismissive of something without even having any courage to make a smidge of effort towards giving it a chance?

It's a bit extreme, I know, to go to such detail about a totally minor thing, but, what can I say? That one segment always stuck in my mind about Ray D'arcy. Up until then I had time for him. He was so stupid, uninformed and self righteous at that moment. It felt like the only reason he was talking about it all was so he could condescendingly piss from his high horse on something people loved. That's pathetic. And from what I've seen and heard from him since, it doesn't seem like he's got much better.

lertsnim

Deleted User wrote: »

To be honest, I just think it is a case of people subconsciously judging him more harshly because he has become less attractive with ageing (primarily because of hair loss) and because people are more judgemental of height nowadays and he is relatively short compared to most males nowadays. Nothing wrong with becoming less attractive with ageing, happens to us all. People didn't have harsh opinions of him when he had hair and nobody really was aware of his lack of height.

All utter horse****. There are plenty of tv and radio hosts who do well while not being attractive.

Gwynplaine

He's not the worst. His show on the radio is a vast improvement from what went before, (eurovision, Jedward, Titanic, and foghorn Donohue).
Ray is very preachy, if he toned it down a bit he'd be grand. His constant ramblings about running, porridge, betting and religion are a complete bore.
I haven't seen any of his TV show, don't want to either.
Saw Mario Rosenstock in the Gaiety on Tuesday night and he did an excellent sketch on Ray.

Sapphire

Rosenstock does an excellent sketch of everyone

mrsdewinter

Arghus wrote: »

My first stirrings of disquiet with anything D'arcy related came about a decade ago. A long time ago I will admit, but when it comes to simmering annoyances - age will not wither them.

Anyway, he was presenting the Today FM show. It was rare I got the opportunity to hear it, so I was amazed to hear them talking about metal. Metal as in Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath etc, etc. Now, I'm not a hardcore metaller by any means, but I did grow up listening to it and still enjoy it and appreciate it as a wide and varied genre of music.

I was intrigued to hear such a discussion taking place on daytime radio. They were discussing it as a form of music; I knew they weren't going to start blasting Slayer or Pig Destroyer, but I was still interested in hearing what Ray and whoever else he had on giving their view about the genre. Nuanced opinions I wasn't expecting, but sometimes it can be interesting to hear an outsider's perspective on something you know well enough about.

Well, it was a load of rubbish. No, it was worse than rubbish: it was willfully ignorant drivel. I could deal with the piss being taken out of the music - a lot of metal is childish and ridiculous - but I thought there would be some honest attempt to understand it's appeal to people. But no. Ray clearly went into the discussion with the firm opinion, based on the handful of somewhat heavy songs he'd heard in his life, that the entire genre from top to bottom was utter crap. And worst of all: he was going to tell us why he was right.

Sure enough the texts started pouring in - A lot of people made extremely fair points about the musical ability required in a lot of the more technical strains of the music. Or about the purely visceral impact being an appealing characteristic of the whole genre. And more than once it was pointed out that you can't dismiss everything based on a few tunes. But D'arcy held firm: it was stupid music for stupid people. All of it.

It drove me mad listening to that. I know people might discuss things like that out on the street, but that's too be expected: the man on the street is just that. But, when you decide you're going to dedicate time on the national radio to discussing something, why not try, at least a bit, to talk right about it? Ray was entitled to say he didn't like it - lots of people agree with him - but why be so genuinely dismissive of something without even having any courage to make a smidge of effort towards giving it a chance?

It's a bit extreme, I know, to go to such detail about a totally minor thing, but, what can I say? That one segment always stuck in my mind about Ray D'arcy. Up until then I had time for him. He was so stupid, uninformed and self righteous at that moment. It felt like the only reason he was talking about it all was so he could condescendingly piss from his high horse on something people loved. That's pathetic. And from what I've seen and heard from him since, it doesn't seem like he's got much better.

Breathtaking - thank you!

Teyla Emmagan

I would rather listen to Joe Duffy. And I can't stand the man.

For Forks Sake

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

I would rather listen to Joe Duffy. And I can't stand the man.

That's Darcy's career path..to take over from Duffy..a whole show every day where he can sigh and pontificate from atop his high horse. And no pesky music to have to operate.

ToddyDoody

And what's with the apostrophe in the name D'Arcy? (are they just being arsey?)

I don't mind RD

Strumms

I think people do have a problem with the amount of money that is paid to the likes of him, Tubridy and Joe Duffy. You can add Miriam O'Callaghan on there too. People have a problem with paying for these eejits who are basically all terrible at their jobs. All appear on 'prime time' TV ok Duffy on Radio with the idea of doing something as in entertaining or contributing something in the way of an entertaining TV show. They wouldn't be given an moments thought by the BBC and why we have to put up with them ?... again family influences perhaps ? There have to be people in Ireland that can do a better job and entertain, conduct a meaningful interview that is tailored to the type of guest and not some idiotic bar type chatter.. anyone remember Richard Gere on the Late Late recently ? Or D'Arcy interviewing a celebrity impostor.. a random fella who looked like Jack Nicholsen ? I think that is what pisses people off... Brendan O'Connor was no better... pissing himself laughing at his own jokes while you could hear a pin drop and a cow mooing in the background....

tomwaits48

he really made a balls of that making the murderer interview.

Water John

D'arcy I presume, is of French origin. Same as De Roiste, De Long.

I think most of the broadcasters in Ireland are good. I don't go with the generalisation.
I comes basically from us being good talkers and story tellers.

[Deleted User]

I don't listen to his show, gave it a fair run but found him irritating, preachy, trying too hard to be liberal, way too much talk about his kids (who cares) and just plain boring as an interviewer.

He is obviously hung up on his height and age as typically he will ask an interviewee either (or both) of these questions 'how old are you'? 'what height are you'?

And as for having his wife and Will as his 'team'.....just plain ridiculous. Wife comes across as jumped up southsider, Will strong contender for most boring voice on radio.

I actually found myself tuning in when Dave fanning was standing in, and I am no great Fanning fan. Still he was waaay better than D'Arcy.

mulbot

If Ray D'arcy wants your opinion,he'll tell you what it is- It's one of the reasons people don't like him, the little arsehole

J Mysterio

Water John wrote: »

D'arcy I presume, is of French origin. Same as De Roiste, De Long.

I think most of the broadcasters in Ireland are good. I don't go with the generalisation.
I comes basically from us being good talkers and story tellers.

They would be Normans. Coming to Ireland 11th - 13th century.

Odyssey 2005

J Mysterio wrote: »

They would be Normans. Coming to Ireland 11th - 13th century.

Pity ...!

McGrath5

I don't "hate" Ray, hate is quite a strong word, but I do dislike him.

He did okay with the kids shows back in the day, that suited him.

His Saturday night show is simply so bad thats it's actually good, follow the thread over in the Television forum every week for a good laugh.

Odyssey 2005

For Forks Sake wrote: »

That's Darcy's career path..to take over from Duffy..a whole show every day where he can sigh and pontificate from atop his high horse. And no pesky music to have to operate.

And he knows as much Irish as Duffy...Eff ALL

Spanish Eyes

I don't think he is happy is his new role on radio or TV.

He just doesn't come across as a happy bunny doing what he is doing, like it's a chore or something.

Anyway, that's my 2c. And I dislike his references to porridge, running, Kildare, Jenny, the kids, his head and his height too. (Have I omitted anything?) OMG.

Water John

Just watching RT dealing with the Hillsborough tragedy with Keegan.
That's how to do it.

J Mysterio

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

Pity ...!

Why... What?

Esel

J Mysterio wrote: »

Why... What?

Whoosh.