What are your Late Late Show memories?

freshpopcorn

Given that Patrick Kielty is going to host his first Late Late Show tonight I thought it would be interesting to hear people's earliest Late Late Show memories or general memories of the show over the years.

I'm thirty and I've very vague memories of Gay hosting it. Little bits of The Toy Show. I do remember there being lots of hype for his last show in 1999.

In the 2000's I remember a special show for 9/11, Joe O'Reilly, the fella calling Pat names, Pat tearing up the tickets.

Toy shows included Busted, Atomic kitten, Laura Croft and Pat coming in an elephant.

What are your Late Late Show memories?

magicbastarder

was it brendan and trisha who were invited onto the late late show to protest that they did not need any guidance on their love life, when 'the lover's guide' came out in the early 90s? that was fascinating to watch in a car crash sort of way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uswOGpz5aKA

(i'm clearly a little older than the OP)

Strumms

An aunt of mine was a singer back in the 60’s, 70’s and a short lived live comeback in the late ‘80’s, she was briefly interviewed and sang on it. Probably about 1988. it was a tribute segment to another artist….Aside from that I wasn’t bothered with the show but it would have been on religiously at home…. The toy show was very entertaining and occasionally they had good musical guests.

Gregor Samsa

I was in the audience once a few years ago - a family member was a guest. We were put up in a local hotel for the night, entertained in the Green Room (free drink and nibbles and got to chat to the other guests) before and after the segment, as we were only put into the audience seats for the segment itself, not the whole show. We got the "one for everyone in the audience" promo gift. A surreal experience, because it was all very enjoyable, but the topic the family member was on to talk about was quite harrowing.

I personally don't watch it at all, except for the Toy Show with my kids. Nothing against it or any of the hosts it's had, it's just not my thing. So I won't be tuning in to Patrick Kielty's debut, but the best of luck to him,

thefallingman

Gaybo ruining the end of Christy and Shane McGowan singing spancill hill, I’ll never forgive him

magicbastarder

my mother in law was in the audience, knitting a scarf for dominic west (detective mcnulty from the wire)

Gregor Samsa

Actually, I have two memories from Gaybo's time that I've never been able to verify.

The first is seeing Shane McGowan and Van Morrison singing a duet of "Gloria", with Shano singing the lyrics as "G L O I R A". I've tried to find the video, but haven't been able to, so maybe it never happened.

The second is a letter Gaybo read out from a woman recounting the domestic abuse she was suffering, and how her drunken husband would have sex with their dog if she refused his advances. I was only about 10 at the time, and was suitably disturbed when I heard this.

cml387

It wasn't always brilliant even when Gay was presenting it believe it or not.

I do remember (because I'm a nerd for that kind of thing ) that it took a long time after colour TV came to RTE for Studio One to go colour . Since the cameras were often in shot I could see they were old EMI cameras with Angenieux zoom lenses.

As for actual content..well more often that not I was watching Esther Rantzen, or MOTD, or Parkinson. In fact with that lineup who'd watch RTE?

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121114587#Comment_121114587

Maybe you were getting a trunk job at the other end and the elephant blocked your view?

ednwireland

Peter Brooke (NI secretary at the time) singing ‘Oh My Darling, Clementine’ on the Late Late Show – the same day that seven Protestant construction workers had been killed by an IRA bomb in Co Tyrone.

Saw that when channel 4 used to show the chat show bits.

Oh and p Flynn classic didn't see it at the time but always makes me chuckle on reeling in the years.

Montage of Feck

My earliest memory was discovery that gay Byrne on the radio was the same gay Byrne on the tv. Mind blown as a small child the man was basically omni present until the mid 90's.

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058313923/what-are-your-late-late-show-memories

the toy show kid who was a girls aloud fan and then nearly s**t himself when they came out.

the toy show kid who wanted to be a horologist

toy show where the rte weather presenter was the big 'surprise' guest - given theyve had ed sheeran, the top gear presenters, jerry seinfeld (a very cringe encounter) etc, this was a big let down

toy show where the two lads just kept playing the playstation and ignored the girl doing weird lara croft 'poses' behind them

for worst memories, a friend of mine died very unexpectedly and very young a few years ago and his parents went on a couple of months later as an awareness thing. they were brilliant but hearing the story again broke me.

Rows Grower

I was a big fan of Hugh Leonard's column in The Sunday Independent and a bigger fan of Gerry Adams and what he was trying to achieve against all odds.

When Gerry was invited on to The Late Late for the first time in 1994 he let Hugh have his speak without interupping him and then absolutely destroyed him with his comment that went something like "I didn't come here to engage in theatrics".

