Last weekend’s Late Late Show Valentine’s Special has received mixed reviews, including a lot of negative backlash. Many viewers were unhappy with the show, and it has come under harsh criticism.
Host Ryan Tubridy defended the special on his radio show earlier this week, saying that it only happens once a year and a lot of viewers enjoyed the production.
“Yes of course a number of people complained but actually bigger numbers watched it and seemed to enjoy it and the story that seems to have emerged from that programme is that, well to me, it’s a tale of two Irelands.
“The bottom line is we do 37 Late Late Show‘s in a season, one we go bananas and that was Friday night and it was great fun. In another we play with toys and we act like children and that goes down very well indeed,” he said.
Now comedian Al Porter has also spoken out in defence of last Friday’s show. In his Irish Daily Star column the 23-year-old said that a huge amount of viewers saw the fun side of the show, and that it wasn’t intended to offend.
“With the show watched by more than 500,000 people, if I were Tubs I wouldn’t sweat a couple hundred complaints.
“The fact is, nothing on that show was vulgar. Crystal Swing and Dickie Rock were gloriously kitsch, the audience had a pint or two in them like most of this country on a Friday night.
“The first daters were horny – like any human ever – and my jokes about growing up gay were silly and self-deprecating and clearly tongue-in-cheek. This isn’t the only time older viewers have taken themselves and their tastes seriously,” he said.
