5 Greatest Late Late Show Guests Of All Time
ONCE heralded in cultural circles for always having its finger on the pulse of what was going on in Ireland, the Late Late Show has found itself on the receiving end of claims that it just hasn’t been the same since the days of Ireland’s patron saint of the good old times, Gay Byrne.
Those individuals may have ended up with egg on their face last Friday when Nathan Carter made his 19th appearance in less than 12 months, which got WWN thinking about those guests that really were the cream of the crop.
We’ve poured over the archives to find what we believe to be the 5 greatest Late Late Show guests to ever grace RTÉ studios.
5) Some model who was there to promote something
While making the difficult transition from part-time model and student in UCD to adult and almost full-time model, Vicky O’Sullivan Twee got the nation talking back in 2012.
There to promote her new book about her difficult journey of self discovery entitled ‘This Is A Book Of My Favourite Things’, the studio audience took Twee into their hearts and marveled at anecdote after anecdote about how she thought flowers, dresses, cooking and being nice were her favourite passions, while also not allowing society tell her she couldn’t also do business stuff as well.
The foodie, model, advocate, chef, fitness guru and beauty expert saw her book go on to sell 1 million copies after its first week on the shelves. The power of the LLS.
4) Nelson Mandela
There to talk about the monumental work that went into transforming South Africa, and shortly after the iconic 1999 Rugby World Cup, Gay Byrne cuts short the interview after Nelson Mandela refused to say anything complimentary about Irish dancing, Glenroe or Tayto. Great for all the wrong reasons, but it was one of Gaybo’s finest moments, showing Ireland no guest was too big that he couldn’t be taken down a peg or two if needed.
3) The lad who was wearing his Kerry jersey at the WWE wrestling
An Irishman. At a large scale televised event abroad. Wearing a GAA jersey. 4 million of us tuned in to hear his story back in 2009. Gripping television.
2) Siobhan Munratty
The watershed moment in Irish televisual history. The Ireland of September 28th 1982 had never seen an elderly and hapless spinster on television, that was, until they were introduced to Siobhan.
Gaybo, mindful of how alien the concept was too much of Ireland, handled the interview with patience and humanity which were the hallmarks of his interviewing style. Just how in God’s name was Siobhan, Ireland’s oldest spinster, still single and not settled down at the age of 22? Over the course of 79 engrossing minutes we found out. Gaybo asked the questions. He asked for himself, of course, out of curiosity, but more importantly, he asked for us, for Ireland.
1) Neil Armstrong
Live via satellite from his Apollo 11 spacecraft, RTÉ and the Late Late beat out stiff competition to interview Armstrong as the astronaut took his first steps on the moon.
It may be easy to laugh now, looking back at the innocent questions Gaybo posed; “is it very moony, Neil?”
The interview wasn’t without its hiccups as the competition winner, who won a year’s supply of Kerrygold butter, was drawn.
RTÉ denied claims of a fix, but to this day, it is hard to believe the coincidence that Armstrong just happened to have his name drawn out of the hat.