Patrick Kielty has addressed the “rivalry” between himself and Tommy Tiernan, ahead of the return of the comedian’s chat show.
RTÉ has confirmed that The Tommy Tiernan Show will return to our screens in January, with 16 episodes of the show scheduled to air on Saturday nights.
During Ryan Tubridy’s tenure as host of The Late Late Show, the programme was often compared to The Tommy Tiernan Show, as they battled to draw in bigger audiences at the weekends.
While Patrick is now preparing to go head-to-head with Tommy in a ratings war as the new host of The Late Late Show, the Down native has admitted he’s a big fan of the comedian.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror, he said: “I think that one of the things that Tommy has done, and if you look at it and I think it is a big reflection on Tommy’s talent, that if you look at the television world, people are always hungry for different formulas in different territories and Tommy’s show, I don’t know anywhere else that is doing the show.”
“And what I am saying is, that that’s a massive compliment to Tommy. The fact that somebody else isn’t doing it somewhere else.”
The Late Late Show host said he respects what Tommy does on his show, and believes he has changed the game in TV with his unique chat show formula.
Tommy’s show is famously known for the host being unaware of who his next interviewee is.
“I think in terms of Tommy’s show and this show, I think they are different shows, but Tommy has sort of raised the bar,” he confessed.
“And I think at the heart of what Tommy does, and hopefully what I do, it is about being interested in the person sitting in the chair. If you are not interested in who they are, why have you booked them.”
Patrick showed his admiration for fellow talk show host Tommy, who he included as one of his first guests on the premiere of the 61st series in September.
“From my point of view, and as a guest on Tommy’s show, I am a massive fan of Tommy, to the point I am almost a fanboy of Tommy,” he continued.
“I think pound for pound, and weirdly I said this whenever I was on Tommy’s show, you know because Tommy’s show is pre-recorded so there is bits that get cut out and I said this ironically and it got cut out, I said ‘Tommy, pound for pound for are the best comedian I have ever seen, and they didn’t put it in.”
The Late Late Show attracted an average of 830,000 viewers to Patrick’s first show and a peak viewership of 940,000.
However, the beloved RTÉ show has reported a decline in viewership in the weeks since with an average of 432,000 viewers tuning in on Friday night.
