Patrick Kielty has won praise for his debut as the new host of The Late Late Show.
The 50-year-old comedian from Co Down became the fourth full-time presenter in the show's sixty-year history as he hosted the first edition of a new season on Friday night that brought many changes to the look and feel of an Irish institution.
Along with a new host, a new logo and a shorter running time of one and a half hours, Studio 4 in RTÉ also has a new Late Late set.
Friday night’s line-up of guests included Tommy Tiernan, former President of Ireland Mary McAleese, the 2 Johnnies and Irish football star James McClean.
Dressed in a simple dark blue suit, Kielty’s opening monologue included plenty of jokes about RTÉ’s current difficulties. Zingers about the new house band being renamed "Grant Thornton and the Flip Flops" and a well-aimed gag about Joe Duffy and the Wolfe Tones went down particularly well with the studio audience.
But there was also a moving moment when Kielty choked up as he spoke about what a privilege it was to be hosting a show he had grown up watching with his family in the village of Dundrum in Co Down.
He mentioned his relatives and family who were watching at home and in Wexford and Down and his wife Cat Deeley and their two sons, Milo and James, who were watching in London. "My two boys will be lucky enough to be able to say their dad has hosted this show," a visibly emotional Kielty said.
In another break from Late Late tradition, the guests for Friday’s show were not pre-announced and while there were no surprises, Kielty conducted pacy and funny interviews with Tommy Tiernan, Hector Ó hEochagáin and Laurita Blewitt, who began a new run of their podcast yesterday.
They were joined by fellow Down native, former President of Ireland and former RTÉ presenter Mary McAleese, who spoke about her campaign to reform the GAA and told Kielty that such was her passion at matches, that her daughter, a GAA coach, had banned her from the sidelines.
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Tiernan, who memorably interviewed Kielty on his own Saturday night chat show last year, revealed that Netflix had asked him to host a series on stand-up comics and their mental health. He said his fee for the show was $100,000 but after he spoke to the director on the phone, Netflix decided against hiring him.
The 2 Johnnies, who host their own show on RTÉ 2fm, and who now have one million subscribers to their podcast, discussed their upcoming RTÉ2 series, which is set in a pub.
Kielty's Late Late debut ended with a very strong interview with Irish football star James McClean, who spoke candidly about the sectarian abuse he and his family have suffered. McClean also movingly discussed family life with his autistic daughter.
There was a live link-up to the pub in Dundrum whose customers had been promised a free round of drinks every time Kielty mentioned his hometown and the host really seemed to enjoy teasing the thirsty punters as he consistently failed to use the magic word.
The new host had patted the giant black and white portrait of Gay Byrne that adorns the back lot of Studio 4 in RTÉ before he walked on to the set for the first time and there were other links to the past. Kielty was introduced on to his first ever Late Late by an archive recording of Gay welcoming him to his Late Late appearance in 1996.
And when Kielty got to utter those immortal lines "and there’s one for everyone in the audience" as he gave away a €100 voucher for a popular crystal glass brand, he did it in a pretty flawless Gaybo accent.
Watch the full show on the RTÉ Player.
The Late Late Show, Fridays, RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player, 9:35pm
