Dundrum man hopes to bring unique Patrick Kielty style to Late Late Show

Dundrum man hopes to bring unique Patrick Kielty style to Late Late Show

13 September 2023

DUNDRUM’S Patrick Kielty makes his debut as the new host of RTE’s flagship Late Late Show on Friday night.

The comedian turned presenter takes over the hot seat previously made distinguishably comfortable by Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny and Ryan Tubridy.

A huge audience is expected to tune in to see Kielty host his first show which is being co-directed by Killyleagh man Stephen Stewart.

Stewart was the director of the Patrick Kielty Almost Live chat show which aired on BBC Northern Ireland between 1999 and 2003 and he also produces the popular UTV series Keepers of the Lough, which is narrated by Kielty.

Kielty has appeared in a number of promotional videos and given a number of interviews and admits her has not spoken to Tubridy ahead of his Late Late debut and is ‘trusting his gut’ to make the iconic show his own.

He has also revealed there has been no handover between the stars, as he detailed his own plans distinguishably and the pressure to put his own twist on the historic role.

“I haven’t spoken to Ryan [Tubridy] or Pat [Kenny]. I think there comes a point where you have to trust your gut and work out what you want that show to be... And weirdly I haven’t joined the club yet,” he said in a recent interview.

“I kind of want to do the show first, and have a go at it, and then you can talk to people who have done it before. But until I host it, I kind of want to focus on what I can bring to it.”

As a stand-up comedian, Kielty knows a thing or two about dealing with nerves and pressure, and said his stage background is the best preparation he could have had for his new high profile gig.

“What’s interesting is that pressure comes from something that is exciting,” he said.

The new era at the Late Late Show follows a summer of scandals with Tubridy and RTE over payments which rocked the state broadcaster to its core, but the Dundrum man is not letting any of that get to him.

As the countdown to Friday night approaches, Kielty insists the only thing he needs to be worried about is doing a good show.

“What I can change and can’t change, all of that [RTE scandal] thankfully is not my business.

“I can’t change it. I can change what happens on the show.

“If someone decides they want to come on the show and sit in the chair and talk about something that is all going on, then suddenly that is my business, but I think you have to kind of focus on your own stuff.”

Kielty has been preparing all summer and there will be huge smiles on the faces of his family members and many friends in Dundrum when he walks out to rapturous applause from the studio audience.

And the man in the spotlight has revealed he has had congratulations phone calls from top TV executives in the UK and US since he was announced to take on the iconic show.

The topic of how much the show will change with Kielty at the helm has been debated up and down the country with the man himself simply saying: “I’m kind of hoping it is going to be Patrick Kielty style… and of course there’s going to be music.”

He added: “I think in a talk show the biggest change is going to be in your personality and who you are and how you interact with people on screen.

“But also I think that comes with how you interact with people in life, and I think that one of the things when you have comedic sensibilities and all of that is in your background, you want the show to be fun and you want to have those moments where we are having the craic.

“So for me it is about trying to bring a little bit of me on to the stuff that has maybe been there before, and maybe some of the stuff you haven’t seen, that people on a Friday kind of want to have.”