“A mind-blowing head-melt of a dreamland…”
Ryan Tubridy has announced the theme for this year’s Late Late Toy Show: The Wonderful World of Roald Dahl.
Tomorrow night’s Toy Show will be based on some of the most memorable, magical stories most of us read as kids.
From Fantastic Mr. Fox to Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory to Matilda – some of our best childhood memories come from this fantastic genre of books that were always sprinkled with a hint of magic.
Ryan will kick off this year’s show as Fantastic Mr Fox in a spectacular opening number which he’s been rehearsing for weeks.
Tubs says he was more than thrilled when he heard what the theme was going to be as like many of us, he is a massive fan of Roald Dahl. “It’s like they crawled inside my head,” he says.
The host describes the whole production as “a mind-blowing head-melt of a dreamland for fans of imagination and dreamers.”
“In the middle of a pandemic Roald Dahl is the perfect choice because he gets it,” he says. “Roald Dahl always understood that children were beautiful and adults should be taken on a case to case basis.
“The world isn’t simple and the world isn’t a fairy tale, the world is magic and the world rewards goodness and kindness.”
Tubridy says that this year’s show will be similar to previous years, in that it will be mostly live with a few prerecorded videos from around the world. There will, however, be a few extra added bonuses this year because “the Covid situation allowed us to mix things up a little bit.”
“This Late Late Show nearly didn’t happen,” says Ryan, “only for grit, determination, diligence and an absolute need to keep the show on the road for the Irish children at home and abroad. This show is about determination and resilience, this show reflects what Irish people have been about all year.”
Ryan has been busy rehearsing with the children involved in Friday’s show but on the night he says anything goes. “You can’t plan madness” he jokes.
There won’t be an audience to banter with for this year’s show so, “it’s going to be a lot different, I’m going to have to turn the dial up a little bit to try keep the energy high. I’m a little nervous about that.”
The good news is that, as always, the show will be showing off some of the best of 2020’s toys, and showcasing a lot of Irish businesses too.
Since we’re still in lockdown, everyone will be watching this year’s show, meaning that it will probably be one of the biggest shows in RTE’s history. As far as prep goes, Ryan has been rehearsing for weeks – and this week he’s as busy as ever.
“First order of the day, a good shot of coffee,” he says. And then, apparently, a bit of Netflix’s The Crown to calm his nerves.
“I hated The Crown when it came out first, it was really boring where it went on and on about the fog, I was like, ‘what are we watching this for?'” he says.
“Then when it’s Toy Show week and my head is like a pinball machine and I needed just to calm. So I went back to The Crown and suddenly an hour looking at London in the fog is perfect!”
To have kids on the show in person, they had to make sure everything was safe “there’s an army of people making it Covid compliant.”
As for the outfit changes, let’s just say Ryan will be kept busy changing throughout the show. He said: “I’ll be two characters in the opening number, I’ll be another character in the song in the middle. I have four jumpers lined up for the show itself.”
The most magical Late Late Toy Show is on tomorrow night at 9.35pm on RTÉ One.
