AS ANOTHER FRIDAY night rolls around, a bit of socially distant light banter might help to break up the monotony.
With the drop in temperatures, there’s no better night to sit on the couch and watch some quality chat shows.
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.
Covid-19 has featured heavily on the Late Late running order the last year but thankfully Ryan will be talking about a different kind of night fever this week.
On the back of the new HBO documentary The Bee Gees – How Can You Mend a Broken Heart and a new album, Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers’ Songbook (Vol. 1), Bee Gees frontman Barry Gibb will be joining Ryan tonight.
We often scoff at reoccurring Late Late guests, but exceptions can be made for Dolly Parton. She’ll join tonight’s interview to talk about teaming up with Gibb for a duet on the new album reimagining classic Bee Gees songs.
The Gibb brothers penned a number of hits including Massachusetts, Night Fever, Stayin Alive, Jive Talkin, How Deep Is Your Love, Words, Tragedy and You Win Again.
They also had songwriting success for other artists like Barbara Streisand, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, as well as one of their biggest hits Islands In The Stream for Kenny Rogers and Dolly herself.
Music aside, Parton was back in the news after asking that plans to erect a statue of her in Nashville, Tennessee, be put on hold “given all that is going on in the world”.
Actress Eve Hewson will be on to chat about her lead role in the Netflix series, Behind Her Eyes, and her experience of growing up as Bono’s daughter.
Swimmer Trish Kearney will be sharing her story of abuse at the hand of swimming coach George Gibney. She was just 13-years-old when she first encountered Gibney who went on to sexually abuse her for years. Gibney later avoided trial in Ireland on 27 counts of indecent assault and unlawful carnal knowledge, of young Irish swimmers, and lives freely in the USA.
Actor and comedian Pat Shortt and his daughter Faye Shortt will join Ryan to speak about teaming up together as a comedy duo, and vintage expert and Irish Pickers star Ian Dowling will be in the studio to present a treasure trove of salvage items he has found.
Singer-songwriter Megan O’Neill will perform Time in a Bottle, which features in the new Netflix series Firefly Lane.
Among the guests joining Graham tonight: Oscar-nominated actress Rosamund Pike, promoting comedy thriller I Care a Lot; TV chef Gordon Ramsay on hosting new BBC quiz show Bank Balance; comedian and presenter Judi Love; Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville on playing Roald Dahl in To Olivia; and Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas, talking about his honest and challenging new book Stronger.
Music tonight is from Ella Henderson and Tom Grennan, who perform Let’s Go Home Together.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz faced fierce criticism yesterday after he flew to a Mexican holiday resort while millions of people in his state struggled without power or water due to a winter storm.
Cruz justified the flight by saying that his one-night stay in Cancun was to drop his children off before he flew home, but Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t as convinced.
“Snake on a plane, right there… Headed, ironically, to the very place he tried to build the wall around.”
Naturally, other late-night hosts couldn’t resist. Trevor Noah accused Cruz of being gross for blaming his daughters – a story he doesn’t buy.
“Being a good father means putting them on a bus, not throwing them under one,” the Daily Show host said.
After a brief hiatus, John Oliver is back with the lasted season of Last Week Tonight. If you were hoping for an upbeat topic then look away now. In the latest episode, Oliver discusses what could cause the next pandemic, what we can do to avoid it, and er, why you shouldn’t kiss pigs…
The New York Times documentary, Framing Britney Spears, prompted heated online debate about the media treatment of female celebrities when it was released in the US last week. Now streaming on Sky, the debate continues across the Atlantic.
The show focuses on Spears during the height of her fame and how her image and latterly her mental state became misogynistic fodder for magazines, talk show hosts and the public at large.
One interview of Spears’ with Diane Sawyer in 2003 has come under new scrutiny after it was featured in the film. Sawyer has faced calls to apologise, accused of berating the young star. You can watch the full interview below.
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