Kielty and Late, Late tackle the generation game

After the summer they had, RTÉ sure needed the Late Late Show to change the conversation. The new host, Patrick Kielty, certainly provides them with the fresh face they wanted.

The first show of his tenure went pretty well. But the questions as to who will watch the show and what impact it can make in the Ireland of 2023 are still with the jury.

With that said, the analysis can be too heavy for what is a TV programme. There has been so much said and written about the contribution and legacy of the Late Late that it simply creates weight for its back. The basic job of the show is to entertain. And then the odd time it provides a platform for something that needs saying and deserves hearing.

Kielty got off to a good start on both fronts. He is first and foremost a comedian. His jokes at the start – at RTÉ’s expense – were probably just what RTÉ needed. For if people are laughing at you, they are less likely to be angry with you. Whether it makes them more likely to pay the TV licence fee is of course the €160 question.

The show as a spectacle was good, even if some of it was a bit slow. The highlights were therefore easy enough to spot. Mary McAleese was superb. She effortlessly moved from craic to sport to serious: precisely what any Late Late Show needs to be a success. James McClean was interesting, not least because he is a person you usually hear more about than hear from.

Kielty himself, after an understandably nervous and hesitant start with his guests, gently let the handbrake off, especially when he interacted with the audience. The more he does that, the better he will be. He also let people talk, which is a good contrast to interview styles these days.

You get the sense that he’ll warm into it. You also get the sense that people will want him to do that. He comes across as a sound bloke, who has experienced some tough stuff, and so people will root for him. When Mary McAleese mentioned his father – who was murdered during the Troubles – it was a touching moment and you could see he was touched by it. He is clearly delighted to be presenting the show and considers it an honour. People like that. Despite living in London, it is obvious he has not lost his ear and his feel for Ireland.

But there have been more than enough reviews of the first show. The question is what will the show under Kielty become, and who will it be for, who will watch it?

Once upon a time the Late Late Show could say it was for everyone. That was an easy answer back in 1962 when there was one TV channel. But in 2023 Ireland that is no answer. Having something for everyone in the actual audience is a grand gimmick, but targeting everyone as a potential viewer is a hard thing to make a success in a modern TV show.

The programme on Friday night felt to me like it was targeted at my generation and younger. The problem there is that my generation – and certainly those younger – is much less likely to watch scheduled TV. Last week was the first time I watched the Late Late from start to finish for a very long time.

That changing reality was reflected in the first two sets of guests last Friday night being people who were on to talk about their podcast. Now the people who listen to their podcasts would have been interested to hear them, but I don’t think too many of them watch TV on a Friday night.

The core audience for the Late Late Show, just as for printed newspapers, is older people. That was why Ryan Tubridy had his best supporters during the RTÉ crisis from among that cohort of the population. They were and probably still are his tribe.

But the Late Late Show – as it showed on Friday night – feels it has to try and connect to the widest possible range of people who watch TV, partly because of its legacy as some sort of national sounding off shop but also because RTÉ badly needs it to bring it really big viewership figures.

Trying to connect to such a wide range of viewers will be no easy task. Midwest Radio provides a really good example that explains the challenge. The Breakfast Show with David Cawley is for my generation and younger. Turn it on and you know that instantly. The Mid-Morning Show with Paul and Gerry is for those older than my generation. Turn it on and you know that instantly. Now, imagine combining those two shows into one and at the same time, retain all the listeners. That is what the Late Late is trying to do. That was why on Friday night Mary McAleese was asked to join in with the podcasters. It was a good way to span the generations in that show and could well have kept people in those various age spans from switching off last Friday. It is a hard thing to do every week. Patrick Kielty will also need some big name interviewees to try and manage it.

They were certainly trying to widen its appeal in other ways last Friday night. The show had a very northern and much more country feel to it, which for a station with South Dublin too often on its mind, is no bad thing. There was a lot of talk of GAA, a lot of talk of drink, and even when the rugby came up, there was a raucous country-style feel to the competition around it. That is certainly where the audience is. And last Friday night proved they have the right presenter for it. Patrick Kielty will present the Country and Western music edition of the show in boots and denim, and he will be out social dancing with the best of them. You just know he would make a great job of interviewing The Saw Doctors.

Success might boil down to whether the Late Late Show can be the place where we have national conversations anymore. That is a big challenge for a TV show in the Ireland of 2023. For in the world of social media and instant news, what stories or revelations will it break? In an Ireland which is changing at breakneck and bewildering speed, what attitudes will it shape? In a world where everyone is their own publisher, what new faces and talents will it bring to our attention? And how will the show negotiate and navigate discussions about those topics in Irish life where so many people feel that they can no longer speak freely, because so many other people feel they should not be allowed to speak freely?

That’s a significant agenda for any television programme, even for one with as broad a back as the Late Late Show. If it can do even a good portion of all that, it’ll be a fair achievement. Good luck to Patrick Kielty in his task. After his good start last Friday, most people will wish him a fair wind.