Russell Crowe has shared a sweet message to Ryan Tubridy after his final episode of The Late Late Show.
The broadcaster bid farewell to RTÉ’s flagship programme on Friday night, after 14 years at the helm.
Patrick Kielty is set to take over as the show’s host when it returns for its 61st season in September.
On Monday, Russell, who has been a regular guest on The Late Late Show during Ryan’s 14-year-long reign, shared a sweet video message to the broadcaster.
The Hollywood actor took the video at the Gershwin Room in Melbourne’s Espy venue last Thursday night.
The 59-year-old said: “Every single time I’ve come on your show, I love the vibe, and I love what you’ve done and I’m really proud of what you’ve achieved in 15 years.”
“Because now we’re mates, and I can say things like that to you.”
“We’ve played a bit of tennis, had the odd drink or two, and here’s a little special message from the people of Melbourne to you, Ryan,” Russell concluded.
The clip then cut to the Melbourne audience shouting “Good Luck Ryan!” before he performed the track Blackjack County Chains.
Speaking during Friday night’s emotional episode of The Late Late Show, Ryan said: “My radio show is going nowhere. This is my anchor here and I love it. Some people think I’m leaving (RTÉ) and I’m not, so don’t worry.”
He also thanked the audience and viewers at home for supporting him throughout his 14-year stint on The Late Late Show.
Ryan stressed that family was the most important to him above all else.
He thanked his mum, brothers and sisters and most importantly his two daughters – Ella and Julia, for their support throughout his journey.
The 49-year-old emotionally told the audience: “My greatest gratitude – I hope you don’t mind me saying that, I’m dedicating the show tonight to my family.”
“My mother can’t be here tonight because she’s recovering, but I wanna send her all my love. She was here one night in the audience sitting somewhere over there, and Michael Bublé was sitting standing over there – she loves Michael Bublé!”
“He was singing ‘I still haven’t met you yet…’ and he was doing his thing – there’s 200 people in the audience, and 199 people in the audience were looking at Michael Bublé, and I was looking at the audience going ‘they’re loving this’ and I looked at Bublé who was brilliant and singing away.”
“But then I looked back again and noticed all the faces were facing him, apart from one – it was my mother going ‘you’re doing great!’ That’s what it’s all about. It’s about family, when all is said and done.”
“I wanna say how much I admire her and appreciate her and my brothers and sisters are the rock.”
“But especially, obviously my two girls. So, to Ella and to Julia, you know this, I’ve said it so many times, I love you so much they haven’t even created a word for it yet. That’s the truth.”
