Ryan Tubridy on his top Toy Show moments

by Eoin Murphy From cute horologists to returning heroes, the lucky hosts of the festive hit recall their favourite Toy Show moments

IT’S the most wonderful time of the year for television watchers all over the country. The Late Late Toy Show has been consistently topping the ratings charts, drawing in over a million viewers on that one special night of the year.

And 2018 will be no exception when the show kicks off on Friday. These days, auditions are held all over the country to find the lucky children who will take part, though last year’s ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR show will be hard to beat as far as laughter and tears are concerned.

We all have our own magical moment that we remember — let’s face it, who didn’t want to be one of those Billie Barry kids back in the day? Or a toy tester?

But what about those tasked with making sure it all runs smoothly? We asked Ryan Tubridy and his predecessor Pat Kenny to recall their most memorable moments — unsurprisingly, they’re some of our favourites too...

RYAN TUBRIDY

RYAN is, of course, the current host and will have his work cut out for him on Friday in yet another all-singing, all-dancing affair. And although there have been many wonderful moments that melted Ryan’s heart, one child stands out in particular — John Joe Brennan.

‘My little friend John Joe the horologist is always the one because he started that movement for me of bringing in the kid that isn’t obvious,’ Ryan says.

‘He would have been the first and that was in the book section, my favourite section of the show.

‘Then there’s things like Amy Keogh meeting Ed Sheeran and the soldier Cathal who jumped out of the box — don’t forget about that. Yes there was Robbie Keane and David Walliams and so on, but this was a dad, in the Irish armed forces, in a box, who came home.’

And that, says Tubs, is the real secret of the Toy Show’s success.

‘It’s magic, that’s what the Toy Show is. We’ve got to a point where we don’t need celebrities, we just need magic — and one doesn’t equal the other. I think last year was a coming of age for us when we just went, “no, just be authentic”. Believe in it in the way the audience will. Don’t over-egg it.

‘Celebrities are so accessible through social media, so you have to go somewhere else. And what’s more magical or celebratory than seeing a famous person? It’s seeing something beautiful, like a child who wasn’t expecting their dad to jump out of a box.

‘That had everyone shedding tears, including myself in an unprofessional moment of weakness!

‘So we are going to keep an eye on that vibe for the show. Kindness, warmth and childhood — those essential things that are being slowly eroded these days.’

PAT KENNY

PAT Kenny hosted The Late Late Show from 1999 to 2009, taking over from Gay Byrne and overseeing his fair share of Toy Shows. But it’s not a moment for someone else that is Pat’s favourite — it was his own chance to relive one of his magical childhood memories.

‘From my point of view, rather than any of the kids who appeared, it was the opening of the Toy Show, where I got to ride in on the back of an elephant,’ he explains. ‘My father used to be the elephant keeper in Dublin Zoo so it was a connection back to my childhood when I used to ride on the elephant’s back, long before health and safety became an issue.

‘An elephant walks in a particular way — the shoulders go from side to side — so the first time you sit on one you feel very insecure. But then you get used to it.

‘There used to be elephant rides in Dublin Zoo where boys and girls would get to climb up into this saddle on the back of the elephant. My father used to run these and as kids we used to have a go ourselves, pretty much any time we wanted. So when there wasn’t a queue, we would hop up. This really brought back all those childhood memories.’

Although it wasn’t that long ago, Pat doesn’t think an elephant ride would be allowed now in Montrose. ‘I don’t think you could do this today,’ he says. ‘I doubt RTÉ, with its health and safety routines, would allow a live elephant into the studio — even a domesticated one.

‘Every year we would brainstorm what to do for the opening, it had to be a big statement of intent. Nowadays it tends to be a musical number with Ryan as the leading man, singing and dancing with loads of kids.

‘But we did all sorts of things — we had a Lapland opening with me trudging through the snow to get to Santa’s Grotto. We had one with me abseiling down the side of a building, we had all sorts of different grand entrances.’

It was a lot of hard work, Pat says, but very much worth it.

‘I enjoyed doing the Toy Show, absolutely. It was the toughest show of the year to do but the most fun. It was tough because of the amount of work that goes into it,’ he explains. ‘If you are talking about a regular two-hour show you might have four items an hour, so eight that you have to work on. But for the Toy Show you are looking at 20 items an hour. It takes over your life.

‘You have to become an expert on the toys you are going to demo, you have to watch the rehearsals of all the kids in action and it’s completely infectious.

‘Even if you were dying of the flu, there is so much adrenaline pumping through your veins that you would get through it no bother.’

This year, like the rest of us, Pat will still tune in but maybe on Saturday.

‘I do always watch the Toy Show. I mightn’t watch it live because on a Friday night I tend to be out these days as I have them free the last few years. But I always make sure it’s recorded and catch up. Back when the kids were small it was must-see television and they would watch the Toy Show over and over and over again. They never got tired of it!’