Late Late Show talking points: Patrick Kielty and co rang in the new year
Patrick Kielty with Emmett J. Scanlan, Alisha Weir, and Clinton Liberty. Picture: Andres Poveda
First up were Irish actors Alisha Weir, Clinton Liberty, and Emmett J. Scanlan who reflected on their work during 2024.
Weir, who shot to fame as Matilda in the film adaptation of the musical, diversified this year as a vampire ballerina in Abigail — which she says she is old enough to act in but not old enough to watch in cinemas.
“Abigail is gory, it’s fun. Every day I was covered in blood,” she said. Weir added that meeting Cillian Murphy was a particular highlight of 2024.
“I look up to him so much, and he's done so much for Ireland. I was just sitting there in awe of him. I don't think any of this craziness really sinks in for me, but I just tried to take it all in and enjoy it and have fun.”
Liberty appeared as Addam of Hull in the second season of House of the Dragon, and he credits manifestation with his role in the hit series as he used to speak about getting a similar role while living with his sister.
“Every day I would say, ‘one day I'm gonna play a character in a HBO show, like Game of Thrones’. At this time, there was no news of a spin-off show. There was no new Game of Thrones show, so I was just talking to the wind, basically,” he explained.
I didn't know that I was planting the seeds to what I'm now experiencing, my debut on season two of House of the Dragon. Manifestation is real.”
Fool Me Once star Scanlan too spoke about the unique way he expresses gratitude around his career.
“I have a tradition where I always keep a bottle of champagne or a bottle of fizz in my fridge. So every time I'm in that fridge, it reminds me to be grateful,” he said.
“And any time a job lands, I take out that bottle and I pop it, then I always, always restock it. It kind of puts me in this field of gratitude, if I can say thank you with the right energy, then it's one of the strongest prayers you can say any day.”
Olympian Mona McSharry and Paralympian Orla Comerford looked back at their wins in Paris last summer.
“Honestly, it feels like a fever dream,” McSharry said. “It just feels amazing, and it's such a great achievement to accomplish after so much hard work.”
Comerford agreed that winning her third medal was like a dream.
“Just like Mona said, it just feels surreal,” she said.
“To have spent a lifetime working and also dreaming of a moment like that, then to actually be in it is a whole other feeling. It's really hard to describe, and it's so emotional. It just feels like you're in a dream again.”
Kneecap was one of the breakout successes of 2024 and a star of the film, Jessica Reynolds, spoke about the impact of the Irish-language movie.
“They were the sweetest boys. I was so nervous to meet them,” she said of the rap trio. Some of the scenes were awkward to watch back and Reynolds says she was late to a screening so her boyfriend and parents, upon meeting each other for the first time, “had to watch it together”.
Comedian Kevin McGahern was also being interviewed and described Kneecap as having “Done more for the Irish language than Peig Sayers”.
He added: “I thought they did an amazing thing where they took the Irish language, which we've all grown up and seen as kind of a chore, and it turns into this act of rebellion.”
What an absolutely gorgeous performance from Aby#latelate pic.twitter.com/eJwDth2Fx7
— The Late Late Show (@RTELateLateShow) December 31, 2024
Dubliner Aby Coulibaly was a support act for Coldplay during their Croke Park gigs and she told Patrick Kielty that getting the opportunity to perform on stage with the band was “crazy”.
“I'm laughing because it still doesn't feel real,” she said, adding that her appearance with the group happened during their last Irish show.
At the afterparty Chris Martin gave her some valuable advice on songwriting, telling her to “make lots of songs and pick the best ones” to perform.
Croke Park will also host Oasis during summer 2025 and Jimmy Rainsford of Picture This revealed the band approached Noel Gallagher about performing on one of their songs — but the Manchester musician turned them down.
Singer-songwriter James Blunt also joined the show to reflect on his 20-year music career, from writing ‘Goodbye My Lover’ in Carrie Fisher’s bathroom to narrowly avoiding changing his name this year.
Marking two decades since the release of his album ‘Back to Bedlam’, Blunt offered to change his name to one chosen by the public if his album reached number one. He was relieved when it fell short, saving him from becoming ‘Blunty McBluntface’.
“My children actually nearly started crying when I explained to them that we would have to change our names and we would be known as ‘the Bluntfaces’,” he said.
Blunt shared anecdotes about his time living in Hollywood with Fisher, including her eccentric lifestyle and the influence on his album title.
“She was a remarkable, amazing, strong woman in many ways on the outside, but fragile as well. It was a mad meeting in London in a restaurant. She asked me what I did. I said, I just left the army to become a musician. Next question was, where are you going to live? I said, I haven't sorted anywhere to live yet. And she said, well, then you're going to live with me. And I did, and it was a mad house, an absolutely incredible place. That's why the album's called ‘Back to Bedlam’, really.”
Meanwhile, over on BBC, there was also a strong Irish presence on Jools' Annual Hootenanny, with both CMAT and the Boomtown Rats among the guests on the music-focused new year's eve show.
