Rain and The Late Late Show

Friday 13th

I really hoped that I would not need to edit anything today I had a strange foreboding that the 13th might not be good for any skirmish with Avid.

It was going to be a late late finish because we would be filming in the studio when Ireland’s iconic “Late Late Show” was going out live tonight.

Grainne had made Gary’s day by talking to some friends and pulling a few strings to get us in to see the show and do an interview with its presenter Ryan Tubridy.

“The Late Late Show” has been an Irish institution for many years and is known in television circles throughout the world. So much so that it could be argued that provided the blue print for entertainment talk shows like Jay Leno’s, David Letterman’s and The Jonathan Ross show.

Might be worth taking a good look at Ryan because word has it that he’s bound for stardom in Britain.

Before the exciting night ahead there was other work to do.

After yesterday’s debacle in not getting into the Garden of Remembrance the Irish officials had pulled out all the stops after Gary had a long chat with them and managed to get the Garda to allow us in to film at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens which, like the Garden of Remembrance had been suddenly sealed off.

Not only that they had organised a government minister to come and meet us and talk about the official view of the visit.

Another friendly taxi driver took Gary and I to the memorial. It was good that he was a good humoured guy because the Garda officer at the gate all but stripped the taxi down as he searched it before he let us in to follow Brian Hayes TD (equivalent to MSP or MP).

We only had a short window of time to do the interview and of course that little widow would be the same window that opened to let in another heavy downpour.

Any thoughts that I had of getting a shot to match the one that I had done yesterday with Aengus Ó Snodaigh went out another window.

Brian Hayes (2nd from the left) arrives in the rain.

We all took shelter in one of the little rooms that house the many books of remembrance dedicated to the 49400 Irish men killed in the Great War fighting for the British.

The rain was persistent so I positioned Mr Hayes at the door under as much shelter as possible with as much light on him as I could and we did the interview.

Of course within a few moments of him leaving the rain stopped, the clouds parted and the sun came out.

At least the shots of the memorial had a bit of sun on them.

Our next little thing to shoot were vox pops and general shots around the City that Gary and I were going to do.

Once again the rain defeated us but we paid a visit to Tourism Ireland’s office where Emma had the potential answer to all our minor logistical problems of getting shots around Ireland and Dublin not in the rain.

Folk sheltering from the heavy rain.

We would go and see some nice people from a production house who could give us pretty much what we needed.

There was then just time to get back to the hotel, throw on a jacket and smart trousers for the shoot at RTE.

I am beginning to wonder if there are any unpleasant, unhelpful people in Ireland because at RTE like all the other places we have been we were shown the warmest hospitality and given more help than we could have wished for.

Ryan is Ireland’s big star but although very obviously a consummate professional he is another nice warm guy.

The show is a slick and polished operation on every level.

Tonight's show had a fairly impressive guest list not just for the Irish but a wider audience too. There were a couple of big names from Irish entertainment and broadcasting Mary Black and Marty Morrissey, along with the likes of David Gray, Jeffrey Archer, Kate and Gerry McCann, and shoe designer Christian Louboutin.

It goes without saying that Grainne was perfectly at home there it being her place of work in Ireland. Of course there was the inevitable family connection with the show as well. Her sister’s partner Kim, was the Floor Manager.

The band Relish rehearsing.

After all the rehearsals were over when the crew were having a break before transmission and before the audience came in we did our interview with Ryan on the show’s interview set.

On the Late Late Show set.

Ryan on my camera.

Ryan during the warm up before the programme starts.

We were doing him because he will be hosting the Queen when she and Prince Philip visit the Guinness brewery.

It is not an easy job to get into the small audience. Some of the people we spoke to had waited for years to get a ticket. It is not a surprise to find that there is an eagerness to be an audience member because one of he big things that have been tradition with the programme is that each audience member goes away with a huge goodie bag of expensive things and some members get even better things like holidays and expensive meals.

The Late Late Show Audience.

Relish on air.

Interviewing Christian Louboutin.

David Gray performing.

David Gray.

The McCanns.

By the time Gary and I left after the programme with an off air DVD of the programme that I could use to edit with it was getting into the early hours of the morning.

Tomorrow was going to be our edit day. I prepared for the tussle ahead.