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| Pat Kenny | |
 Third and current presenter of the long-running The Late Late Show on RTÉ One
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| Born | 29 January 1948 |
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| Nationality | Irish |
| Education | Chemical Engineering degree, University College Dublin, Postgraduate Student, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Occupation | Broadcaster |
| Employer | RTÉ |
| Salary | €899,000 a year (2004) |
| Spouse(s) | Kathy |
| Children | Two daughters |
Patrick "Pat" Kenny (born January 29, 1948) is a veteran broadcaster in Ireland. He is the current presenter of The Late Late Show on RTÉ One and Today With Pat Kenny on RTÉ Radio 1 on weekdays between 10:00 and 12:00 midday.
Kenny had a past career as a lecturer and has academic degrees in the fields of chemical engineering. He has co-hosted the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest as well as numerous other television shows, including Today Tonight, Saturday Live and Kenny Live, and has worked for both RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ 2fm, sometimes simultaneously, in a career that has spanned four decades. Kenny is the holder of a Jacob's Award and is RTÉ's highest paid employee.
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Kenny was educated at O'Connell's school and obtained a chemical engineering degree from University College Dublin in 1969, Subsequently he was a postgraduate student at Georgia Institute of Technology and then a lecturer in Bolton Street College of Technology in Dublin. He began his broadcasting career in parallel to his academic "day-job" by working as a continuity announcer on RTÉ radio in the mid 1970s. He subsequently became a radio disc jockey.
In 1981, Kenny won a Jacob's Award for his "unusual versatility" in presenting three diverse radio shows: Saturday View on RTÉ Radio 1, and, on RTÉ 2fm, The Kenny Report and The Outside Track. [1]
Pat Kenny became a television broadcaster on RTÉ's Today Tonight , a current affairs programme in the mid 1980s. He moved in an unexpected direction for a current affairs presenter when he filled the role of co-presenter of the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. This he did alongside Michelle Rocca at the Royal Dublin Society's Simmonscourt Pavillion. Subsequently, he had a guest slot on the weekly chat show Saturday Live. He went on to host the show permanently, the show renamed Kenny Live!.
There was a much publicised rivalry between Kenny Live!, broadcast on Saturday nights and The Late Late Show, broadcast on Friday nights. Saturday Live, latterly Kenny Live!, had been conceived as preserving the weekend slot on a Saturday night to prevent loss of viewers and corresponding loss of advertising revenue.
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Gay Byrne retired from presenting The Late Late Show in 1999. Kenny became the new host, but not without criticism.[2] Amongst the highlights of Kenny's career in presenting The Late Late Show was his Toy Show interview with comedian Jerry Seinfeld. There was much uncomfortable chat[citation needed] on the topic of bees (Seinfeld was on the show to promote his new movie, Bee Movie). Seinfeld, who had previously lashed out at Larry King over his ignorance, remained tight-lipped, even as Pat Kenny referred to him as Jerry Sein-field. [3]
Kenny's career has been extensive, having been a continuity announcer, radio disc jockey, television current affairs presenter, subsequently anchor and chat show host. His early radio career mirrored that of Byrne's, but Kenny's repertoire is much broader than that of Byrne[citation needed], as witnessed by Byrne always being in entertainment and never in current affairs. Byrne described himself as an entertainer first.[4]
Initially Kenny was perceived, by a critic, as being unsuited to the field of light entertainment as this description of Kenny Live! stated: "The fact is that Pat Kenny, is unsuited to the type of showbiz knockabout which Gay Byrne is so at home with." [5]:
Kenny describes his style:
"Do you want bland television where everything you hear reinforces your own view, or do you want to be challenged? I favour the latter. I like to challenge people. You might get angry and pick up the phone to Joe Duffy, or you might complain to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission; that's great. It means you're involved in the argument in some way"[6]
Due to his long association with the show, Byrne in his autobiography [7] seemed to almost have proprietorial rights, having been both producer and presenter of the show. Kenny was the subject of much media criticism for his takeover from Byrne.
