Funniest man I met in all of my life RTE legend Fanning remembers former ‘housemate’ Ryan 10yrs after his death
PAL’S TRIBUTE TO GERRY AHEAD OF
told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “That was an experience. It was me, my wife, two kids and a minder alongside his wife, four kids and a minder.”
Asked what it was like to share a home with his friend, as well as so many other people, Dave simply grinned before joking: “Let’s just say it was different and six weeks together was enough. “It was brilliant, it was lovely.” Next month will mark the 10 anniversary of Gerry’s tragic death.
He was found dead at his Leeson Street home on the morning of April 30, 2010, and his sudden loss shocked the nation. It also led to an outpouring of love from his 2fm and RTE colleagues, prominent politicians and the general public. At the time of his death, The Gerry Ryan Show was pulling in a massive audience of more than 300,000 on the national broadcaster’s second station. Dad-of-five Gerry worked on the daily morning show from 1988 and had
Dave Fanning and Morah Ryan in 2014 presented it as normal just hours before his death.
Aside from having the largest radio audience on 2fm, he also hosted a string of TV series including Gerry Ryan Tonight, Operation Transformation and Ryan Confidential.
Dave, who worked with Gerry side by side for nearly 30 years, said: “It is really hard to believe that it has been 10 years.”
He added the decade has flown past him and he never realised how fast the time would actually go.
The 64-year-old explained: “When you are 15 and it is May and you have the summer ahead of you, September feels like a lifetime away.
“When you are 24, then next thing you are 34 and then it is 44 and 54. It just goes on.
“Did our parents tell us that? All the time, they did. Did we listen? No. I am glad we didn’t because we would be miserable. “Yeah, it went really fast.” One thing that sticks out in Dave’s memory is just how funny Gerry was and how he always had the ability to make him laugh.
He said: “I remember him as the funniest man I have ever met in my entire life who never told a joke.
When you are 24, then next thing you are 34 and it is 44 and 54. It just goes on DAVE FANNING ON PASSING OF TIME