Chat king Kenny 'letting country down'
Sunday January 27 2008
FATHER Ted creator Graham Linehan has poured scorn on Late Late Show presenter Pat Kenny, describing his stewardship of the flagship chat show as inept and incapable.
Linehan, the writer-director who also co-wrote the first series of Black Books, used his blog, called 'Why, that's delightful!' to attack RTE's highest-paid broadcaster.
He included clips from past episodes of the Late Late Show including an excerpt of Pat interviewing Jerry Seinfeld, to illustrate his point.
Linehan writes that the interview with the American comedian was an "extraordinary example of Pat Kenny at his hilarious worst."
"The audience obviously knows who Jerry is, but Pat doesn't. His researchers have dug deep and discovered that Jerry likes Superman! Pity they didn't tell Pat how to pronounce Seinfeld!"
Linehan writes of his own experience of being interviewed on the Late Late by Kenny, who is 60 this week.
"Pat spoke to me, Arthur and the Ted cast once, and I have never seen an interviewer so dependent on his list of questions, so lost when confronted by an answer he wasn't expecting, so incapable of turning an interview into a conversation," he says.
The attack on Kenny also suggests that the creator of Father Ted still has issues with the national broadcaster.
"My point is more to do with RTE, and how willing they are to look like amateurs by having an incapable, inept presenter in charge of their biggest ship. It makes the whole country look bad.
"Pat Kenny is another reason I'm leaving Ireland."
Linehan and Arthur Mathews, with whom he had worked at Hot Press magazine, have worked on many high-profile sketch shows on British TV. They created the Ted & Ralph characters on The Fast Show before the success of Father Ted.
- JEROME REILLY