Hugh went way down in my estimation after that and Gerry went way up.

BrianD3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121114720#Comment_121114720

I remember some of that segment - Leonard got emotional and, voice trembling, told Adams that he was responsible for thousands of deaths.

fortwilliam

Pat asking an Olympic boxer from the traveller world, did he ever box his missus around....

Pat asking a young breakdancer if he ever "blacked up" to dance like the American blacks....

z80CPU

When Gay Byrne brushed by the presentation stand and made it topple.

Gay took it in his stride and didn't freeze.

z80CPU

Gay firing a water canon at the audience.

A few of the older generation didn't take it so well.

Oh and the famous one where the yoyo expert removed the sliver 5p coin from gay's ear.

Doc07

I watched it a lot as a kid and teenager in the 80s/90s (that doesn’t sound very cool in retrospect)

some memories of Gaybo were;

Annie Murphy

Gaybo doing an interrogation style interview with Gerry Adams

Pee Flynn

Gerry Ryan’s cameos on the Toy Show and also Frank the piano man.

I don’t have many memories from PK’s time as I had a more lively social life then.

I hardly ever watched Tubs apart from the Toy Show with my kids. I remember myself and the wife laughing when one of the kids asked him was he Ryan Seacrest. Also he seemed terrible with the sports stars/Hollywood types but wasn’t so bad with political figures.

No I hardly ever go out on Fridays anymore I’ll give PKielty a try

Rows Grower

I remember Gay ringing a viewer up to tell her she had won some competition and in his unique way he read the situation and was able to coax the lady into telling him that her daughter had been killed (I think the previous night) by someone driving while she was walking on the footpath very near her home on the southside of Cork city.

Gay really was a marvellous individual. He was our social media.

Hyperbollix

I'd say my earliest memory would be Lenny Henry falling out of the chair and tying himself up in the tubular railing that used to be inexplicably on the set. Hard to believe there was a time when Lenny Henry was funny.....

Also Billy Connolly's 80's appearances were always great. He was a funny story machine. Fond memories of Gay just laughing all the way through the interview!

Deeper Blue

PK saying thanks to the lad that called him a piece of sh.t

Mina Bean Ui Chribin. Couldent find a Late Late Show clip of the wagon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOouWNasmtU

ANd this bollix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0wAbQUMfWs&t=275s

dxhound2005

I remember seeing Graham Norton on with Tubridy. And then I switched over to BBC 1 and there was Graham Norton doing his own show. I could never figure out how he did that.

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115060#Comment_121115060

i think theyve dropped the conceit of norton being 'live' at this stage, at the start they would try and play it off when one of the guests would let it slip but i think at this stage they just go with the fact that it isnt recorded on the friday. i think for the NYE specials he'll generally ask the guests what they will actually be doing on NYE

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115060#Comment_121115060

i think theyve dropped the conceit of norton being 'live' at this stage, at the start they would try and play it off when one of the guests would let it slip but i think at this stage they just go with the fact that it isnt recorded on the friday. i think for the NYE specials he'll generally ask the guests what they will actually be doing on NYE

gormdubhgorm

I remember the Annie Murphy episode that was really shocking at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU76r9gk8-I

And the Chair Scandal

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0522/877087-row-over-late-late-chair-repair/

But the following one which had to do with a caller named 'Rita' for a competition has to the top Late Late Show Episodes for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N31KY7lTKVc

It encapsulates the Late Late Show going from humour to tragedy, to sympathy - all within the space of a few minutes. All unscripted and off the cuff.

standardg60

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R94Dp-RZR4

Noel Gallagher's first appearance back in 96.

Two things that made the show back then and you wouldn't see now. Gay just nonchalantly telling someone in production to organise for the show to run late and the ability of the audience to personally interact.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121114831#Comment_121114831

that was an extraordinary piece. i see someone has since posted a video of it.

Leg End Reject

The condom and the Bishop and the nightie.

Sephiroth_dude

This

https://youtu.be/EE2V_HrzJxw?si=eAdgC6lZL7XatotC

razorblunt

Some mad comments on here. Lads saying they were watching MOTD instead (it's on Saturday) and saying Pat Kenny asked a boxer if he slapped his mam around (it was MartyMorrissey).

What I remember most was that guests would come on for a chat, seemed a lot less rehearsed and guarded and scripted. Dermot Morgan was on and I remember it was the first time I recall seeing someone just be genuinely funny.

buried

Frank McCourt vs Gerry Hannon 1999

"You hammered your Mother"

hayrabit

one from recent times

the #bekind príck going on about their first ever appearance on the show (in Gay's time) #despite being told not to, when Boyzone made an appearance on the show not so long ago

and his folksy "arrah go on tell us" schtick to boot 😒

also, with the same idiot, overriding memory is that of death and misery :rolleyes:

kerrnt !

