Why Ryan Tubridy wanted out of the Late Late Show: ‘I don’t want to play that game any more’

Ryan Tubridy has said he decided to quit The Late Late Show as he “wanted to turn that [limelight] down” after years at the forefront of Irish television. Citing negative press and the pressures of being such a high-profile public figure, he said it will soon be someone else’s turn to be “kicked around”.

The Late Late host, who is the highest-earning presenter at RTÉ, announced in March he would quit the show after 14 years. His final show will be on May 26th.

Speaking in the new issue of the RTÉ Guide, Tubridy said: “My life was lived in the glare of the limelight for 20 years, so yes that was one of the reasons. I wanted to turn that light down. I just think I had my fill of being public property at that level.

“I’ve always accepted that fame was part and parcel of the job, but you hit an age and think: ‘That was lovely, but I don’t want to play that game any more.’ Last summer, the seeds were sown in my head, but it got short circuited in the last few months.”

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On his treatment by the media over the years, Tubridy said: “I tend not to read the mean stuff and I listen to the good people I meet on the street and those who watch the show week in and week out because they are more important to me. Now, I know the media is just doing a job, and they have done a job on me for long enough.”

Tubridy paraphrased former US president Richard Nixon when he spoke to press about their treatment of him in 1962: “To paraphrase an awful creature, ‘They won’t have Richard Nixon to kick around any more, and it will be someone else’s turn.’”

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He said it would be a “difficult” and “strange” transition upon leaving the show, and he hopes he won’t miss the role.

“I’ve spoken to athletes who have hung up their jerseys and I’m thinking that’s me now in terms of the psychological and emotional transition from being Mr Friday Night to ‘Who is that guy?’ That will be interesting.

“I’m hoping that my ego has been sated in terms of the attention you get from the show. That’s a big thing, to be frank with you. The buzz you get from an audience and being known and all that.

“I hope I don’t miss that because at this age, that feels both pleasant as well as terribly superficial. But I think it is time to concentrate on the love of people closer to me than the attention of those I don’t know.”

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Tubridy praised his daughters for making sacrifices since he took over the show and said his mother is possibly relieved at his decision to step down.

“My mother said, after I got the job, that every show for her was like watching a boxer going to a ring, because afterwards she’d buy the newspaper and go, ‘What is this?’ I’d say to her, ‘Don’t be buying that’ and that ‘I’ll know when it was time to hang up the gloves.’ And here we are.”

As soon as the announcement came regarding Tubridy’s imminent departure, speculation quickly began about who would replace him. After previous favourites among bookies ruled themselves out, including Claire Byrne, Miriam O’Callaghan and Sarah McInerney, TV presenter Patrick Kielty has now emerged as the most likely to take over the job.

Kielty recently said the programme is “one of the greatest TV shows on the planet” and that “whoever gets that gig will be really, really lucky”.

Kielty’s wife Cat Deeley, who is also a presenter, said Tubridy presents the show “beautifully, effortlessly beautifully, like a swan, he glides on the top of the surface, paddling underneath. So they are very big shoes to fill.”