We are living through the twilight of the chatshow, but The Late Late Show (RTÉ One, 9.35pm) trundles ever onwards and now returns for a fourth season with Patrick Kielty at the helm. And yet RTÉ seems no surer what sort of Late Late it wants for the 21st century. Kielty is game, but The Late Late has now ascended to a state of permanent disorientation: like RTÉ itself, it is an institution locked in a perpetual crisis of identity.
Is it a laugh-along banter-fest? Yes! Or so we are led to believe as Kielty zips through an opening monologue with some topical jokes about Donald Trump – politician, golfer and surprise fan of a united Ireland. (“He’s a lot closer to the green than we thought.”)
The giddiness continues as the Mayo All-Ireland-winning team are brought on for some back-and-forths about their historic victory over Kerry and the ending of 75 years of hurt. The segment is a good showcase for Kielty’s common touch and his ability to keep the conversation flowing without coming across as either shouty (Ryan Tubridy) or stilted (Pat Kenny).
He is equally at ease chatting to Derry Girls and The Traitors Ireland presenter Siobhán McSweeney – who makes a joke about Ed Sheeran that doesn’t quite have a punchline – and Outlander’s Caitríona Balfe, who is starring in a new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. But then it’s a hairpin turn from frivolous to frank as Liam Neeson arrives to natter, somewhat mysteriously, about The Lost Children of Tuam, the film he has produced about historian Catherine Corless and the Mother and Baby Home scandal in Tuam.
He is joined by Corless who talks about the surreal experience of having a Hollywood star arrive in her home for tea and biscuits (minus the biscuits as he was dieting for a part).
The tone is sombre, which is of course appropriate given the subject matter and Kielty is right on the money in thanking Corless for her campaigning and her heroism. But it is very much like watching an entirely different show from the one that earlier featured the Mayo footballers.
That isn’t to criticise The Late Late Show for giving space to serious subjects – that has been its raison d’être since the beginning. Still, you do wonder if there is a better way of blending the throwaway and the serious so that it feels less like a comedy revue and a current affairs debate taking place in the same room and more or less a the same time.
Kielty is probably the best host Montrose could have chosen to occupy what is still closest thing the broadcaster has to a hot seat. For one thing, he communicates a seemingly genuine enthusiasm for the gig and will be all agog as the Toy Show approaches. Yet there’s no denying that The Late Late Show, as it currently exists, is Frankenstein telly. It is well-intentioned, sometimes fun but also a bit stitched together and there is always the question of how much longer it can continue to lumber onwards.