The time has come for The Late Late Show to return for the autumn season. Of course, we have a new host.
Yes, Patrick Kielty is ready to host the show for the first time tonight!
VIP Magazine caught up with the Down man before he takes to the stage tonight. Thankfully he’s keeping his nerves under check.
In fact, the excitement has taken over completely.
“The anticipation and all the people talking and all that’s gone in the past, now that we’re a couple of days out, we can see the pitch, it’s time to get the boots on, it’s time to make the show,” he tells us.
“One thing I’ve promised myself, right the way through this, but this week in particular, if you’re not here to enjoy every little bit of it then what’s the point in doing the job? Will there be a few butterflies? Definitely. But ultimately you have to take it all in and suck every last bit out of it.”
In fact, he has teased what we can expect from the new series…without giving too much away!
“We are excited about having as many homegrown names on the show as big international stars. Watch this space, you’ll be pleasantly surprised,” he hints.
Oh, we’re sure we’ll be delighted! Especially as he reveals that he wants the tone of the show to be “loose”.
“I think the tone is going to be a bit loose. As someone who has done stand-up and has done live TV, there’s no point in making it polished. If things go wrong, then things go wrong,” he states.
Of course, Patrick has a very famous wife in the form of Cat Deeley. While he previously confirmed that she wouldn’t be appearing on the show as a guest, it looks like we won’t see her in the audience for the first show.
“Cat will be at home with the kids,” he admits, referring to their London home.
“We’re still only a couple of weeks into the school routine, so to pull the boys out of school in time to get them over here in time for the show, I’m not sure we’re going to do that. But I will say there’ll be a show sometime before Christmas where I have to dress up slightly differently that the requests may come in for a trip.”
With Patrick flying back and forth from the UK to Ireland every week, will this be a big shakeup for family life?
“I think the thing with our lives is that we’ve always had moving parts. Neither of us has had a nine-to-five job. There’s always been stuff where Cat has gone and done stuff, then I’ve gone and done stuff,” he simply explains.
“It feels weirdly that this show is the most routine that we’re going to have as a family. It’s nice that I still get to do a couple of school runs at the start of the week. Coming from Co. Down and still having a house there, I get to see the other part of the family here. It’s not so much of an upheaval as you would think.”
We’re sure that he has had plenty of congratulatory and good luck messages in recent weeks, but one message stood out to him. He received some well-wishes from his predecessor.
“I got a message from Ryan Tubridy wishing me good luck!” he tells us, but as for the contents of the message that is between Patrick and Ryan.
The Late Late Show airs on Friday 15th September, 9:35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