In autumn 2003, The Late Late Show had a competitor in the Friday evening time slot, with the arrival of a competing television chat show by controversial broadcaster Eamon Dunphy on the rival channel TV3. However, Dunphy's show failed to achieve expected viewership figures and was scrapped in December 2003 after a short run.[8]
Kenny was the highest-paid presenter on RTÉ in 2004. [9] His earnings of €899,000 a year were almost twice the earnings of his nearest rival Gerry Ryan. In the previous year of 2003 Kenny was paid €899,000 by RTÉ. [10]
Kenny is married to his wife Kathy; the couple have two daughters. They live in Dalkey, Dublin, in a house built in the early 1990s on a site purchased in 1988. [11] Kenny's mother, Connie, died and was buried on 23rd October 2008. Kenny's mother's burial received media coverage as it led to Kenny's non-appearance on an edition of The Late Late Show that was aired that same evening. [12] [13] [14]
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This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008) |
It has oft been said that Kenny is not as "wooden" off camera as he is on. In fact he has received praise from rival journalists who are acquainted with him as well as former and current RTÉ staff who have had a close personal relationship with him.
Irish Independent columnist Ian O'Doherty, who has a personal relationship with the presenter, once described Kenny as "a good raconteur and enjoyable company". He is "quite funny", something that is not so apparent on television. O'Doherty who has written a number of "quite unflattering" accounts of Kenny in the past, says Kenny is not vindictive and does not take such harsh criticism personally.
"The irony with Kenny is that he's a bigger character off-screen than he is on-screen, which is the opposite to some of his peers in RTE, when they appear to have a strong personality on-camera, yet off-screen they have nothing going on between the ears. We have a tradition of disliking the smartest boy in the class here in Ireland, and Kenny would fall into that category. But he's still the best broadcaster in the country."
A former employee of The Late Late Show describes Kenny as "quite a likeable guy", devoid of the stiffness that is present on television. He said that whilst Kenny has been on television for over three decades, he still appears "awkward" in front of the cameras and sometimes morphs into an "embarrassing uncle" figure onscreen. Kenny allegedly enjoys drinking with his staff, in stark contrast to Gay Byrne who, "despite being loved by the viewers... could be a real dullard off air." He sees Kenny's greatest weakness as being his inability to adapt to change and accept when he has been erroneous.
"He is a typical aging alpha male. He's got such huge self-belief and will often refuse to see somebody else's viewpoint. He's not the sort of presenter who beats himself up about shows he's just done -- if he does, he keeps it to himself. He had Charlie Landsborough on recently. Gay Byrne wouldn't have had him on in a million years because he was petrified of boring television and of losing a younger audience. Kenny doesn't seem to be trying to keep this demographic at all."
A current RTÉ employee, who has "regular dealings" with Kenny says he is "really good at what he does" and "works very hard to make both his radio show and the Late Late as good as possible." Kenny was said to be "very good at doling out praise and encouragement, particularly to younger members of staff". When Paul Stokes attacked Kenny live on air in 2006, his researcher daughter Aoife was consoled by Kenny. [15]
Kenny has been lampooned by some Wikipedia contributors by inaccurate edits. [16]
In April 2008 Kenny and his neighbour went to court over the issue of who owned a nearby field. Kenny's case was that he had right of entitlement of 'Gorse hill' through 'squatters rights'. During proceedings it was claimed that Kenny placed a lock on the field without telling his neighbour. It was also claimed that Kenny came at him with 'fists raised' and 'jostled' or fought with him. Kenny also claimed damages for his neighbour's assault on him.[17] The case was settled with Kenny buying the land for an undisclosed sum and both sides paying their own costs.
| Preceded by Gay Byrne |
Host of The Late Late Show September 10, 1999 – present |
Succeeded by (Incumbent) |
| Preceded by Viktor Lazlo |
Eurovision Song Contest presenter (with Michelle Rocca) 1988 |
Succeeded by Jacques Deschenaux & Lolita Morena |
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