How the Late Late Toy Show became an unlikely Irish TV institution

It is possibly the most anticipated moment in Ireland’s cultural calendar, a television event that draws huge ratings, unites the diaspora and is parsed as a barometer for the mood of the nation.

Expectation builds months in advance, rumours about the theme, leaks about participants, sometimes alarm that the formula may change.

At 9.30pm on Friday the theme music will play and it will begin: the 2020 Late Late Toy Show – an annual institution built around a host, his jumpers, children, toys and some indefinable ingredient that has kept the nation rapt year after year, decade after decade.

It started in 1975 as a segment in the Late Late Show, RTÉ’s long-running weekly chatshow, and expanded to take over an entire show each year, turning into an extravaganza that has at times included an elephant and the likes of Ed Sheeran and Jerry Seinfeld but reverberates because of the younger guests. Some of them have serious illnesses but they all play, opine and upstage any adults.

“Explaining The Late Late Toy Show to anyone who isn’t from Ireland is one of the most difficult jobs for any Irish citizen worth their salt,” said Ryan Tubridy, the host. “It’s like trying to explain why cheese and onion crisps are such an important part of the national conversation, it just became a thing.”

Until you’ve seen it, and perhaps, unless you’re Irish, it could be hard to grasp the appeal, said Tubridy. “It’s a grown man, playing with toys, chatting away to kids as they test some of their favourites, and making the country feel happy for one night of the year in the lead up to Christmas.”

It was Ireland’s most watched programme last year, gaining 1.54 million viewers from a 4.9 million population. Irish people in more than a hundred countries, including Honduras, Estonia and Kuwait, tuned in via the RTÉ Player.

Expectations for Friday’s show are even higher than usual. Covid-19 restrictions cancelled St Patrick’s Day celebrations and other cultural events this year, and pubs, restaurants and cinemas are shut, ensuring a largely captive home audience.

Many people yearn to connect with family and pre-pandemic familiarity. And the government is expected to announce the easing of restrictions just before the show, almost as a warm-up.

“Too many people have spent time looking through windows meeting relatives,” said Tubridy. “This toy show is about coming home, back on the couch with the chocolates going and get busy laughing. My dream is to make this beautiful.”

The theme will centre on the works of Roald Dahl, the late British author of children’s classics such as Fantastic Mr Fox and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The darkness in some of Dahl’s stories was apt because the world was no fairytale, said Tubridy. “He is the perfect choice – it hasn’t been a perfect year.”

Tubridy will dress as a fox and children will dress as Oompa Loompas and other characters. Parts of the show have been recorded but most will be live, with the host and children respecting social distancing. There will be no studio audience and celebrity guests are likely to beam in remotely.

Not being able to hug children or hold their hand if they get nervous would be hard but delivering a toy show in compliance with restrictions was a logistical triumph, said Tubridy. “We got there, it wasn’t easy.”

The host stirred controversy one year by threatening to overturn tradition and not wear any of the Christmas sweaters sent by viewers, deeming them too horrendous.

John Joe Brennan, an eight-year-old guest in 2009, stole hearts by declaring his ambition to be a horologist, which he explained was the art of fixing clocks. Tubridy’s predecessor, Pat Kenny, provided an inadvertent highlight in 2007 by mispronouncing Jerry Seinfeld as Seinfield.

Gay Byrne, the late broadcaster who hosted the Late Late Show from 1962 until 1999, introduced the tradition of the garish sweaters and giving presents to everyone in the audience.