Many tuning into The Late Late Toy Show tonight will undoubtedly be intrigued to see how Patrick Kielty fares in his first attempt at hosting Ireland’s favourite television event of the year. However, for the Co Down comedian, the focus shouldn’t be on him – the RTÉ event is about the children.
“This isn’t my show, this is the kids’ show, and this show belongs to everybody, Irish home and abroad,” Kielty said, after announcing Elf, the classic 2003 Christmas film starring Will Ferrell, as this year’s Toy Show theme.
“For me, it’s a massive, massive honour, to be walking out on Friday night and to be part of this party.”
Comparison to his predecessors is inevitable – not least Ryan Tubridy, who was recently announced as the new host of a weekday slot on Virgin Radio in the UK – but he’s not interested in trying to emulate anyone, Kielty said. “You can only be yourself.”
Markets in Vienna or Christmas at The Shelbourne? 10 holiday escapes over the festive season
Ciara Mageean: ‘I just felt numb. It wasn’t even sadness, it was just emptiness’
Stealth sackings: why do employers fire staff for minor misdemeanours?
Carl and Gerty Cori: a Nobel Prizewinning husband and wife team
Kielty said of Tubridy’s Virgin move: “I was delighted when I heard Ryan got that gig. I think he is going to do a great job.” Asked whether Tubridy had been in touch ahead of tonight’s show, Kielty replied: “I haven’t heard from him… I haven’t heard from my mother. I haven’t heard from my wife. It’s pretty all-consuming, this job at the minute.”
Kielty promised a familiar mix costume changes, musical numbers and “surprises” for Friday evening’s show. The studio set draws inspiration from New York’s Central Park, as well as other locations from Elf, such as the Toy Shop and Candy Cane Forest.
Eimear McDermott (11), from Drogheda, is a fan of Kielty’s work. “My parent’s told me that he’s a comedian. I was so happy that I get to perform with a comedian, cause I knew that I’d be really funny,” she said.
‘... the important thing for me is to have as much fun as I can and to let the kids have as much fun as they can, and hopefully that will be spread via the camera out into the rest of the world’
— Patrick Kielty
Eimear will be singing on Friday evening – after years of auditioning for the Toy Show, she cried “happy tears” on learning she’d finally been accepted.
Paddy O’Sullivan and James Carville (both 12), from the neighbouring Co Meath villages of Carlanstown and Moynalty respectively, will also be providing musical entertainment. “We both play guitar,” Paddy said. “We’ve been practising every day for it.”
Acknowledging “there might be a tiny bit of nerves before” the show starts, Kielty said: “I think it’s Irish thanksgiving in a lot of ways, if you look at American families getting together at the end of November. Is it bigger than Christmas in America? Some would say it is.
“I think for us wherever you are the world you want to connect with people around this event, and the important thing for me is to have as much fun as I can and to let the kids have as much fun as they can, and hopefully that will be spread via the camera out into the rest of the world.”
Kielty said his wife, TV presenter Cat Deeley, and their two children, James and Milo, would be watching the show at home. “The good news about having a five- and a seven-year-old is that they’ll be your biggest supporters, and also your fiercest critics. So let’s see what they’re writing on Saturday morning.”
