Thirty-eight years old, The Late Late Show is an institution – but with the departure of Pat Kenny is it time to change format?
WHAT WILL we do with The Late Late Show? The world and its granny are hotly debating who will step into Pat Kenny's clogs and take over the soon-to-be-vacant position as the new presenter of RTÉ's flagship programme. Not since Pierce Brosnan handed in his 007 licence has there been so much excitement surrounding the search for a replacement.
The Late Late Showbegan in 1962, the same year the first Bond movie came out, and has successfully dodged bullets and brickbats ever since, to become the world's longest-running chat show. Gay Byrne was the show's Sean Connery – the original and best. Pat Kenny might have wanted to be Pierce Brosnan, but he's really Roger Moore. What the show needs now is a Daniel Craig.
When Michael Parkinson announced his retirement in 2007, he declared the death of the classic chat-show format, but the continued success of The Late Late Showsuggests otherwise. Swiping at the way the genre has gone, Parkinson alluded to the slew of spoof chat shows such as Knowing Me, Knowing You.. . with Alan Partridgeand The Mrs Merton Show, and the rise of comedic self-centred hosts such as Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross. But The Late Late Showhas survived irony and post-modernism to remain Ireland's consistently highest-rated TV programme.
The competition for the job looks increasingly like a two-horse race between Ryan Tubridy and Miriam O’Callaghan, but though the face will change, will the format remain the same?
"No matter what is done, The Late Late Showcan never achieve the heights it achieved for maybe up to 25 years. But nothing in television can," says producer and writer John Masterson, who worked regularly on The Late Late Showduring the Gay Byrne years.
“It was a product of the times that were in it, in an Ireland emerging from poverty, ignorance and a repressive church.”
According to Masterson, The Late Late Showis a powerful weapon in RTÉ's armoury – the challenge is to find a suitable warrior to lead the show into the future. "I think the Late Latehas no choice. If it goes more serious, it'll bore the pants off everyone. If it tries to be Jonathan Ross or Graham Norton, it would require a talent of the magnitude of Norton or Ross, and massive production resources. So I think the only option they have is to continue with the show as it is; and, automatically, a change of presenter and production team will put the emphasis in one direction or another . . . whether you call that freshening or not. But there will inevitably be some change.
“But I think so long as it continues to be a blend of music, entertainment, controversy and all the things it has been – with the Toy Show bang in the middle of it – it will attract a larger Friday-night audience than RTÉ could with any vehicle that could replace it.”
Trying to "modernise" the Late Lateor turn it into some kind of "yoof" programme would be a fatal mistake, reckons Masterson. "When Gay stopped presenting it he was 65; when Pat stops presenting it he'll be sixtysomething; they're not going to give it to a 20-year-old, so inevitably it's going to be a middle Ireland-type show. But then, the nature of Ireland is that any show that gets a big audience has to be a middle Ireland show, the best example being the Rose of Tralee.
He adds that "we can all get too Dublin 4 cool" and that, for the average viewer, the Late Lateremains a vital part of their Friday-night viewing habits. "And sometimes they enjoy giving out about it as much as they enjoy watching it."
For Masterson, the programme's perennials such as the Toy Show and the regular tribute shows (he was involved in tribute shows to Christy Moore and Michael O'Suilleabhain among others) are what keep The Late Late Showgrounded in the soil of Irish life, though he feels the show's topical discussion panels can no longer shock or spark debate in the way they used to.
"A lot of the social issues that were very inflammatory in the past have gone off the agenda at this stage. Contraception, divorce – there was a time when all you had to do was say the word abortion and the phone lines lit up, but those days are gone," he says. Whoever gets the gig as Late Late Showpresenter, Masterson is certain of one thing: "There is nobody on the planet who can return the show to what it was at a certain time in history. It is just not an option."
Some people might like to see the Late Latedragged, kicking and screaming, at last into the 21st century, but Donal Scannell – who worked as a researcher on the show during the late 1990s – is not one of them.
"I would drag it back to the 20th century," he declares. "I think The Late Late Showhas lost what it was. And I think the art of conversation has been lost. I liked The Late Late Showbest when there was space. When you could just explore different things and do different things.
"And there's no point in trying to compete with Jonathan Ross, because he's got the biggest stars in the world and he's always going to have those stars. You have to play to your strengths, and in recent years both The Late Late Showand Tubridy would put some C-rate international name above a really good local story. I think the whole entertainment/ celebrity thing has gone too far."
SCANNELL BELIEVES THESE ideals might be transplanted to Pat Kenny's next project. "To be honest, I think that's what Pat is gonna try to do with his Monday-night show. I think Pat wants to be free of the shackles of entertainment and titillation, and I think his show will have more potential for being what The Late Late Showshould be. I mean, look at all the issues that The Late Late Showdealt with back then, and look how much it's changed since.
“We haven’t really gone back to the well, and a lot of people compare the end of the Celtic Tiger to waking up with a massive hangover,” he says. “I think home-grown is where it’s at. Do what you do really well. Be distinctive and unique. What’s the point in aping something that you can get on 20 other channels? People want distinction – they don’t want a second-hand version of what’s already out there.”
