Ryan Tubridy has revealed he’s received “heartfelt” messages from Gay Byrne’s daughters ahead of his final Late Late Show.
The broadcaster will host his final episode of RTÉ’s flagship programme tonight, May 26, after announcing his shock departure back in March.
This September, the 49-year-old will be replaced by Patrick Kielty.
Speaking on his RTÉ Radio 1 show on Friday morning, Ryan said: “I’ve had the loveliest messages from everyone and I’m really indebted to Gays’ daughters Crona and Suzie who sent me really, really thoughtful, heartfelt messages.”
“I had a lovely chat with Pat Kenny this morning before I came on air as well before he went on air on his show. There’s a real warmth in the Late Late Show host family club about it.”
Speaking about his 14-year-long stint as host of The Late Late Show, Ryan continued: “I’ll say later on: I did my best, and I was surrounded by great people and all those teams year in year out, it meant a lot to me. They work very hard, and I’m grateful to them too.”
“I think I know pretty much everything that’s happening. They just said that ‘There’s a bit of business here, and a bit of business there,’ which is code for: ‘We’re not telling you.'”
Ryan continued: “So, we’ll see – there’s gonna be some lovely reunions; we’re gonna meet some people that I’ve admired and loved to meet down through the years.”
“We had our international fun with Ed Sheeran and Michael Bublé and Hillary Clinton and Noel Gallagher in recent weeks, so I think we’re going to shop local this week and bring in all our friends that we’ve known and have a sort of… kitchen party, does that make sense? We’re all the good stuff happens.”
Ryan took over the coveted late night hosting gig from Pat Kenny back in 2009, at the age of 36.
The news came around the same time that his Saturday night chat show on RTÉ One, titled Tubridy Tonight, came to an end.
The 49-year-old returned to RTÉ Radio 1 in 2015 to host The Ryan Tubridy Show – which he will continue to host after his departure from The Late Late Show on May 26.
Pat, who began hosting the show in 1991 at the age of 51, relinquished his hosting duties to Ryan in 2009.
The 75-year-old hosted Saturday night talk show Kenny Live! on RTÉ One from 1988, until he landed The Late Late Show.
Pat succeeded Gay Byrne as host of The Late Late Show back in 1999, who presented the talk show since its inception in 1962.
The first episode of the long-standing RTÉ series aired on July 6, 1962, when Gay was just 28 years old.
