The theme for this year’s Late Late Toy Show is Home Alone, the hit 1990 Christmas film starring Macauley Culkin as Kevin McCallister, and for host Patrick Kielty the festive tale stirs ups memories of the cinema in Downpatrick.
“I do remember the first time [seeing Home Alone] ... its from an era where there was huge, huge family movies that people when to see,” the Co Down native said during a press event at RTÉ studios on Thursday. “I think that little element of nostalgia, as well, is something that kicks in even more around Christmas.”
The stars of tonight’s festive special of the long-running talkshow, however, were born long after the release of Home Alone.
“[Friday] night, the kids are in charge,” Kielty said.
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Now approaching its 50th anniversary, Kielty believes having the kids in charge is the secret to the Toy Show’s longevity.
“The kids are what make it different every year. You could do this Toy Show with the exact same toys that Gay [Byrne] put on the very first Toy Show, and change the kids every year, and you’re going to have a completely different show – it’s just the way they interact, no two kids are the same,” he said.
“Their opinions aren’t the same. They’ll be really honest and they’ll tell you the truth about how they feel about stuff. I think that’s how the Toy Show’s endured, because you have a new generation of kids every time coming in, and experiencing it in a different way.”
Joseph Dunne (7), from Castleknock, Dublin, will be one of the 250 children at the centre of proceedings at Montrose on tonight. With his hair slicked back in an Elvis-style quiff, he said he would be drumming during the broadcast. Travis Barker of Blink-182 and The Beatles’ Ringo Starr are his inspirations.
He’s also into Frank Sinatra, and jazz, and the Smashing Pumpkins (his mum introduced him). He wants to impress the nation with his musical knowledge and, when he grows up, he wants to be a singer “because it’s my passion”.
In a first for the Toy Show, tonight’s programme will feature a “county parade” with 32 children – one for each county – taking to stage for a display of “swirling and twirling, gymnastics and pageantry”.
“I think that anything that we can do on the show, be it a parade or anything else which actually gives ownership [of the Toy Show] to the kids, is a really good thing,” Kielty says of the parade. “For me, everybody owns the Toy Show, and wherever they are on this island and wherever you are in the world if you’re Irish.”
A cultural phenomenon, the Toy Show remains as popular as ever. “We’ve had over 100,000 applications for the 220 seats in [the studio], which is just crazy stuff. If we moved the Toy Show to Croke Park we still couldn’t fit everybody in,” Kielty says.
For most, the Late Late Toy Show will be a television event – and likely the biggest Irish television event of 2024.
Last year, 1,575,800 people tuned into RTÉ One to watch Kielty’s first Toy Show since succeeding Ryan Tubridy as the talkshow’s host.
The Toy Show Appeal, a fundraising initiative that coincides with the broadcast, will also be a feature. “I think one of the most amazing things about the Toy Show is that we’ve raised €21 million in the appeal [in five years],” Kielty said. “That’s really at the heart of it.”
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