Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy has said he "grew considerably as a person and a presenter" while helming the show through the pandemic.
The chat-show returns on Friday, 3 September and as Tubridy reflected on the last season, he said he hopes to bring forward the "more authentic, less showbiz" nature it took on.
"I felt we embraced a whole new sense of empathy for people at home and I definitely grew considerably in terms of who I am as a person and as a presenter," he said at the RTÉ new season launch.
"It felt like things changed. I was well-guided from my colleagues and friends and they brought me to places career-wise and professionally I hadn't been to before.
"I found it very enriching, and I’d like to bring that forward. It was more authentic and less showbiz, I loved being more myself."
Tubridy hopes the studio audience will return this year as they are "so important to the programme and it was a channlege to broadcast to an empty hall" but they are still figuring out what class of an audience will be allowed under Covid-19 restrictions.
"I’m excited, ambitious and have an insatiable appetitie for more because this is it, this is the emergence from the shadows," he said.
"I’m ready to get back and stuck in. It feels like it’s a different time to the last two seasons kicking off, so we’re ready for it."
The Late Late Show's return was just one of the announcements made at the new season launch on Wednesday, with over 40 hours of new Irish drama, new entertainment shows, and returning favourites also announced.
Read more about what's coming up this autumn and beyond here.
