George Hook has said Late Late Show job is a “poison chalice” – saying it should’ve been scrapped after Gay Byrne retired from it.
The controversial broadcaster suggested RTE should scrap its current format in favour of a chat show that is more “up to date” when Ryan Tubridy steps down on May 26.
The former rugby pundit said whoever is the next host of the Friday night show is being given a “poison chalice”, saying he has no preference for the gender of the next host.
He told us: “It’s not my preference. It is what society is now demanding and society is demanding that it should be a woman. It’s going to be a woman. I don’t think there is any doubt about that.
“But the women I have heard mention like Claire Byrne, Sarah McInerney and Miriam O’Callaghan, we’re talking about women coming from current affairs.
“I’m not sure that current affairs is the training ground for that. The training ground for current affairs crudely is ‘are you going to resign minister?’. It is that kind of combative questioning.
“That is not what the Late Late is. The Late Late Show is two steps below Celebrity Come Dancing.
“It’s not their fault. They are being given a poison chalice.
“They are being handed a show that is past its sell by date, they’re being given a show with no budget and no people and they’re being given a show that every week they will be compared to Gay, Kenny and Tubridy.
“It will be extraordinarily difficult. I am a huge admirer of them – I’m not saying they are not good enough – I’m saying it is going to be much harder for a woman.
“It remains that there is still a glass ceiling for women, that it is harder for women. Women are fighting an uphill battle anyway. I don’t see any positives in this way it is going.
“What they should do – and they won’t – is tear the whole thing up,” he added.
He said he believes the show should’ve been scrapped after Gay Byrne stepped down in 1999.
“I think RTE made a mistake when Gay Byrne retired. They should’ve scrapped the Late Late Show at that point.
“I’m not so sure that any other major television station in the world would’ve done it that way. The Late Late Show was Gay Byrne.
“That demonstrates in a way a kind of fear ‘oh shoot, what will we do on Friday night if we don’t have it’, which is nonsense. The second thing is it shows a huge lack of imagination.
“There is a whole new generation now. The generation of people who watch television now, like I’m not sure there were mobile phones when Gay was on the Late Late Show.
“Gay having a condom on the Late Late Show was a huge thing. That kind of television doesn’t exist anymore. It’s over.
“Therefore, it is unfair to the next person because you’re fitting the person to the show, rather than the show to the person,” the former Newstalk host.
The Dubliner said that he reckons the next host will be a woman and he hedges his bets that it will be Claire Byrne.
But he said giving the gig to the next host is a “poison chalice”.
He said: “Whoever this person is, it is not fair they are doing the Late Late Show. It should be something completely different.
“If RTE had any courage, they would do something really new which will appeal to younger audiences,” he added.
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