Patrick Kielty: ‘The Toy Show Is Sort Of Like Irish Thanksgiving’

Patrick Kielty has said that he sees the Late Late Toy Show as a sort of “Irish Thanksgiving” – and he’s not wrong, in fairness to him.

The presenter will be taking on his first ever Toy Show tonight, just a few months after taking over the role of Late Late host.

Chatting on the incredible Toy Show set earlier this week (Elf is this year’s theme, FYI!), the new host said: “I think it’s like Irish Thanksgiving, in a lot of ways.

“You look at American families getting together in November… Is [the Toy Show] bigger than Christmas in America? I think it is for us.

“Wherever you are in the world, you want to connect to people around this event.

“The important thing for me is to have as much fun as I can, and to let the kids have as much fun as they can, and hopefully that’ll be spread down the camera.”

Just hours away from taking to the set for the first time, Patrick said that he expects to feel a bit nervous, but that that’s to be expected given the significance of the show.

“With anything worth doing, that’s exciting, just beforehand there might be a tiny bit of nerves, but I think you owe it to yourself to enjoy it,” he said.

Now the fourth host to take the reins of the iconic show, the Co Down native added that he wants to put his own stamp on the programme, and that he won’t be comparing himself to the previous hosts.

He did, however, say that Gay Byrne’s style of presenting has given him some inspiration.

“I used to watch Gay, and it didn’t matter if it was a regular Late Late Show, or a kid on the Toy Show, he treated everyone the same,” he said.

“That’s a good message in life, not just as a host. In terms of [comparing to] Pat or Ryan or Gay, you can only be yourself.”

The Late Late Toy Show kicks off tonight at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player.

Images by Andres Poveda 

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