Tubridy: The Fog Of Mean
The continued resuscitation of Ryan Turbridy’s career by the media is honestly perplexing. I agree that Mr. Tubridy was largely a by-stander in the RTÉ affair of 2023, however he was central to RTÉ’s insistence that their top talent must be paid well to retain them and their audiences, it was this belief that lead to the agreement between Renualt and RTÉ. Tubridy, Pat Kenny and Ray D’Arcy* have all largely proven this to be untrue on several occasions over the years.
This reimagining of Tubridy is not without its pity falls. It seems intent on getting Tubridy back on Irish radio, while at the same time showing his international appeal. In fairness to Tubridy and his team they are pushing that narrative and succeeded quite quickly in getting him on UK national radio via Virgin Radio.
In Ireland this is helped by a non-probing Irish media, who are simply regurgitating Tubridy’s “be nice” manifesto, this manifesto is laid out each week in his weekly column for The Irish Daily Mail on Sunday. A column filled with name drops and being careful to be as inoffensive as possible, after all this is the Turbridy brand of an inoffensive “messer at the back of the classroom”.
From afar this seems to be a mirage, his Radio show is filled with Oirishness. At every turn he is either talking up the Irish Diaspora or he is talking to people listening from Ireland, with small English interludes, to hint at the fact that British listener is listening into a UK radio station, and for Irish fans to be content in the knowledge that clearly Tubridy is a good radio presenter and still one of Ireland’s leading chat show hosts.
Meanwhile, his podcast is clearly aimed at Irish audiences; the same cast of characters dominate what once would have been the line up on a typical Late Late Show.
In his latest interview with Newstalk, Tubridy repeats his career story. There is nothing interesting really about Tubridy, he is benign. He comes from a well-do family both his parents being the children of Irish politicians and his mother part of a wider Irish political family, the Andrews, none of the Tubridys continued into politics.
The interview, like all of the others, is jovial, but at the same time is careful about his exit from RTÉ. It seems one unbelievable story from his retelling has been quietly dropped, having had its final awkward outing on a podcast with Dermot Whelan a few months ago.
Without saying it he tells how he got into RTÉ through the privilege of wealth. Anyone who grew up in Ireland in the 70s and 80s will happily tell you about the precocious children on Irish TV, something unnatural to the general Irish population, and something many would define as cringe Irish TV. Outside of the Dublin 4 postcode RTÉ producers’ rolodexes were largely empty.
Finally, his Radio show on 2FM is doing well, while he has his own Saturday night chat show. By 2009 he is the king of chat as he’s brought into the DG’s office (Cathal Goan) and told he has The Late Late, a jubilant Tubridy is on the phone to family and friends to tell them the good news.
This same story is not reflected in his decision to leave the coveted Late Late Show in 2023, which pre-dates the fallout from the RTÉ payment scandal later that year.
Turbridy calls his family to let them know he’s not going to do another year on the show, and says they tell him that he is much happier now after making the decision to go, but … what about the meeting with Director General, Dee Forbres, on this news? Did he not go to her office like he had done with Cathal Goan? What was said? How did RTÉ feel about him moving on? Their biggest star is leaving their biggest show!
Bobby Kerr the presenter by-passes these questions or simply doesn’t connect the dots, if there are any to be connected. After all the two are smiling down the microphone talking about life and leadership, and sure Tubridy’s small digs at RTÉ’s leadership team is simply good fodder and good natured.
Even after more than a year Tubriby is still rehashing the same old plamasary that worked so well in the past. This is not charm but it is hinged on the fact that Tubridy was always overrated as a presenter.
Perhaps this criticism of Tubridy is shrouded in a “fog of mean” but to be clear over the years I have been critical of the management of RTÉ and Tubridy’s name rarely entered the frame until the fallout from the secret payments. But why do I need to end this on that note, mainly because this is how the Tubridy team are framing any criticism directed at Tubridy.