'The Late Late Show' delivered an emotional and fitting tribute to Gay Byrne last night. A range of luminaries from Irish broadcasting and entertainment, as well as President Michael D Higgins, discussed what made Byrne such an icon of Irish life. There were songs, laughs and tears, everything the Late Late Show used to have.
The programme could be viewed through another lens, though: as a wake for an era of when 'The Late, Late Show' specifically and RTÉ in general shaped the conversation Irish people were having at dinner tables and offices. While it was touching to see the likes of Vincent Browne, D'Unbelieveables and Eamon Dunphy on the same TV set, there was a noticeable lack of people under 50 years involved in last night's programme. The reasons for this are obvious but are raises a question: if Gaybo was the conduit for so many needed conversations in this country, who in Ireland speaks for the generation raised on the internet, whose most memorable experience of Gay Byrne was the Boyzone dance? Who will pick up his torch?
That's why Tommy Tiernan's contribution to the 'entertainers' slot felt meaningful. Tiernan is one of the countless comedians whom the 'Late Late' helped launch. Tiernan spoke powerfully of the Irish tribe, and Byrne's role as the leader of that tribe. Tiernan's tribute to Byrne was the most compelling of all those on the night:
I think we really enjoy times where we come together as a tribe. 'The Late Late Show' and his radio show were daily and weekly moments where Ireland as a country...it was like an international rugby match every weekend. We focused on this thing. We miss that. I think we enjoyed Gay Byrne's familiarity. We want people that we like and we enjoy to be in those positions, and I think we respect love and people who aren't afraid to stand up to power.
What an idea: a TV show that felt like an Ireland match. It's that third element that seems notably lacking in so much Irish broadcasting these days.
Tiernan also talked movingly about 'eating pizza and drinking whiskey at 1 in the afternoon' with Byrne and Harry Crosbie in recent years.
(If you don't mind wading through advertisements, you can watch the whole slot here. )
Maybe it's fanciful to hope for a return to the days when a chat show could speak for a nation, but it was clear last night that Tiernan - however different their styles are - is possibly the only person on this island who could bring that back. With Tiernan taking over Ray D'Arcy on the Saturday nights in January, it seems that he's the closest thing we have to someone who can speak meaningfully about the whims and wants of the Irish soul and be the facilitator of those conversations that we haven't been having since Gay Byrne retired.
Twitter seemed to think so anyway.
Watching the #LateLateShow tonight reminds me of what the #LateLate used to be. Tommy Tiernan just said that we gathered round it every week as a tribe. And now he misses it. He’s right. It’s been gone a while. Sleep well Gaybo.
"It happened" pic.twitter.com/Vk4VDPrnK5— Eamon Lowe (@EamonLowe) November 5, 2019
Tommy Tiernan proving again that there's so much more depth, mystery and poetry about him than he's given credit for #LateLate
— Oliver Callan (@olivercallan) November 5, 2019
Tommy Tiernan has summed it up perfectly.. We are a tribe. Its one thing we do very well in this country. #LateLate
— Layla Moroney (@Laylamoroney35) November 5, 2019
#LateLate #LateLateShow It feels strange and yet familiar to just be watching RTE 1 and not touching the remote and knowing that half the country is doing the same. A tribe as Tommy Tiernan said
— Shelley ☘ (@kearyshel) November 5, 2019
