Mr Cuddihy will make his debut on the show on Monday afternoon following the departure of Joe Duffy in June
Mr Cuddihy (47) will officially begin his tenure in the weekday lunch time hot seat airing contentious debates and showcasing personal stories from people of all walks of Irish life, taking over the reins of Mr Duffy who retired from the role in June after 27 years.
The former presenter of the Hard Shoulder at Newstalk and the Tonight Show on Virgin Media appeared on the The Late Late Show with Patrick Kielty last night. His previous appearance last month was pulled at the eleventh hour due to contractual issues involving Newstalk.
“It’s almost life affirming when people come up to you on the street and tell you how delighted they are,” Mr Cuddihy said about the reaction he has been receiving since getting the RTÉ gig.
Kieran Cuddihy. Photo: Steve Humphreys
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – Saturday, November 8
The Kilkenny native said the whole thing has been “surreal”, and jokingly vowed to dedicate significant portions of his show to venerating his home county’s sporting prowess.
“I will be talking about Kilkenny hurling. I will be talking about club hurling. I’ll be talking about coaching under-10s Camogie and under-12s hurling,” he told Mr Kielty.
“I’ll be talking about commuting from Kilkenny and listening to hurling podcasts.”
He also shared a humorous anecdote with viewers about how he got fired from a job in Canada when he went to work there in 2009 during the financial crash.
“I was working for a company building apartment blocks during the World Cup. We got into work one morning and we turned straight back around and went into an early house to watch the semi-finals.
“Our problem wasn’t that – our problem was we got greedy. You’ve a few drinks and your confidence gets up.
“It gets to 5 o’clock and we thought we should ring Enrique to clock us out of work again. And one of the lads says, let’s wait and we’ll get someone to clock us out in a few hours and we’ll get overtime.
“As soon as you’re on overtime there’s a red flag beside your name, and sure enough our boss took a look and found out nothing had been done and we were duly fired.”
Before ending the interview and the show itself, Mr Kielty lumped a surprise on the new Liveline host.
“When I was passing the Liveline studio today, we actually saw a flashing red light on the phone,” Mr Kielty said, introducing a pre-recorded message from Mr Duffy to Mr Cuddihy.
“Hello, good afternoon and you’re very welcome to… Kieran Cuddihy! Kieran! Don’t talk to Joe, now, just listen to Joe! Will you please just listen to Joe?
“Remember, the first 27 years are the hardest. If the phone isn’t ringing you’re doing something wrong and if it is ringing, you’re doing something really wrong.
“I’ve heard great feedback already from my ex-colleagues in RTÉ about your enthusiasm, your ability, your intelligence, and, by the way, your good looks – and that’s just from the fellas! The women think you’re gorgeous as well.”
He added:”So best of luck old pal, you’ll be brilliant. And in the great tradition of Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny, Marian, the great great broadcasters – break a leg old pal, break a leg, you’ll be brilliant!”