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

I do find he has an ability to keep you hanging on every word when he tells a story

As my Mammy would say, she should have the manners to wait till she's asked.

Yeah!!

I’ve just ruled out myself running for President!

Wont be happening.

Absolutely no way will RTE ever can the Late Late Show. It's an Irish institution with the cachet of being the longest running chat show in the world. Aside from that it's a brand name with a locked in audience of at least several hundred thousand viewers most weeks. Under Tubridy, RTE really went hard on maximizing ad revenue to the extent that between frequent and long ad breaks and the host endlessly pushing sponsored products and text-in cash give-aways, anyone would think the show only existed to print €50 notes for RTE!

It'll be very interesting to see which way it goes with a new host. The decision I think they will have to make now is, do they try to steer the show back to it's roots in Gay Byrne's time ie a more rounded show with serious panel debates and serious interviews that go way beyond the misery porn dross served up over the last 14 years, or do they double down on the Turbridy formula of parochial paddywhackery and just hope a new face can refloat this stricken vessel and chart a new course for calmer waters.

IMHO, they should go with the former. The Tubridy era has proven that Ireland can no longer command an interesting international lineup of chatshow guests with any regularity. Any Irish chatshow is scraping the barrel on a weekly basis. So instead of death, doom and gloom and instead of Declan Nerney and Nathan Carter on repeat, play to your strengths and choose a host that is comfortable with the lighter stuff but who can do interesting and thought provoking interviews which are compelling to watch. It would be nice to see a host in the mold of Gaybo or Michael Parkinson again, ie someone who is not awestruck or intimidated by their guests and who goes in well prepared to try to peel back the facade all these people erect around themselves.

I don't hold out much hope for a good choice because the people making the decisions know that a lack of quality doesn't necessarily correlate with poor viewing figures. That's how the last 14 years lasted so long. We can live in hope.

They would need to have a backup in place for CB too, she never works her radio show when the kids are off on holiday's from school.

Looks like Daithi O Shea is in strong contention now, I think Claire Byrne will also rule herself out, He is the only one so far that said he is up for it. I just noticed on the St Patricks parade presentation he seemed to be the man, the only one that was in his comfort zone doing it. I know some are saying it has to be a woman but there are no real female contenders apart from Clare Byrne. I think all this it has to be a woman is just going through the motions so it appears that they really tried to get a woman for it but alas to no avail

Also he is succesful at presenting the Rose of Tralee which is almost like a necessary qualification given that Gay Byrne and a Ryan Tubridy did it (albeit briefly)

Somebody on social media suggested Bob Geldof.

BOB GELDOF!

#carcrashtvpassthepopcorn

I am genuinely happy about this

Well if the cringeworthy shambles they turned Drivetime into-NO.

That kind of meeting sounds like a talking shop so could easily be handled by zoom or similar. From what you’re saying though even if he traveled up in the Wednesday and back home in the Saturday it’s still be a big win.

On a serious note I wouldn’t rule out Mary Kennedy, ould ones and ould lads love her

Why was he on on a Saturday afternoon?

They're genuinely clueless and on a mission to shread anything left resembling talent.

Here's an idea - let's give the job to someone who knows there's a problem and has a plan to fix it.

The LLS will continue its slow death if they give it to someone who gushes "...the greatest honour of my life... stepping into the shoes of broadcasting legends, ... the hallowed space of Studio One, blah, blah, blah." Anyone who says "longest running TV show in the history of the world" should be taken out back and shot - not so much for a brazen lie (does anyone in RTÉ actually believe that old canard🤨) but for thinking that this is a great achievement when they really should think "this station's management is so lacking in vision that it has been unable to kill off a moribund show".

LLS has been stagnating for over a decade and its ratings have plummeted. It thrived in an era when it had a virtual monopoly and serious issues had to be sugar-coated because we were easily shocked (Lesbian Nuns!). It has to find a new formula fit for the flagship programme of our national broadcaster. Late night chat shows in America used to mix the serious and the light. A history of the Sixties in America could be produced relying solely on material from the Dick Cavett Show, and to some extent his show influenced that history. A similar claim could be made for Ireland and the LLS under Gaybo.

Tubridy's announcement (jumped or pushed?) made headlines but the problem for the LLS is it no longer makes real headlines. Who was the last guest to spark a national debate on the LLS? Vicky Phelan made a powerful impact but the LLS was following that scandal, not leading the debate. Politicians have become so guarded that they never say anything interesting. The Taoiseach rushed out an apology last week for a bland, off-the-cuff remark about his time as an intern in Washington. He must have got a spanking from his media minders.

Laura Noonan has a good piece in the IT about chat shows and the problem of getting high-profile guests. Even the Hollywood stars filming in Ireland don't show up for the LLS these days because 

A good host can get an entertaining interview out of unpromising guests but that requires wit and spontaneity which were never in evidence from the three LLS hosts. Tommy Tiernan is at least trying in that direction. It is embarrassing to compare the A-List couch that Graham Norton assembles each week with the collection of recycled C-listers which Tubridy has to work with. And Norton has wit and charm to burn. Here's some early advice he got about chat-show guests

Does RTÉ have any strategy for developing talent? In a well-run station, there would be a pool of young presenters cutting their teeth on chat shows in the afternoon and late-night (yeah, like late, late. RTÉ used to go to bed at 9.30🤣 ). Instead, these shows have eternal presenters slowly turning geriatric before our eyes (I'll apologise tomorrow to all those who take offence at this unscripted remark 😎.) That leaves so few opportunities that they have to be reserved for Nepo babies like Lottie.

Never forget that Gaybo started the RTÉ gravy-train by threatening to go to Britain. They should have organised his farewell party but instead they doubled his salary. Which RTÉ "star" has made it big elsewhere? I can't think of any since Orla Guerin who left in the early 1990s (after she became a victim of a nasty media slur.) The end result is that RTÉ can't go abroad to lure home real talent which might resuscitate the LLS.

Good luck with that….. black holes in space allow out more light than RTE.

Couldnt even produce a spokesperson in the Partygate incident!

Claire Byrne returns to TV with a new quiz show to find 'Ireland's Smartest' starting on April 2nd. That will be a change for her too.

Someone I know working in RTE seems to know who it is. The person has already been told and accepted even before Tubridy announced he was stepping down. I cant get him to tell me who it is though. I'll keep working on him :)

I would not be likely to believe that, RTÉ have a tendency to promote themselves to the nth in media and in tabloid media. DWTS is beginning to fade but it has held up more than The Voice did I will give it that.

I'd expect her with her name to be able to bring in a massive audience to that show. I doubt it will happen.