Gay Byrne, TV star who 'challenged Irish society', di aged 85 | Ireland | The Guardian

Contents:

• GAY BYRNE WAS ‘DOG HIS JOB’ DURG NTROVERSIAL LATE LATE SHOW TERVIEW, EX BISHOP CASEY FLAME ANNIE MURPHY SAYS
• GAY BYRNE: HIS TOP 10 MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS ON AIR
• GAY BYRNE OBUARY: THE LEADG IRISH BROADSTER OF HIS ERA
• WHO WAS GAY BYRNE? LATE LATE SHOW HOST AND RTE NEWS BROADSTER
• GAY BYRNE
• BEHD THE SCEN OF GAY BYRNE’S LATE LATE SHOW
• THE WOMEN BEHD GAY BYRNE’S SUCCS: WHO THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY DID
• IRISH BROADSTG LEGEND GAY BYRNE DI AGED 85
• GAY BYRNE, TV STAR WHO 'CHALLENGED IRISH SOCIETY', DI AGED 85
• GAY BYRNE: THE GREATT SHOWMAN
• IN PICS: GAY BYRNE’S FAL LATE LATE SHOW AFTER 37 YEARS AS HOST
• DON MCLEAN RELLS MEETG WH GAY BYRNE ON LATE LATE SHOW AND ODD OBSERVATN ABOUT RTE HOST“HE REMD ME OF ONE OF THE IRISH CHRISTIAN BROTHERS I HAD AT SCHOOL.”IRISHMIRRORBOOKMARKSHARESHOWBIZBYKATIE GALLAGHER08:03, 7 OCT 2022BOOKMARK (IMAGE: COL KEEGAN)WANT ALL THE LATT SHOWBIZ NEWS DIRECT TO YOUR BOX? SHARE YOUR EMAIL FOR NEWS, GOSSIP AND MOREMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 WANT ALL THE LATT SHOWBIZ NEWS DIRECT TO YOUR BOX? SHARE YOUR EMAIL FOR NEWS, GOSSIP AND MOREINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

GAY BYRNE WAS ‘DOG HIS JOB’ DURG NTROVERSIAL LATE LATE SHOW TERVIEW, EX BISHOP CASEY FLAME ANNIE MURPHY SAYS

Followg his ath aged 85, we have round up some of Gay Byrne's ft moments on The Late Late Show om over the years.

The segment opens hilarly as a very exced lookg Gaybo says the "macho men have e to town" while flanked by a bare-chted Shane Lynch and Keh Duffy cked out dungare and brac. After scribg a Take That ncert The Pot, Gay bluntly says "the lads have cid to sh on that particular market", and go on to grill them about their mil prows.

GAY BYRNE: HIS TOP 10 MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS ON AIR

After they each list out which stment they n play, Gay is forthright once more, sayg: "I was told you don't play any stments at all, none of you. However, when an dience member says they're "more like the Chippendal", Gay is more fivg, sayg: "Listen, what do you expect, they're only startg.". Gaybo slds RD Lag for beg "unr the weather" and handl hecklers very well (1985).

Famed Sttish psychiatrist and wrer RD Lag appeared on The Late Late Show 1985 and 's safe to say Gay wasn't too imprsed. Lag, who was wily regard as one of the foremost thkers of his time on the topic of mental illns, was acced by Gay of beg "slow" and appearg "unr the weather" durg the terview.

GAY BYRNE OBUARY: THE LEADG IRISH BROADSTER OF HIS ERA

When Gay began to say was an "unwrten le for anybody who is gog to appear on televisn" not to have a drk, the dience beme outraged. In scen that are hard to image today's TV landspe, all hell breaks loose, but Gay tak all his stri.

Bumblg waer Manuel om the much-loved BBC s Fawlty Towers, played by the brilliant actor Andrew Sachs, ma a very memorable appearance on The Late Late Show, and Gay proved he had some actg chops too.

"Can I have a glass of water?" Gay asks, before Manuel stris out onto the stage wh a jug on a tray. He ph an outraged lookg Gay out of the way to bow ont of the clappg dience. "You're disptg the show!" Gay yells at him, the perfect picture of dignatn.

WHO WAS GAY BYRNE? LATE LATE SHOW HOST AND RTE NEWS BROADSTER

Gay then breaks character when appears Manuel has an extra trick up his sleeve, sayg wh a cheeky se: "Watch yourself, jt watch yourself, this is not what we agreed to!".

In 1979, after 'only' 500 episos of The Late Late, the tabl - or rather chairs - were turned on Gay. Thkg he was about to greet Amerin star Dana Andrews, Gay was stead prented wh This Is Your Life host Eamonn Andrews, who ngratulated Gay on reachg that tone, and wasted no time lettg his old iend know that he'd been set up by the rt of the Late Late team! "Will you s down the other chair and let me talk to you about you?" asked Eamonn as Gay tried to make sense of all.

Composure somewhat returned, Gay reflected on his 17 screen years the hom of Ireland. Turns out Gay had been to see the "fabulo performer" the Olympia the prev year and told the Late Late dience: "I'd heard about the guy that was performg there that night but I'd never seen him person.

GAY BYRNE

When the mic stopped, Gay sidled up to the grand piano to fd out more about one of his most enigmatic guts.

