Profile: When Ryan Tubridy started to present 'The Full Irish' last year the initial result was more of a dog's dinner. Now he seems to be coming of age, writes Shane Hegarty
Even before he was announced as the new host of the Rose of Tralee, Ryan Tubridy showed up in a lot of magazine and newspaper questionnaires. There is plenty, then, that we know about him.
We know that his favourite childhood holiday was in Connemara but that his dream holiday was to Pompeii, where he finally visited on honeymoon last year. That he likes a holdall rather than a big suitcase. That he is not much of a foodie, able to make pancakes and fry onions but has a penchant for ordering adult portions of kiddies' meals.
And we know that his first car was an Opel Kadett costing £2,000 and chosen, he says, "out of desperation and impecuniosity".
There are lot of words you will hear from 2FM DJs, but you would not get rich laying bets on Rick O'Shea or Larry Gogan using the word impecuniosity in a pithy questionnaire. That is Tubridy all over, though.
He is the bookish nerd in cord jacket among the bombastic hipsters of the pop station. This is the person who, when he took charge of the station's breakfast show, described his role as to "bring back the Reagan Democrats" from Ian Dempsey's rival show on Today FM. That sort of language would bring cracks to a radio jock's leather jacket.
Tubridy, though, balances it with a nice line in self-deprecation. He turned 30 in May but has always described himself as RTÉ's old duffer in waiting. Every article about him contains the phrase "young fogey", usually proffered by Tubridy himself. He is developing a reputation as the nation's best-known Beatlemaniac and hams up his struggles with popular culture. The only parties he talks about are the birthday bashes to which he accompanies his four-year-old daughter, Ella.
When he took over the breakfast show, in March of last year, it went very badly. Unlike Dempsey, who has a menagerie of comedy characters on which to lean, the full weight of The Full Irish came down on his personality and voice, and for some time it appeared to be crushing him.
The listenership either clammed up or dried up. Text messages, by which modern radio now measures itself, were few and often critical.
Slowly, though, Tubridy began to carry the weight more lightly. He relaxed, his banter became more appealing, he developed a charming bonhomie with callers. The show had called for his personality to be opened up for all to hear - and the listeners, it transpired, found it engaging.
This week, media coverage of the latest JNLR figures focused on Gerry Ryan's extra 7,000 listeners. There was little mention that The Full Irish gained 12,000 listeners - also 5,000 more than won by Dempsey - and no credit for the way Ryan may be benefiting from the success of the show that precedes his.
There is one thing, though, that snappy questionnaires have not been able to answer. Sometime around eleven o'clock on Tuesday night, as the winning Rose is accepting her crown and the band is playing, we will know just how bright Tubridy's future really is.
His career began with a complaint. At the age of 12 he wrote to RTÉ to say there weren't enough films on television for children, so it invited him to appear on Anything Goes, the Saturday-morning show, to review films. As a teenager he reviewed books for Poparama, the 2FM show hosted, as it happened, by Ian Dempsey.
He spent three years at University College Dublin, studying history and Greek and Roman civilisation. He avoided the debating societies but took an interest in the students' union. Despite being a grandson of Todd Andrews and a nephew of David and Niall, he was not destined for politics. At the Union of Students in Ireland's annual congress he was more likely to impress during the social activities than as a political activist.
He joined RTÉ as a runner - literally, nipping off to do odd jobs and fetch things for the senior members of the team - for The Gerry Ryan Show before becoming a reporter on Today With Pat Kenny. In 1999, with producer Michael Kealy, he devised Morning Glory, RTÉ Radio 1's successful (and still running) nod to youth. Then Tubridy moved on to the more grown-up slot of The Sunday Show, where critics suggested that his lack of experience somewhat eroded his gravitas.
He was a reporter on Five Seven Live when RTÉ handed him the 2FM morning slot. It surprised him. "It's kind of ballsy," he said at the time. "To put this kind of slightly stuffy, whimsical sort of cynic into the slot that would normally be jock-orientated is a big change."
In an environment where young stars had been burned out before they had a chance to shine, Tubridy learned from his predecessor's mistakes and stayed clear of television for as long as possible.
So far there have been only cameos. He was fitted for a wedding suit on Off The Rails, the fashion magazine. He appeared in a recent pilot of The Panel, a topical comedy show. When RTÉ needed a Fridays-only presenter for Open House, the afternoon magazine show, Tubridy turned down the offer. He had begun working on All Kinds Of Everything, a music-nostalgia television quiz that will begin its run next month.
From easing himself into the waters, however, he is about to fall in head first. RTÉ has always felt that the best way to teach its young hopefuls how to swim is to push them in at the deep end.
He was not the first choice to succeed Marty Whelan as host of the Rose of Tralee. Craig Doyle, the holiday-programme presenter, was offered the job, and Derek Mooney, who has just finished hosting Cabin Fever, was favoured by RTÉ but not by the festival organisers.
When Tubridy was asked to host the Rose of Tralee contest a no was not expected.
The next few days hold the key to Tubridy's career. He is already proving himself to have an appeal across the demographic range and could be confirmed as a presenter who struggles with neither humour nor earnestness, as someone who can handle variety as well as he has current affairs. It may, in short, mean that the search for an heir to Gay Byrne's throne has ended.
A combination of falling ratings and next month's arrival of The Dunphy Show, Eamon Dunphy's chat show on TV3, mean this is a big year for The Late Late Show but an even bigger one for Pat Kenny. RTÉ's insistence on holding on to the current Late Late format has always meant it needs to find a presenter to match the show rather than the other way around.
If he sails through the Rose of Tralee and the coming months prove choppy for Kenny, then Tubridy could be facing an even bigger job this time next year. By the close of Tuesday night a lot of questions will have been answered, and not all of them by the Roses.
RTÉ's coverage of the Rose of Tralee contest begins on Monday at 8 p.m. on RTÉ1, continuing at 9.30 p.m. It concludes on Tuesday at 8 p.m. and 9.30 p.m.
The Tubridy File
Who is he? Host of 2FM's The Full Irish breakfast show and self-confessed young fogey.
Why is he in the news? Next week he will host the Rose of Tralee for the first time, a huge step for someone who has never presented a live television show.
Most appealing characteristic? On radio his personality is an attractive mix of geniality and gentle self-deprecation.
Least appealing characteristic? He might say himself that he has a good face for radio.
Most likely to say? "That was the latest from Shakira, a singer who represents the new-found confidence of Latino culture despite Colombia's myriad crises. And she has a nice backside too."
Least likely to say? "She does a lot of work for charidee."