:)

cml387

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115386#Comment_121115386

The Late Late Show used to be on Saturday.

razorblunt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115696#Comment_121115696

Well Holy God...

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115388#Comment_121115388

Wonderfully re-enacted here:

https://youtu.be/YP4rpogDsiY?si=RmkhpoyqXHDNiMkb

ThePentagon

As a small kid in the late 80s/early 90s I watched many an episode of the LLS with Gay as host - rarely, incidentally, out of choice because we didn't have a second tv or more than 2 channels in our house until about 1991.

It definitely felt like more of an 'event' when Gaybo hosted it, probably because there weren't as many channels or, of course, any internet back then so I assume more of the population were likely to be viewing. What stands out in my memory were the 'serious' segments. For some reason they felt more serious during the Gaybo era than with subsequent presenters. Once Gay started the introduction it was like an icy chill came over the show.

I recall around '94 or '95 he had Jamie Bulger's parents on. I can't remember it exactly but Gay asked Jamie's father what he would do if he ever encountered his son's murderers. The father replied very matter-of-factly that he would kill them, which prompted a rather shocked, indignant response from Gay. Even as a small kid, I remember it being painful but riveting tv.

In a similarly depressing vein, a year or two later the parents of one of the girls murdered by the Belgian serial killer Marc Dutroux were guests. It just stands out in my memory because it had been a huge news story at the time and for how bloody bleak it was.

Thankfully though by the serious stage of the show I was wrecked after a long week at school and I usually just drifted off to sleep on our sitting room couch.

Duckworth_Luas

I remember watching an episode with a housemate about 2000 or 2001 and an American porn star came on to talk to Pat Kenny about her industry.

Next thing Pat brings on an Irish born again Christian to debate the wrongs of her life style with her.

The housemate spits out his tea, his jaw drops and says, "that's @#$king Maurice from next door".

Sure enough our Ned Flanders lookalike wierdo next-door neighbour was on live TV with a porn star and Pat the Plank!

Ezeoul

Gay Byrne interviewing lesbian ex-nuns, September 13 1985.

It was a very brave thing to do at that time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULO-sHOZxPk

(eta) Video added.

Arghus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115112#Comment_121115112

The "Rita" clip is incredible.

And the poem that Brendan Kennelly acquires such power in the moment. I'm always struck by how saddened he looks when he finishes speaking.

As a moment of live television it's hard to top IMO.

Badly Drunk Boy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115696#Comment_121115696

Indeed. Although, for a while, they showed Match Of The Day after it. 😉

This is from 1980:

tobefrank321

A lot of it comes back when you think about it. The restoration segment where someone would bring in a pile of junk and a couple months later come back with something practically brand new they had no help with apart from the local expert restorer.

Apart from that Gaybo was great at giving a voice to the marginalised and taking down establishment figures like the church and politicians a peg or two. Thats not to say he wasn't also deferential at times.

He wasn't perfect but was good at reflecting and shaping opinions.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115254#Comment_121115254

Not only was the daughter (Linda) killed, she posted the postcard into the competition for her mother (Rita). The last one she posted.

And it just added another layer of heartbreak to it all. Plus, the fact that the woman won a car, after her daughter was killed by car was a cruel irony.

Handled excellently by Byrne and those involved.

padd b1975

Uri Geller bending spoons.

A massive fundraising campaign for a baby boy called Colin McStay to have a liver transplant in America. This was probably ireland's first Gofundme type thing.

Jaysus I'm old....

Say Your Number

Brigette Nielsen in 2004.

One minute she was crying because her son was sick, the next she was jumping around the place.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121120089#Comment_121120089

I was trying to remember that boy's name!

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121124160#Comment_121124160

I read somewhere he became a journalist. Hard to believe he'd be around 40 now.

thesandeman

Gay and Mel Brooks having a shouting match about American spelling.

The young wan who nearly orgasmed when she thought Daniel O'Donnell was appearing on the country music show only to see Mario Rosenstock arriving. She had another claim to fame not long after when she was in court for fraud or being a gangster's moll or something.

The Toyman cursing in front of a child when he spilled a drop of of orange on himself (he's denied this happend so the 800,000+ viewers at the time must be hard of hearing).

applehunter

Someone got cancer.

Say Your Number

Pat Kenny interviewing Pete Doherty and only asking him about drugs and Doherty getting thick with him.

On a topical note, I remember the 'He f*cked your granddaughter' girl doing some dance with a group shortly after that whole controversy.