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Sofa Watch: Derry Girls, Normal People and Roy Keane offer up some comic relief

All you need to know about your Irish and international chat show options.

DESPITE THE FURTHER easing restrictions come Monday, weekends in front of the TV are not over just yet. 

Although there’s no shortage of content to stream online, sometimes you just want to hear a familiar face talk about their time in lockdown, or discuss some Hollywood gossip. 

Here’s our latest round-up of talk show content from the week and what will be on tonight. There should be plenty here to keep anyone occupied.

Some Comic Relief  

  • RTÉ Does Comic Relief, RTÉ One 8pm

Tonight, in a three-and-a-half-hour special, RTÉ is returning to its telethon roots. 

Hosted by Deirdre O’Kane, Nicky Byrne, Jennifer Zamperelli, Baz Ashmawy and Eoghan McDermott, Ireland’s take on the British fundraising night will feature some of the country’s top comedians and actors raising funds for the Community Foundation For Ireland

While a majority of the skits and sketches have been filmed by the comedians and actors themselves, you’ll be happy to hear that a few were not – Normal People being one of them.

Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones will be reviving their Connell and Marianne characters for a sketch written by playwright Conor McPherson and directed by Lenny Abrahamson who says the premise is “top secret”. 

Another sketch to look out for tonight is the Derry Girls reunion via Zoom. Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle and James’ group call is probably the only video chat you might actually want to be on at this stage. 

A few famous faces that will pop up during the evening includes: Saoirse Ronan, Dara O’Briain, Andrew Scott, Hozier, Roy Keane,  Chris O’Dowd, Jason Byrne, Aisling Bea, and David Mitchell.  

Tweet by @RTÉ One RTÉ One / Twitter RTÉ One / Twitter / Twitter

While RTÉ has announced who is taking part in tonight’s show, they haven’t said what they’ll be doing or who’ll they’ll be in a sketch with, so people should keep an eye out for some “unexpected combinations” and “surprise cameos”, according to the producers. 

Across The Pond

After spending what was no doubt a joyous few months in Dalkey, Matt Damon resurfaced this week on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

While Kimmel is announcing that he will be taking the summer off, Damon appears and falsely tells Jimmy that he has spent the last three months in his basement. A hurtful lie.  

Jimmy Kimmel Live / YouTube

Over on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver’s latest deep dive involves incarceration and coronavirus.

While Irish prisons have managed to contain the spread of Covid-19, jails in the US are seeing an alarming spike in infections. Oliver breakdowns why down the virus has spread so rapidly behind bars and what can be done to stop it.

Jimmy Fallon meanwhile chatted with comedian Sarah Cooper about her rise to internet stardom for her Trump impressions on Tik Tok, Twitter and Instagram.  

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert / YouTube

Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton has been doing the rounds on US talk shows promoting his new tell-all book The Room Where It Happened. 

On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Bolton says he believes there is more damaging behaviour yet to be revealed with regards to Trump’s quid pro quo with Ukraine and similar dealings with other foreign governments.

Colbert doesn’t give Bolton an easy ride for not testifying during this year’s impeachment trial which the new author claims was too partisan. 

From the Archives  

With pubs set to reopen soon, you’re probably thinking about the sip of that first stout – and balancing it on your head to impress the other patrons. 

Take some inspiration from Carlowman Mick ‘Mull’ Mulrooney in this RTÉ Archives clip from 1986 – the undisputed pint and whiskey balancer in Ireland. 

Not only can Mull balance a pint on his head, but he can pick up a box of matches while doing it. 

“If the Minister for Finance could balance the budget as well as you balance the pints, the country would be rolling in money.”

The GaffOFFICIAL / YouTube

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    Mute Rob
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:38 AM

    All this does means is that in 30yrs we have to go through all this again. It’s time the air was cleared, no more secrets.

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    Mute Côte D’oherty
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:17 AM

    The Catholic Church is one of the most despicable institutions that has ever been imposed on us. Shame on whoever facilitated they’re reign of terror

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    Mute Côte D’oherty
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:18 AM

    @Côte D’oherty: their *

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    Mute Tony Harris
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:45 AM

    @Côte D’oherty: “we” facilitated it. They weren’t the Stasi, they weren’t the Gestapo, we flocked to them in our millions.

