Late Late Show becomes a wake for the nation

Date Published: {J}

Little did we know when we watched Gerry Ryan interviewing Heather Mills in Ryan Confidential on RTÉ One on Thursday that he would be dead within hours of that broadcast, but then none of us ever know.

The Irish airwaves, both audio and visual have been full of tributes to the larger than life broadcaster since news of his death became public Friday afternoon.

And indeed what better way to pay tribute to the Dubliner but by having two former Late Late Show presenters on the panel in what was a poignant first half of the programme led by current presenter Ryan Tubridy, who had been a close friend of Gerry Ryan’s.

The chat show became a wake for the nation as the panel, which also included Joe Duffy, Dave Fanning, Brenda Donoghue and David Blake Knox, regaled the nation with stories about Gerry. What came across was the generosity of the man, his boldness, his empathy with people and their situations and his love of life.

At short notice, RTÉ rolled out a respectable and very watchable ‘wake’ for Gerry Ryan. It’s incredible that Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny and the rest of the panel were available to come into the studio at such short notice. It shows their professionalism that they were able to go on and talk about him in public despite being shocked at having lost a friend and colleague, one that wasn’t shy and one who enriched all of their lives apparently.

It wasn’t in the least cringeing to watch and the programme producers couldn’t be accused of being indulgent because the viewers expected nothing less. I would imagine many, who wouldn’t normaly watch, tuned in to the Late Late on Friday just to hear about the 2FM broadcaster.

Whether you liked him or loathed him – and there didn’t seem to be a half way – he will be hard to replace because unlike many of Irish broadcasters, he wasn’t afraid to be himself or to share some of his own personal life experiences with listeners.

The sad irony is that after years of wanting to be a regular on television, he had just signed a new contract which would have seen him present a new Saturday night chat show in the Autumn.

His irreverence made him the closest RTÉ had to Jonathan Ross. And sadly it’s only now that he is gone that RTÉ management will miss him. But none of us are irreplaceable and no doubt within months, listeners and viewers alike will get used to not hearing his distinctive Dublin accent and deep voice.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.