So sue me.
Myself and a colleague at work were discussing his interview (evisceration) of Annie Murphy after the Bishop Casey scandal. An arrogant and very pompous individual, but also an incredibly talented and influential broadcaster. Worth remembering and celebrating in a time where the national broadcaster has become increasingly neutered and stale.
No sex in Ireland til The Late Late Show, sher.
First time I'll have looked at this since it originally aired, and the beginning part is missing, but from this section it's not so much Gay who's doing the evisceration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU76r9gk8-I
I often found that people loved to hate him, to the point where they'd get thick about it. Like his interview with Stephen Fry, so many people decided to see him there as defending christianity like the worst kind of rigid, blinkered traditionalist, whereas seen objectively he was just providing the counter to Fry's (very mundane and worn-out) arguments for atheism. He certainly didn't seem fazed by the arguments, all of which I'm sure he'd encountered many times in his life, he just came back at them, as was his job.
He outlived Lemmy.
Arrogant, condescending and pompous to a fault, he nevertheless had a presence and charisma that coaxed the best possible interviews out of his guests on The Late Late Show, something that's been utterly absent from his successors. Love him or hate him (I wasn't a fan but respected his legacy), it's the end of an era for sure.
His greatest interview!
RIP, Aunty Gay.
(https://i.ibb.co/7v7BvGh/1.png)
Would be tough having your name being Gay. School would be hell.
There's a story, probably apocryphal, about him being offered a job hosting a show in the States back in the 70s or 80s. They told him the name Gay Byrne might cause him a bit of hassle and asked him what his middle name was...
Mary!
Don't call us, we'll call you...
:laugh:
I was never a big fan of Gay Byrne but at least he had a sense of humour and could laugh at himself. As mentioned above by Carnage - he had proper broadcasting skills and enough personality & worldview to coax a decent interview out of his guests. He had the balls to challenge some of the bigwigs both in the political and religious arena.
If the choice is between Byrne and the two fishbowls of hot piss that have succeeded him then it'd be Gaybo all day long.
The thing I remember most about Gaybo funnily enough isn't the Late Late, it's his radio show. My ma used to listen to it dropping us to school every morning as kids and as a teen it felt like every timke I got a bus to Dublin or Cork that or Gerry Ryan would be on.
Quote from: Eoin McLove on November 04, 2019, 10:09:28 PM
There's a story, probably apocryphal, about him being offered a job hosting a show in the States back in the 70s or 80s. They told him the name Gay Byrne might cause him a bit of hassle and asked him what his middle name was...
Mary!
Don't call us, we'll call you...
Still laughing at this since yesterday :laugh:
One of the funniest front page news headlines I ever saw was "Gaybo on drugs". Sadly it wasn't about him being hepped up on goofballs, but advocating the decriminalisation of cannabis. Roll it there Roisín!
Neither loved him nor hated him but as I am sure is the same with almost everyone else on here he was part of my youth with my mother and father watching the Late late every Friday.
As bad as it sounds these days it's an achievement for a big star like that to have made it through life without any dark secrets in their closet.
That we know of.
No way he went 50 plus years in the entertainment game without putting his lad somewhere he shouldnt!,no way!
Quote from: Carnage on November 05, 2019, 05:31:13 PM
That we know of.
Well no rumors anyway not that I am aware of.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9h2c5v8IZNA
So was he gay or what?
Quote from: Kunt 4 Life on November 05, 2019, 09:32:42 PM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9h2c5v8IZNA
Last lad to rap there is Gerry Simpson from Drogheda. Once recorded a demo with him. Nice guy, cheesy as fuck. That tune is all sorts of mental
:laugh: fuck sake.
:laugh: I can't believe that didn't kill rape for good in this country.
Quote from: Kunt 4 Life on November 04, 2019, 09:49:51 PM
Would be tough having your name being Gay. School would be hell.
Gabriel Mary Byrne.