It was a packed show on Friday night’s Late Late, with three actors, Ireland’s first NFL star and former RTÉ stalwart Claire Byrne all stopping by. Here are some of the main talking points.
Claire Byrne has told her former employer RTÉ to “bring it on” as she prepares to start a new show on rival station Newstalk.
The presenter, who revealed last summer that she was leaving her titular show on RTÉ Radio One to launch a new mid-morning programme on Newstalk, made the fighting remarks on Friday night’s Late Late Show.
As the first guest of the night, the conversation quickly turned to pay and listener numbers following some jibes from host Patrick Kielty about whether “the keycard still worked” at Donnybrook studios.
Asked about her decision to leave the state broadcaster, the mother of three said age played a major role.
“I turned 50 last summer, and it does make you think about where you’re going and what you’re doing,” she said. “Are you a bit too comfy in your seat?”
The Laois woman added that after three to five years in any role, she feels an urge to “move, move, move”.
“So Newstalk came along and said, ‘We have huge ambition. We want to grow the audience.’ Initially, I thought, ‘I’m grand where I am, thank you very much.’ Then I thought, why am I not going to meet this challenge? They think I can do it, why don’t I think I have the appetite for it? So I said, ‘Give it a go. Let’s do it.’”
Asked whether the offer was one she “couldn’t refuse”, Byrne responded: “I suppose it was, but if I had stayed, I would have been very well paid, and I think people know that. I’ve been very honest about what I was earning at RTÉ.”
Byrne voluntarily disclosed her salary to listeners during her Radio One show during the RTÉ payment scandal in the summer of 2013. At the time, she was one of the state broadcasters top paid presenters on a salary of €280,000.
Pushed by Kielty on whether she would have had to take a pay cut if she had retained her position in RTÉ, she confirmed she would have.
“Let’s not make any bones about it, that certainly was a factor. But I wasn’t going to starve if I stayed here. I was very happy here.
“However, did I want to try and stretch my chops a bit? Did I want to try and push on and do something different? Yes, I always do. And so ultimately, that was the decision I made, and I’m excited to get started.”
Claire Byrne didn’t hold back in interview with Patrick Kielty on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show
Byrne will take over from veteran broadcaster — and former colleague — Pat Kenny on February 3.
“Pat is an absolute icon, a legend,” she said. “We presented together on Prime Time. Not many people remember that — myself, Miriam [O’Callaghan] and Pat.
“It is intimidating taking over his slot, but it will be a whole new show and I’m really excited to get going.”
When asked whether she thought her former employers were “worried” ahead of her Newstalk gig, given a big shuffle of the Radio One schedule following her departure, Byrne laughed and said, “Because of me? Oh, I don’t know… but I am up for the fight.”
“The right answer is to say the pie is big enough for all of us,” she said. “But you know what? I’m going to Newstalk to grow the audience — so bring it on.”
“They put David there and Oliver [Callan], so I have got to beat the two of them. I love it.”
Byrne also shared that she “nearly ran over” her new rival David McCullough during the week.
“I was trying to reverse into a car parking space. I was talking to somebody from the Late Late Show, hands-free!, and I did a swear word, and I said ‘I almost killed David McCullough’. There’s your story…”
Charlene McKenna discussed returning to the stage in The Crucible at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre in February.
The Peaky Blinders actress will star opposite her husband Adam Rothenberg in Arthur Miller’s play, which explores mass hysteria and the Salem witch trials of 1962.
“I’ve gone very method,” she quipped. “The guy playing John Proctor, my husband is my husband.”
Kielty enquired as to how it was “working” for the pair.
“There’s been some words, but actually, mostly, I really love it. We’re walking to work in the morning, that’s pretty romantic. I feel very blessed. I really do. I feel very blessed to be working with him. I think he’s a brilliant actor, so that’s an honor in itself.”
The actress said her American husband has also been settling into their new life at home in Monaghan.
“He speaks the language now. He understands everything. He’s sort of got his head around the constant Irish thing of just popping in, people just land, how long are they staying? You never know. Is it a week? Three minutes? No one knows.”
She also commented on the “talent” of Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, who are in the news with Hamnet’s Oscar buzz.
“It’s so great. I’ve said it before, but a rising tide lifts all boats. And I just think it’s great to see the talent that I think we’ve always had on such an international platform.”
Amybeth McNulty, the Donegal actress who plays Vickie in Stranger Things, also made a trip from the Upside Down to Donnybrook on Friday night.
The 24-year-old joined the cast in season four, where she entered as Robyn’s (Maya Hawke) love interest. The bisexual actress said queer representation on screen is “everything” to her.
“I grew up as a queer kid in Donegal, and I came out online when I was 16/17. We had people in my hometown going up to my parents going, ‘I’m so sorry, so sorry to hear about your daughter,’ right?
“So it gives me more of an invigoration when I do roles like this, and when I’m able to do things like this on such a big platform.
It’s wanting to do it justice and do it right for kids like me growing up.
“I think it’s important. And I think especially when the queer storyline is a part of their chapter whilst they’re dealing with monsters, and you’re in the 80s and there’s all these other things going on, it doesn’t have to be about that. It’s just part of it, and I think that’s ideal.”