The egos of the Late Late Show 50 years on

Date Published: 04-Jun-2012

It may have been the 50th anniversary of the Late Late Show but it feels like 100 and after watching almost two and a half hours of egos, back-clapping and some self indulgence of the highest order, it would add years to you.

It was the awful mixed with the embarrassment as guests were forced to explain how their appearances on the show helped advance their careers. It was obvious that some of those who were on the panel looked awkward as they were almost forced to say that only for the Late Late, their careers would be in tatters.

The advance hype about this anniversary show was not reflected in the actual programme which looked as if it had been thrown together in the last minute. The specially invited audience were first treated to a rather smug Gaybo followed by a very relaxed Pat Kenny who proceeded to become the forgotten presenter of the Late Late as the former simply took charge of proceedings.

It was hilarious from the point of view that Gay Byrne began conducting interviews with some of the guests, particularly when it came to Imelda May and Bono, and it forced Ryan Tubridy to try and wrestle back control of the programme. There were times when it seemed like a tug of war between the two of them.

From a spectator viewpoint, that was the only aspect of the programme that was remotely entertaining as it was very clear that Gaybo was in his element and seemed to forget that he no longer presents the programme while Tubridy was caught on camera making a few frustrating gestures in his direction.

When he did assume control of his patch, Tubridy proceeded to ask every guest the same question. How big an influence had their appearance on the Late Late advance their career? This was really a ridiculous question because if they hadn’t been someway established, they wouldn’t have been invited on the programme in the first place. The Late Late is not exactly Ireland’s version of Opportunity Knocks.

And then there was Twink. While she has one of the biggest egos on television, she also has one of the biggest mouths. She seemed to have been at the sherry as she launched a cringing tirade on her ex-hubby who was in studio as a member of the RTE orchestra and again made reference to the ‘zip up your mickey’ comment which was part of an unfortunate voice mail that did the rounds shortly after it was left by Twink on her ex-husband’s voice mail and circulated by God knows who.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.