My friend Gaybo is still a towering figure – at 83
SETS THE CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS
THE old man shuffled towards the stage. His footsteps were small and dainty and he held himself like a man who was holding on to himself through sheer force of will.
And then a strange thing happened. The man began to speak and as the words tumbled from his lips erudite, humorous and poignant, he began to glow from the inside and his body and his posture changed and now he was cruising like a Rolls-Royce in a field full of Morris Minors.
Now he is gliding along, smooth and entertaining and for the 15 minutes he spoke, the man revealed himself to be what we already knew. Gay Byrne is Ireland’s greatest-ever radio and TV personality,.
Gay, who is 83, has cancer and had had chemotherapy just the day before the speech. His remarkable resilience and his instincts as a pro, shone through at that small celebration of 30 Years of Tyrone Productions and the dynamic was that of the Gay Byrne we all remember.
Gay read voluminously and was Ireland’s greatest autodidact (Fintan O’Toole Ha!) He could pick up a brief on a story, read it once and memorise and fillet it and his professionalism saw him go head to head with showbiz stars, politicians, priests and other charlatans.
During his radio career, every morning before his programme, Gay read aloud, to himself, letters he had received and intros and other stuff he had to say during the show. Roy Keane would have been proud of Gay’s commitment to preparation and this diligence contributed to the crisp authority of his delivery.
My first brush with Gay was the night I left RTÉ in 1967 to pursue a career in showbusiness.
I was working as a cameraman on my last Late Late Show when Gay gave me a little encomium to help me on my way.
The cachet of being seen on the Late Late Show was incalculable back then and as I packed away my camera for the last time, it wasn’t fame and fortune that Power couple: Gay Byrne and his wife Kathleen Watkins attracted me so much as the hope that one day, I might do what he was doing.
‘I hear’ sez he ‘that you have a great parody of Rhinestone Cowboy” ‘I have’ sez I. ‘Sing it’ sez he. ‘Now?’ sez I. ‘Yes’ said he. Passion went out the window as I rolled from my sweet baby’s arms and totally naked sang ‘Like a HalfStoned Cowboy’ down the phone for Gaybo.
Gay’s other great attribute was the ease at which he went from serious stories to political drama, to comedy, to tragedy and to music. It’s hard to imagine how one personality could dominate all the other broadcasters so effortlessly, but he did and his penchant for asking the hard question was more than a body could hope for.
Even though he interviewed the Beatles when he worked in Manchester, Gay was destined to come home to Ireland and play his part of ombudsman in the national debate. He did so with the fervour of a patriot and he never stopped praising Ireland wherever he could.
I know this reads like an obituary, but I am just trying to put into context how and why Gay Byrne is so popular.
By the time he had finished his 15minutes talk at the Tyrone reception, his eyes were ablaze, his hair seemed to be blowing in a nonexistent breeze and his body had all the relaxed, angular attitude of an athlete at his peak.
Watching him in full flow was one of those great experiences that are gifts from the Gods of serendipity.
Happy New Year.