In a new comedy panel series starting this week, host Kevin McGahern will be putting dubious moments from the history of his guests under scrutiny. Michael Doherty chats to him to find out more.
Everybody has moments in their past that they would prefer to erase from the memory bank: moments that made them cringe, wince and wish that life came with its own 'delete history' option.
In Clear History, a new comedy panel show featuring teams captained by Joanne McNally and Colin Murphy, host Kevin McGahern will be excavating some comically cringy moments from his guests’ past and putting them on public display.
And it's not just the guests who will find themselves under the microscope. Clear History will also revisit iconic episodes from the nation’s history, notably some unforgettable and regrettable moments that could do with being covered by a discrete veil.
So what can we expect from this new show? Kevin McGahern has the answers.
Michael Doherty: According to the advance blurb, the aim of the show is ‘’to rewrite the past in the name of comedy’’? What makes you confident that you can attain such a high bar?
Kevin McGahern: Well, as everyone knows, humiliating moments of embarrassment are brilliant comedy fodder and we plan to milk our guests for as much as they can provide. Will this bring them some semblance of closure? Who cares? They've all signed their release forms and they can't back out of it now.
Which of your team captains do you suspect of having the most skeletons in their closet?
That's a tricky one. Joanne has a lot of embarrassing stories. Like, way too many for one person. I'm starting to suspect she was cursed somehow. But Colin, being a bit older, has decades of embarrassment spanning several continents so it's very hard to know. But who am I kidding? It's definitely Joanne.
In addition to the teams and the captains, I believe you will also be offering members of the public an opportunity to cleanse their palates?
Yes. We asked viewers to send us in their own tales of cringe in the hope that we would discuss them and bring them some form of closure and I have to say, the public did not disappoint. Imagine watching a live stream from a confession box where the parishioners have absolutely no shame whatsoever.
In terms of the nation’s colourful past, what are some of the historical events we would probably do well to erase?
Well, apart from all the obvious horrible historical events that you couldn't possibly bring up in a comedy panel show, we have so many to choose from. How about the time Bertie Ahern did an ad in a cupboard, or the time the government accidentally legalised yokes for a day, or the time Eamon De Valera sent a sympathy card to Germany after Hitler died. It's very hard to choose just one.
Finally (and you know we’re going to ask), which particular faux pas from your own past would you be perfectly happy to see expunged from history?
I would probably erase the time I was 13 and I decided to glue hair to my underarms before a basketball match so I'd look older. As this is a family magazine, I'm not going to say where I sourced the hair, but I used a lot of it. I looked like I had both Luke Kelly and Leo Sayer in a head lock. Anyway, about 20 minutes into the game I start to sweat, and the glue becomes unstuck leaving tumbleweeds of my body hair rolling around the court. We also lost the match. That's a moment I wouldn't mind clearing from my history.
Tune into Clear History on RTÉ2 on Thursday at 9:30pm
