A total of 12 people out of more than half a million viewers complained to RTE about Friday night’s Late Late Show.
The coveted chat show, hosted by Ryan Tubridy, saw a full live audience back in the studio with masks.
Viewers were left divided by the show, which began with the audience belting out Ireland's Call while waving green flags enthusiastically.
Tubridy joined them by bounding up the stairs and also blasting out the song.
RTE has revealed that 512,000 watched the Late Late Show on RTE One and RTE One+1 – but the national broadcaster received one official complaint about the show.
A further 11 callers rang RTE to offer “negative feedback” from Friday’s show.
A spokesperson for RTE said: "The Late Late Show was the most-watched programme of the weekend on Irish television where an average of 512,000 watched across RTÉ One and RTÉ One+1, as the longest-running live chat show in the world welcomed its largest live audience in almost two years.
“RTÉ received one official complaint, 11 members of the public contacted RTÉ, via email and phone message, to give negative feedback on Friday night's show.”
Speaking on his RTE 1 radio show on Friday ahead of the show, Tubridy said he was nervous and excited to welcome the audience back.
He said: “I’m very excited today tonight on the Late Late Show we have our biggest audience attendance for two years.
"We will have just shy of 200 souls looking at us in the crowd.
“I am nervous, I am excited and I am a little bit emotional about it.
“Because the people that you see in front of you are, to me, a representative sample of people at home. And there are hundreds of thousands of people watching, we hope, and we know thankfully.
“And equally they are represented by the people, and everyone dresses up and makes an effort and looks great and in great form and it is an extraordinary vibe in that studio when there are people there,” he added.
