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Sometimes I think it is unwise to get involved in a witty exchange with those who are professional presenters/entertainers. The pros don’t like it. Not one bit. Even a hint of competition and they will not hesitate to chop you off at the knees.
We have all seen it and it is uncomfortable to watch. You know the feeling, the slow creep of scalding embarrassment, your fingers clench, armpits dampen, you cringe for the unlucky one turning slowly on the spit of a presenter’s whim. And you can’t reach for the remote control because you have to know how awful it gets.
I like Ryan Tubridy. I don’t know him but he makes me smile. Sometimes he even makes me laugh. There is that kind of boyish cheekiness about him that appeals to me and yes, sometimes I do actually laugh aloud and wonder at those who tell me they don’t like him, don’t think he does a good Late Late Show.
Trouble is I like Sean Og O hAilpin too. I don’t know him either and yet during his inter-county hurling career he has brought me moments of sheer joy. There was that, of course and no more than any other woman I could not but be aware of the man’s physique. I liked him well enough too to write a protest piece in this newspaper two seasons ago when it seemed to me former team manager, Denis Walsh had treated him shabbily.
And so a week or so ago we had a coming together of Tubridy and O hAilpin because Sean Og has written his autobiography and a Late Late guest appearance is what you do when you write a book.
I’m never sure about autobiographies - I will not be doing mine - but I have a sneaking admiration for the courage of those who do; those who not only can spill their guts out on paper but who can bear the searchlight Tubridy will shine on the dark places of your soul before a studio audience who are out to be entertained and if there’s a whiff of blood, what the heck, it’s not theirs.
The interview began well with Sean Og making a moving tribute to a Galway hurler who had died tragically two days before his twenty-third birthday. How, he asked, can we compare our troubles with the trauma of the young man’s family, before hinting at areas still painfully raw in his own father-son relationship. Tubridy, scenting blood, was off and running.
In the interim between then and now, as well as radio interviews, much has been written about Sean Og’s early difficulties in his family’s quest to adjust to immigrant life in Cork. He is still living with the pain of those experiences.
My own particular take on all of this goes back to the Late Late interview. Without the benefit of play-back I am at a loss to remember when exactly the interview began to wobble, but wobble it did. And Tubridy should have noticed it.
Whether lured by the presenter, or carried away by the inevitable excitement of the moment, or Tubridy deciding a little comic relief was required, a discussion that had been deep and searching veered towards the realm of silliness and a good and noble man was brought close to the edge of buffoonery. Hung out to dry. That was unfair and could have been prevented by skilful intervention from the show’s presenter.
Those who are near and very dear to me tell me that if you want to see Sean Og O hAilpin at his best, in his element, watch him surrounded by a group of children at Our Lady’s Hospital, Crumlin where he is a great favourite and a regular visitor.
That is the real Sean Og. The Late Late Show was the wrong forum and did not do him justice.
I wish him well with the book.
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