Television Career
Tubridy hosted the EsatBT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition at the Royal Dublin Society, in 2003 and 2004. Also in 2003 and 2004, he presented the Rose of Tralee competition. In 2003 and 2004 he presented a game show called All Kinds of Everything. He presented the RTÉ People in Need Telethon in 2004 and 2007.
In October 2004, Tubridy Tonight began, his own live Saturday night chat show seen as a successor to Kenny Live (formerly Saturday Night Live). Tubridy's colleague Pat Kenny (former presenter of Kenny Live and then host of The Late Late Show) queried Tubridy's fast-paced lifestyle and recommended he slow down. Tubridy initially announced his intention to take over the hosting of The Late Late Show from Pat Kenny but he later stated that he would remain as host of Tubridy Tonight, describing it as his "Jim'll Fix It job" and "little fun-size legacy".
It was announced on 11 May 2009 that Tubridy would indeed succeed Pat Kenny as host of The Late Late Show. He vowed to bring back Gay Byrne's "one for everybody in the audience" catchphrase, described by Will Hanafin in the Irish Independent as an attempt to "dig up more old relics than archaeologists would on an excavation", in reference to Tubridy's passion for history. Tubridy said he was "very taken aback" to learn he had been selected, describing it as "a humbling honour to be asked to present such an iconic programme". He described Tubridy Tonight as "quite the odyssey".
Tubridy's first guest as host of The Late Late Show was then Taoiseach Brian Cowen, with the episode attracting over 1.6 million viewers. His role as host allowed him to fulfill a childhood ambition — presenting The Late Late Toy Show — "I know this is the one that I always wanted. I love the fact that children are uncontaminated by the reality of adulthood". His time as host has also led to clash with his guests, including Gordon Ramsay ("a bit, em, British for my liking"), Louis Walsh (giving Jedward a "hard time" on the aforementioned edition of The Late Late Toy Show), Sinéad O'Connor (the "crazy performing monkey" incident), and Mia Farrow ("What's the matter with you anyway? Jesus!"). The original host of The Late Late Show, Gay Byrne, was one of Tubridy's guests on 18 December 2009 edition of the programme. In May 2011, a former director of television at RTÉ said of the The Late Late Show, “If I was back in charge of RTÉ, you wouldn’t see this utter shite on Friday night”.
Also in 2009, Tubridy took part in the second series of Who Do You Think You Are? whereupon his relationship to Edward III was unearthed.
In March 2012, Tubridy made his American television debut during which he discussed his book JFK in Ireland. His debut was received positively by industry professionals and the millions of Americans who tuned in.
Read more about this topic: Ryan Tubridy
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