Watching the Late Late Toy Show with the family huddled around the television while eating your bodyweight in chocolate is an Irish Christmas tradition.
Tonight's show is Ryan Tubridy's fifth year at the helm of the top-rated show on RTÉ 1, which this year features a Mary Poppins theme. "Supercalafragalisticexpealadocious – that word is perfect for a kids' toy show," he says.
This year has a record number of participants, with more than 231 performers, demonstrators and children taking part. The toy count has also reached new levels with 237 toys featuring in the show and 100 toys used in the set design.
This year's set which was six weeks in the planning, and looks like a cross between a doll's house and the rooftops that featured in Mary Poppins.
It’s a far cry from where it all began in 1976, initially as a small segment before becoming a full length annual show. Familiarity and tradition are key to the show’s enduring appeal.
You can be guaranteed that toys will malfunction, a child will crash a scooter into the set and the camera will zoom in one confused looking middle aged man wearing antlers.
Rehearsals were well underway yesterday on what Ryan describes as the “giddiest week” in RTE.
He relies on jelly babies and fruit to get him through the hectic rehearsals with staff shoving plates of food under his door to keep his energy levels up. He has vowed to don the cheesy Christmas jumper and has a selection whittled down to three. “It’s classic gruesome,” he quips.
Tubridy says he wore a "desperate" Christmas cardigan around the house, bought a Christmas- scented candle and watched Miracle on 34th Street to "get into the Christmas zone".
He admits he has two left feet and is dreading having to sing and dance in the opening of the show. “I might bottle it. It might be too embarrassing for everyone. I don’t really sing either unless it’s very late at night I’ve had a few drinks and want to torture Frank Sinatra’s back catalogue,” he laughs.
As he says this, a group of children dressed like Dickensian chimney sweeps start belting out a range of Mary Poppins songs from Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to Let’s go Fly a Kite as the rehearsals get underway.
Some 40,000 people applied for 200 of the coveted audience seats, something Tubridy describes as "bonkers". "I think it's to do with they way we are now as a country. Everyone's experiencing financial difficulty so the Toy Show is a night of pure escapism."
He continues: “I urge everyone to go to the shop and buy rubbish and eat jellies and pizza. Eat Jellies on your pizza. Have glasses of Coke and 7up mixed in with your and pizza and jelly! This is a night where all rules should be out. Stay up late and have fun. If you’re a grumpy adult be a kid again; just feel the magic and enjoy it because it’s spectacular and everyone is having a ball here so we’re trying to get that fun out to the audience and into living rooms around the country,” he says.
Tubridy’s five year tenure on the Toy Show has been through the deep economic recession and insists that children will be reminded to keep their wish lists budget friendly. “I got the show in the middle of a recession so I’ll be mentioning that the elves have certain toys that are more accessible and easier to make and put together.”
Every year there’s a child that captures the public imagination from Jon Joe the horologist, Mark the junior culchie of the year or Douglas the fashion expert and this year is no exception.
Tubridy says he was impressed by Fergal Smith, the Cavan schoolboy who will co-host part of the show tonight. Fergal won the heart of the nation when he wrote to Tubridy explaining that he was suffering from middle-child syndrome and wanted nothing more than to host the show.
Ryan says he could empathise with the plight of middle child Fergal who’s older and younger siblings get all the attention while he gets “nawthin”, he explains, in a surprisingly good Cavan accent. “He reminded me of a young man who also wrote letters when he was twelve,” he laughs.
They say never work with children or animals and Ryan has already dreamt up the worst possible scenario if it all goes wrong on the night: “Dressed as Dick Van Dyke, tripping over a child, knocking my head off a carousel horse, bleeding from my forehead, slipping on the blood that falls on the ground, then hitting another child as I make my way round. That’s the stuff of nightmares for the Toy show man.”
So no pressure then? “It will be grand, I love it. It’s the best job in the world.”
The Toy Show airs at 9.30 pm on RTE 1 tonight and online on RTE player