"You got a nice ltle set up here, don't ya Gay?" said Tom between drags.

Love me to town vehicular fashn on Gay's fal Late Late on May 21, 1999 when U2's Bono and Larry Mullen, Jnr ro to Stud One on a Harley-Davidson - and gave Gay one of the shocks of his 37 years hostg the show. The wdow went down and you stuck your head out and you said, 'Exce me, what sort of a bike is that?' I turned around and I saw you and I said, 'It's a motorbike, Gay!' And you said, 'I love those bik'. The man of the moment and his guts then went over some ancient U2 history, cludg Bono makg a ham of gog out to Gay's hoe bid to get U2 on the Late Late - he didn't even knock on the door!

BEHD THE SCEN OF GAY BYRNE’S LATE LATE SHOW

"If I'd known you were gog to give me a Harley-Davidson I would've e to the door!" said Gay.

THE WOMEN BEHD GAY BYRNE’S SUCCS: WHO THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY DID

Profsnal hell-raisers Zig & Zag were beg terviewed by Gay on The Late Late Toy Show 1992 when their furry iend Dt pops up. "I don't believe this is happeng," Gay says when Dt rears his head, before tellg the appldg dience "not to enurage them". "Did they have nothg left wardrobe except for that jumper?" Dt quips about Gay's Christmas jumper.

What uld be utterly crgeworthy at the hands of another broadster, works brilliantly wh Gay ntrol as he plays up his ntankero si. The Late Late Show was dog a quiz and Gay picked a married uple, Richard and Eileen Fox, om the dience and asked each of them a seri of qutns while the other was out of earshot.

Gay later issued a statement, sayg no embarrassment was tend and that The Late Late was a late-night show for adults.

IRISH BROADSTG LEGEND GAY BYRNE DI AGED 85

Pan told Gay that the show she most enjoyed workg on was the 70th birthday tribute to Micheál Mac Liammóir 1969.

GAY BYRNE, TV STAR WHO 'CHALLENGED IRISH SOCIETY', DI AGED 85

Eventually Sbhán sat down and I shed onto the set shoutg to you, 'Gay quick! Wh that, Gay showed the clip, addg: "That's the only barbecued birthday ke you're likely to see!". THE FORMER lover of Bishop Casey, Annie Murphy has said that Gay Byrne was "jt dog his job" durg her ntroversial Late Late Show terview.

GAY BYRNE: THE GREATT SHOWMAN

3 Murphy has said that Gay was "jt dog his job"Cred: News Group Newspapers Ltd. Lookg back, Gay Byrne would only say: "The public thought I had done a bad terview. But Gaybo's fence, late newspaper edor Pl Dry said "All Gay had been dog was reflectg the mood of the Irish people - most of whom, back then, still had an enormo rpect and affectn for Dr Casey.

At the time, Byrne was cricised by some for his handlg of the terview, but Murphy has said she believ that Gay had a right to say what he said.

"But [Gay] did his job, what he felt she should do and I jt said I'm gog to leave bee there is no more sense hangg around. In a televisn and rad reer spanng almost 60 years, Gay Byrne had plenty of memorable moments to choose om - we've whtled them down to 10 no particular orr. When Gaybo asked Richard what lour nightie his wife wore on honeymoon, Richard said was transparent, while his new wife said she uldn’t remember; perhaps she’d not worn any at all.

IN PICS: GAY BYRNE’S FAL LATE LATE SHOW AFTER 37 YEARS AS HOST

In the weeks after her ath, hundreds of Irish women wrote to Gay Byrne outlg the vastatg impact of their own secret pregnanci, some of which were a rult of sexual abe, ct or rape. Gay broadst the letters to a stunned natn on his morng rad show on Rad One, markg the start of a new nversatn about teenage pregnancy which ultimately helped dispel the stigma and shame3. When she told Gay Byrne who her Sweetie really was, the natn was agog and Hghey went to hidg om the media as a rult.

DON MCLEAN RELLS MEETG WH GAY BYRNE ON LATE LATE SHOW AND ODD OBSERVATN ABOUT RTE HOST“HE REMD ME OF ONE OF THE IRISH CHRISTIAN BROTHERS I HAD AT SCHOOL.”IRISHMIRRORBOOKMARKSHARESHOWBIZBYKATIE GALLAGHER08:03, 7 OCT 2022BOOKMARK (IMAGE: COL KEEGAN)WANT ALL THE LATT SHOWBIZ NEWS DIRECT TO YOUR BOX? SHARE YOUR EMAIL FOR NEWS, GOSSIP AND MOREMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 WANT ALL THE LATT SHOWBIZ NEWS DIRECT TO YOUR BOX? SHARE YOUR EMAIL FOR NEWS, GOSSIP AND MOREINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

Hghey never spoke to Terry Keane Keane talks to Gay Byrne on The Late Late ronan lang8. Gaybo told Casey’s former lover: ‘If your son is half as good a man as is his father, he won’t be dog too bad. Stephen FryLong after his years on the Late Late Show, Gay Byrne uld still draw lns of viewers.

While beg terviewed on The Meang of Life, Gay asked Fry what he would say to God if he had a chance.