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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Kathy Prendeville & Justin Kelly

Tommy Tiernan responds to speculation linking him to RTE Late Late Show host job

Tommy Tiernan has responded to speculation that puts him in the running to be the new host of the RTE Late Late Show after Ryan Tubridy steps down on May 26, RSVP Live reports.

Tommy's name has been in the mix ever since Ryan announced his intention to step away from the flagship chat show at the end of the current series.

However, it seems like Tommy isn't letting any potential cats out of any bags at the moment as he refuses to give much away. When asked whether he would be tempted to take centre stage on Friday night's, he answered with a simple "I don’t know".

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"If I didn’t have my own chat show, it would probably be more tempting. But I have a chat show the following night which is watched by as many people as the Late Late, that I get to design.

"Originally, Gaybo designed his chat show. The Late Late evolved with Gaybo and he was able to push it left, and push it right, and choose the topics he wanted to cover. I’m not sure the next host of the Late Late has the same freedom.

"The show that I do the following night at the same time, it has a lot of elements that I like. The big thing for all of us growing up was not knowing who was going to be on the Late Late. We thrived in that. You also had Gay Byrne putting a condom on a banana!"

Tommy Tiernan also opened up about his controversial jokes over the years and the fact that in February of this year, he banned mobile phone use at his gigs.

"The main law really is entertainment. That’s rule number one," Tommy says of his shows.

"The main rule is that people come in and you do your level best to give them an unusual, strange, uplifting, funny and dramatic night out. Whatever happens after that is subject to change. That has to be the law and the initial instinct. That’s the star that I navigate on," he told Cork's Red FM's the Neil Prendeville Show.

"Of course the riskiness worries me," he admitted.

"The art form that I work with is established, and risky, and it’s liable to offend from time to time. All jokes are at particular people. Every joke is either at yourself, or at somebody else out there in the world. You never set out to offend, never. I prefer to take my chances and apologise after."

“I’ve kept going, and I’ve no intention of stopping”.

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