Ryan Tubridy to step down from Late Late role when season ends

Yeh….Noel Kelly

It will be a women so if not zamparelli my pick would be daithi o shea if they do go for a man.

Don't pick Miriam, she's 63, tubridy was 35 when he got the gig, it has to be someone youngish again but with a charm and personality.

Been watching the show forever - and it was clear the format had dried up. Show became too PC over the years - no real hard question - no audience involvement - many prerecorded pieces. We also didn't seem to get great guests - it is clear that the real celebs do Graham Norton - and job done.

Way too many repeat guests - and too many staff being interviewed. Now in fairness to all involved , it was an impossibly impractical show length wise - never should have been 90 minutes - and they did wind it back a bit recently and better for it.

Ryan did a good job for the most part (considering how difficult a spot it is) - we are a small country and he ended up having to interview the same people - who most are not particularly interesting to start with.

He did brilliant job on the Toy show and during the pandemic - but he seemed to be in a tough spot in a personal capacity.

I'd imagine it will be a female presenter - and worth trying. But I personally don't think there is a female presenter out there that can pull it off. They will certainly ask harder questions - but I'll be honest - none of them seem great on the lite / entertainment side.

I'd like to see Sarah McInerney get it. But would be a risk.

I personally think Brendan O'Connor would be excellent - he has made the weekend slot his own - and is one of the few out there that can do , politics, serious - comedy - lite entertainment - sport - and just general Irish craic.

They're happy to stick with people who should be unknown

the interesting thing is that there is no clear favourite or close…

Claire Byrne is a risk. Her forte is ‘current affairs’. Completely untried and untested in a light entertainment environment..

A mistake was made with Pat Kenny who was also a current affairs guy, presenting Today Tonight but he’d dipped his toe into TV and the entertainment side with Kenny Live….still far too stodgy, formal and ‘professional’.. bad choice for the late late.

By the same token Tommy Tiernan wouldn’t have the sort of intra generational appeal and with it, he’s not a very gifted interviewer. Listening to “well now” every time a guest sits down and him dressed like he fell onto Howth pier straight off a trawler.. I doubt he’d have the background either to fluidly move from a light hearted entertainment style interview over to something more current affairs or serious…which you need on the Late Late. I can’t imagine he has that level of talent in his locker. Wouldn’t be a natural fit for it.

Ray Darcy, just no.

Brendan O’Connor ? Never liked his style but he might be a more rounded candidate. But… hmmmmm, has he the personality, more or less a niche broadcaster ? The interest ? I’d take a look at him.

Sarah McInerney ? Too inexperienced for the gig, that would be my foremost concern.

Joe Duffy… too old, 67… has a likeable gravitas but can be a tough listen, his forays into chat shows haven’t gone too positively…probably hasn’t got a rounded enough skillset in terms of dealing with various guests from different backgrounds, he’d be like Tiernan…. Maybe less able…. Would he want the hassle at his age ? He’s on serious money as it it… going by RTÈ’s published salaries he’d be a millionaire….Figures released by RTÉ in 2020 show that Joe was the third highest paid presenter at RTÉ with pay of €392,494 in 2019. This represented a drop on the fees of €404,988 paid out in 2018.

My guess is that RTÈ will opt for a female presenter, my guess is Claire Byrne. Seemingly likeable, inoffensive, intelligent, capable in all be it a current affairs field but we’ll see if she’s selected if she does have the capacity for light entertainment….

It seems be, that RTE don't really have a pick of younger, capable or likable presenters coming through the ranks. A lot of divisive presenters being suggested and that will be a worry for the accountants as the LLS brings in big ad revenue.

Presume you noticed that Claire Byrne 'retired' a few weeks ago.. all that is required is to rearrange the deckchairs in RTE.

Was the Toy Show not just turned into another misery fest. Too much singing and dancing as well apparently.

Bizzare he was allowed inflict his misery fetish on the nation every week.

I wonder is he in full health?

The LLS should have stopped when Gay stood down and that's 24 years ago. Well past its sell by date. Pat Kenny is excellent on radio and current affairs. But light entertainment was never his forte. Too wooden. Ryan Tubridy is someone whose appeal to RTE I have never gotten. He is lightweight, no depth and wooden.

RTE has no one now to hold a candle to greats like Gay, Mike Murphy, John Bowman or Brian O'Farrell. These were men of intelligence, substance and charm. The money the likes of O'Connor, O'Callaghan, D'Arcy and Tubridy are on is shameful not to mention Joe Duffy. Gilbert O'Sullivan rarely does media with Irish broadcasting so when I knew he was going to be on Liveline it piqued my interest. Love Gilbert and was looking forward to hearing him. The show was a disaster. Mainly down to Duffy. I felt sorry for Gilbert and now understand why he rarely does media work with Irish broadcasters.

I know as a people we have a reputation of begrudgery. But their is simply no logic for the wages of the top earners in RTE. Gay, Mike, John and Brian were genuine broadcasting heavyweights whose work would merit re watching even now. I'd love to lock Tubridy into a room and make him watch some of their work and then ask him does he really deserve the wages he takes out of RTE.

If RTE wants to liven it up, we may as well throw Dave Chambers/Bob McGlynn into the list of possible runners.

The last two useless LLS presenters were given their own chat shows for a few years before RTE gave them the gig.

Who's in that position now at RTE?

Tiernan. Scanlan. O'Callaghan. D'Arcy ... (Jesus Christ😳)

Dara O Briain or Patrick Kielty.

Deirdre O' Kane or Jennifer Zamparelli.

All good suggestions, maybe all of them?

Need to be young, witty and able to engage the viewers.

Not those who have already failed, Ray D'arcy, Brendan O'Connor, Miriam O'Callaghan, Claire Byrne.

Not that it matters as think RTE has already lost their audience.

Yes why did they do that, he was very good but in fairness so was Tubridy when he did Tubridy tonight, he was more free for some reason back then. To be honest maybe it is the whole production team and politics behind the LLS that is the real problem, maybe there are too many people in the backround now that are overly controlling . There are probably many interesting off the wall people that could be on it like Gay Byrne used to have but they are stopped by all the backround mandarins

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Watching the Paddys day show at the moment. Looks like they have a social media section as he has had a TikTok musical father and daughter and now some lad with a big egg. Must be the production staff rolling out this dross. Painful stuff.

I only agree with some of this, but I think it's an excellent post nonetheless.

This bit below especially sums him up, I couldn't put it into words like this, so Thanks.

"At all times, he was wooden, nervy and uncomfortable in the mere act of interviewing people and always displayed both a lack of curiousness and an unwillingness to properly prepare for his guests by actually doing the research and asking pertinent questions. Turbridy was, what he was. The teenage teaboy who got the top job because he was there a long time and was friendly with the right people, not because he was the best candidate to front a live talk show."

I do feel sorry for him though. I’m sure he was given his marching orders and it’s not easy serving out 2.5 months notice in view of the entire nation. On a personal level he seems like a nice enough guy and irregardless if his ability for the job at hand, it might have been better if they’d left this announcement till mid May to make it easier on the chap.