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    Mute Côte D’oherty
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:07 AM

    @Tony Harris: agreed

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    Mute Trevor Donoghue
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    Nov 5th 2020, 4:37 AM

    @Tony Harris: Back then they were not the stasi or the gestapo, they were worse , The people feared the Stasi and gestapo because they were all afraid of them, they knew exactly what monsters they were and they would take your lives. The Church did worse because they were doing unspeakable evil disguised as God’s good work and people were good catholics, and we did not facilitate it, we were trying to save our very souls, not simply our lives. And you did not ever go against the church back then if you even wanted a life, or a job, or even to be part of the community you lived it. And the Church still need a long, long way to go to pay for the evil they have done.

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    Mute Tony Doran
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    Nov 5th 2020, 7:45 AM

    @Trevor Donoghue: Well said. People need to wake up and realise how oppressive it was for the Irish people living under those conditions, fearing the church and having to get in line, be good little Catholics or else!

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    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
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    Nov 5th 2020, 8:02 AM

    @Tony Harris: From the; Cradle to the Grave, the Roman Church Brain washed people.

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    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
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    Nov 5th 2020, 8:05 AM

    @Tony Harris: When I look back, and Remember Grown Men, Elected Representatives of Dáil Éireann, bending down on their; Knee Kissing the Hand Of the Bishops.

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    Mute Justin Gillespie
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:13 AM

    @ÓDuibhír Abú: This is what happens when anyone gets unchecked power over someone else. What happened in church & state run institution’s was criminal & shameful & it need to be exposed but don’t think for one minute that abuse nó longer takes place.
    What goes on behind closed doors is equally horrific, the numbers of calls to Childline support this, & we need to beef up ways of allowing victims to reach out for help.

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    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:09 PM

    @Justin Gillespie: Difference is; an Organization claiming to be representatives of God on earth. Claiming to be protectors of the; Faith, but have destroyed it by their; Ungodly actions.

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    Mute paul mccoy
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:55 AM

    Typical of this government. Bury it and it’s like it never happened so we don’t have to answer any nasty questions from the public.

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    Mute Bull McCabe
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:17 AM

    Is there anything to be said to have another tribunal? That way it can be fully investigated and nobody will be prosecuted!

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    Mute Mary Nugent
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    Nov 5th 2020, 7:42 AM

    Shame of a Nation the land of sorrows.

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    Mute Gerry Ryan
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:01 AM

    So Fine Gael have given the ok for comments

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    Mute Rathminder
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:19 AM

    I have no connection to the homes but think the idea of a records centre on the site of the Magdalene Laundry is fitting. It could include a library of the books and documents written documenting the history which saw the Irish government’s pattern of discarding any responsibility for the unfortunate. It is fitting for the site, much as the work houses turned into museums. The survivors must have a say in this, however.

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    Mute Celtic Spirit
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:18 AM

    Bye bye Catholic church. And not before time. An absolute dispicable, vile cult that were given control over our country after independence. From the British Empire to the Holy Roman Empire of the Vatican.

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    Mute Brendan Greene
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    Nov 5th 2020, 10:01 AM

    @Celtic Spirit: it is very naive to imagine that these abuses are in some way related to Catholicism specifically rather than human nature. We now know that similar things occurred all over the world in settings that were entirely secular. All societies like scapegoats to avoid acknowledging our complicity in what happened.

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    Mute Celtic Spirit
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:04 PM

    @Brendan Greene: I wouldn’t agree with what you’ve said. The Catholic church as an institution were given free reign to do as they pleased without any retribution for their actions. They rules this country with an iron fist. People were conditioned plain and simple. The Irish people were too afraid to question the church in case they went to hell. That is the mark of a cult. Some of the victims then went on to abuse others making their victims secondary or proxy victims of the church.

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    Mute Rob Duggan
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:16 AM

    People and the state failed we still do. We used to blame the brits, now we project blame to the church. Families shunned their daughters. Aethiest regimes are as brutal as those led by a theocracy(ccp/ussr etc) . We need to look at the ugly truth of our own human behavior and rule of law.

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