RTÉ has extended the Tommy Tiernan show by six weeks due to popular demand.
The fan favourite show was due to finish it is ten-week run on March 6th. The show will now air its last episode on April 17th.
The show is now in its fifth season and continues to get better with each new episode. It follows a unique format, in which neither Tommy nor the viewers know the guests until they walk out on stage.
Audiences at home have praised him week after week on social media for building up a rapport with guests and making them feel comfortable while on stage.
In a time where no one is in the mood for more COVID-19 dominated coverage, Tommy brings a refreshing element to the typical primetime slot. With excellent interviews and lots of humor, you know it is going to be entertaining even without knowing who the guests are.
Tommy’s natural wit and loveliness means he can ask the bigger questions with an added joke or pun at the end. Some of the interviews in recent shows have been deep and dealt with heavy topics, but each time, it feels exactly like sitting with friends or chatting to someone down at the pub. He expresses interest in each guest, in their story, and how to tell it properly.
In recent weeks, he has sat down with rugby star Brian O Driscoll, author Marian Keyes and personality Baz Ashmawy. Keyes spoke openly about her battle with youth alcoholism, but it never felt like “too much”. Similarly, O’Driscoll talked about the death of a close friend and dealing with crises off of the rugby field.
To capture the attention of approximately 400,000 viewers every week and make them sit back and think is a skill in itself. To host a show, with no script or questions and still deliver the most powerful of interviews is another.
Having that surprise element can sometimes prove awkward, but intimate at the same time. As viewers at home, we can be intimated by these bigger questions but moved.
When Tommy asks “what crises did you face” or “how do you find parenthood”, essentially, we are answering these questions too.
In asking questions like this Tommy isn’t just getting Hollywood actors and international sports stars to reflect on the big things in life. He’s getting us all to do it.
While there’s no live audience, the audience at home has been brought to life
Leona Kenny
Image Credit: RTÉ Wikimedia Commons