The Irish chat show is exhausted

Gay Byrne, the original presenter of The Late Late Show

When The Late Late Show premiered in July 1962 it revolutionised Irish television, becoming an important catalyst for social change in this country. It is the longest running chat show in the world. Its format has been little changed in its fifty year history. Its record-breaking run has become one of the reasons to keep it alive, perhaps the reason why it hasn’t changed. The evolution of the Irish chat show is being suffocated. Now, change is required.

Ireland’s main chat shows, The Late Late Show, The Saturday Night Show and Craig Doyle Live, struggle when compared with their British equivalents. Up until recently, Michael Parkinson hosted his highly successful brand of chat and light entertainment on BBC and subsequently, ITV. Many people have compared The Late Late Show to Parkinson’s format. However, there was always a significant difference. While Parkinson’s programme usually maintained a light touch, The Late Late Show continues to straddle a fine line between celebrity guests and the controversial social issues of the day. It is this mix that The Late Late Show struggles with the most. While its original incumbent, Gay Byrne, usually managed to deal with the demands of such a heady mix, neither of his successors have had those capabilities. Hosting The Late Late Show is an almost impossible task because it requires a wit and a sense of fun on the one hand and then it requires deep penetrative skills the next. An amusing interview with Dylan Moran could suddenly segue into a panel discussion on abortion. I used to think that its current malaise was entirely due to its host, but it is not. It is the format that is to blame. It is trying to be all things to everyone. It needs an overhaul.

In British television, there is a clear separation between the light, celebrity-driven chat show and the more political and social, issues-based show. Newsnight, Question Time and other similar formats deal with the latter while Graham Norton, Jonathan Ross, Alan Carr and others deal with the former. What do these three names have in common? They all host highly successful chat shows on BBC, ITV and Channel 4, respectively. They are also all professional comedians, with backgrounds in either TV comedy or stand–up. Their pedigree is rooted in the strongly honed skills of making people laugh. The main reason for the success of this British model is the fact that their employers have invested in a particular type of host- the comedian. Not only are their opening monologues witty and entertaining but they are also sharp and at ease with their guests. They know how to banter. They are skilled at dealing with potentially awkward or difficult guests having had to face hecklers on tour in their earlier careers. People watch these British chat shows as much to see and enjoy the hosts as to see their guests. The Irish equivalent of Alan Carr’s National Television Award winning show, Chatty Man, is Craig Doyle Live. They are both intimate, small studio shows. While Carr, a professional stand-up, is consistently and reliably funny, easygoing and at ease with the task at hand, Craig Doyle is in a constant battle with himself in front of the camera. He is not just ill at ease but he is transparently contrived in the way he approaches his subjects. He tees up his jokes about an hour before telling them and has little natural flair. The irony is that the format of his show is crying out for a host like Norton or Carr. At present it is suffocating and stifled. In last Tuesday’s show, Doyle was accompanied by his panellists, Mareid Farrell and Eric Lalor. They were desperately attempting to cast their witticisms on the week’s topics of interest to little avail. Their remarks sounded wooden and scripted. At one point, Lalor was even reading out his jokes from his notepad. The comedy was forced as opposed to arising naturally from the material itself. It is this lack of symmetry between the hosts, the guests and the material that jars. When Doyle tries to be cutting edge and approaches topics like sex and male grooming, he sounds stilted and it is embarrassing to watch. The material he is being asked to handle requires a professional comedian.

There is an interesting contrast to be drawn between Ryan Tubridy’s recent interview with Cuba Gooding Jr and Graham Norton’s interview with the same man during the same week on BBC One. Gooding Jr is a famously boisterous and colourful chat show guest. He requires a confident and sharp interviewer to deal with him. Tubridy was completely in over his head while Norton handled him deftly, helped by the format of his show which has all the guests on at once, thereby alleviating the pressure of a one-on-one interview. Equally embarrassing was his recent interview with Mia Farrow. His uncomfortable line of questioning led the actress to tweet afterwards that he was “not very gracious’.

While the viewing figures are still high for The Late Late Show, one wonders if its demographic is rapidly ageing. If Irish television wishes to rescue the ailing chat show it needs to take some audacious steps in the direction of the British model. Firstly, it needs to decide what it wants to be. The Late Late Show is currently trying to be everything to everybody. It needs to throw off the shackles of being “Ireland’s voice” and concentrate on a new identity. While the Saturday Night Show has a slightly clearer sense of its intentions, it suffers from the shortcomings of its format. The one-on-one interview style in light entertainment has become redundant. The second overhaul that these two shows need is a change of hosts. If RTE wants cracking and energetic programming it needs to hire professional comedians. We are aware of RTE’s financial woes. However, resources need to be relocated in order to make Irish exports such as Dara O’Briain an offer they cannot refuse. This country has such a wealth of Irish comic talent which RTE seems to be happy to send packing off to the UK where their television networks quickly pick them up. This attitude has been typical of RTE over the years, most notably when it shrugged off Graham Linehan’s and Arthur Matthew’s Father Ted. Channel Four came along and made a fortune out of it. RTE’s commissioning of shows like The Savage Eye is to be encouraged but these opportunities need to be afforded to their chat show formats too.

The time has come for Irish television to recognise three things- the success of the British chat show needs to be replicated here and we need to invest in our home-grown comedy talent rather than exporting it. Finally, and most importantly, we need to match the material to the host. This can only happen once the television network has a clear sense of the identity and intentions of its chat shows. 

© Simon Tierney 2012