''Republic of Telly'' is a TV review and magazine programme on Irish public broadcaster,

RTÉ Two (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

. Presented by

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

Kevin McGahern Kevin McGahern (born 7 November 1986) is an Irish comedian, TV presenter, writer and actor. He is the former host of ''Republic of Telly'' between 2013 and 2017 and documentary series ''Kevin McGahern's America''. Early life McGahern was born ...

, the programme is intended as a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

examination of television, mocking various Irish and British TV channels, including sketches and special guests making an appearance from the shows. An added feature of the show is its correspondents

Jennifer Maguire Jennifer Zamparelli (née Maguire) (born 9 April 1980) is an Irish comedian and television presenter. She is known for her role on the TV show ''Republic of Telly'', where she was a primary writer, and as co-host of the 2FM morning show ''Break ...

and

Bernard O'Shea Bernard O'Shea is an Irish comedian from Durrow, County Laois, Ireland. He co-hosted the 2FM ''Breakfast Republic'' with Jennifer Zamparelli and Keith Walsh. He made his name on the satirical sketch TV show ''Republic of Telly''. O'Shea s ...

. Maguire conducts vox pops and celebrity interviews, whereas O'Shea conducts live 'on the spot' reports (filmed in front of a

greenscreen Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to r ...

). Series two also introduced comedians

The Rubberbandits The Rubberbandits are an Irish comedy hip-hop duo from Limerick city. They consist of Blindboy Boatclub (real name Dave Chambers) and Mr Chrome (sometimes Bobby Chrome; real name Bob McGlynn). During performances and interviews, they conceal t ...

as reporters, bizarre weathermen and agony aunts. The series has contributed to the chart success of The Rubberbandits single "

Horse Outside "Horse Outside" is a song by Irish comedy group The Rubberbandits. It was released on 8 December 2010, after its accompanying music video was aired on RTÉ Television programme ''Republic of Telly''. The video gained almost 2.5 million views in ...

", as well as "

Everybody's Drinkin' Damo and Ivor was a comedy duo act from Ireland, composed of two contrasting Dublin stereotypes, both portrayed by Andrew Quirke. The characters first appeared on bebo and YouTube - most notably in 'Skanger Me Banger(sic)'in late 2007/early 20 ...

" and "

Big Box Little Box "Big Box Little Box" is a song by Irish comedy duo Damo and Ivor Damo and Ivor was a comedy duo act from Ireland, composed of two contrasting Dublin stereotypes, both portrayed by Andrew Quirke. The characters first appeared on bebo and Yo ...

" by Damo and Ivor. In February 2017, it was announced by RTÉ that the show had been cancelled after an eight-year run.

Series

First series

The first series, which was presented by

Neil Delamere Neil Delamere ( ; born 1979) is an Irish comedian. He is a regular on the BBC Northern Ireland television show '' The Blame Game'', and the reigning BBC Fighting Talk Champion of Champions. Early life and education Delamere is from Edenderry, ...

began in 2009. The first series continued on 15 February 2010 and concluded in the spring of that year. The series featured

Mairéad Farrell Mairéad Farrell ( ga, Máiréad Ní Fhearghail or ''Mairéad Ní Fhearail'') (3 March 1957 – 6 March 1988) was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). She was shot dead by the British Army in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988.Pg 30 ...

and had guests such as

Marty Whelan Marty may refer to: Names * Marty (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters, also includes stage names * Marty (surname), a list of people Places in the United States * Marty, California, a former settlement * Marty, Min ...

Kathryn Thomas Kathryn Thomas (born 20 January 1979) is an Irish television presenter. Early life Thomas attended the national school on the Green Road, Carlow and began her secondary school years in St Leo's College, Carlow. In her second year, she transiti ...

, the cast of ''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...

'', and

Dermot Whelan Dermot Whelan (born 16 February 1973) is an Irish comedian and television and radio presenter who has worked for both Raidió Telifís Éireann and in the commercial sector. As of 2023, he broadcasts on Today FM as one half of the ''Dermot & Da ...

Second series

The second series, with Dermot Whelan taking over as host, began in October 2010. The second series continued in March 2011 and concluded in the spring of that year. RTÉ's political correspondent

David McCullagh David McCullagh (born 1 December 1967) is an Irish journalist, author and presenter with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's national radio and television station, where he has presented the '' Six One News'', alongside Caitríona Per ...

made a formal complaint to RTÉ after the programme caused rumours to spread of a government minister's resignation, an event that would have reduced the coalition's majority to two.

Third series

The third series began on 17 October 2011, with an episode featuring

Georgia Salpa Georgia Salpa Penna ( el, Γεωργία Σάλπα; born 14 May 1985) is a Greek-Irish glamour model. Personal life Georgia Salpa was born in Athens to an Irish mother and Greek father. When Salpa was five years old, her family moved to Dubli ...

, Damo and Ivor, Dead Cat Bounce and Darby the Leprechaun. The season continued until 24 April 2012.

Fourth series

The fourth series of the instalment began broadcasting on 22 October 2012 at 10 pm. Robogarda debuted and Georgia Salpa, considered by RTÉ to be a celebrity woman "who tends to pop up almost anywhere", returned. In December
The Republic of Telly DVD
was released. The season concluded in May 2013.

Fifth series

The fifth series of Republic of Telly started on 28 October 2013. After

announced he would no longer be presenting the show, it was announced that comedian

would be taking over as host. McGahern is best known for his role as 'Sim Card' on RTÉ's

Hardy Bucks ''Hardy Bucks'' is an Irish comedy series, filmed in mockumentary style and following the fictional exploits of a group of twentysomething slackers living in small-town Ireland. It started out as an online series of largely improvised scenes. ...

and also appeared on television adverts for Three Ireland. The fifth season concluded on 12 May 2014 with a special 1980s edition, which saw the old RTÉ2 logo used onscreen as the DOG (Digital Onscreen Graphic), a 4:3 aspect ratio filter on the episode and a modified opening theme tune and graphics. Some regular parts of the show took on a 1980s vibe, including the Republic of Telly logo itself, Kevin McGahern's desk and Bernard's News (The Quarter to Tenish News), which was in the episode 'Bernard's Beat Box' referring to the old RTÉ music show

BeatBox Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.

Sixth series

The sixth series of Republic of Telly debuted on 3 November 2014. From the beginning it was notable that Jennifer Maguire was absent and this was due to her being on maternity leave. This situation was overcome by the feature "Jen of the Week" where a person would stand in for Jennifer. Later on she made a few short appearances. For the first time since it began, Bernards' News didn't return, instead, News Republic took its place with a similar concept to Bernards' News. News Republic was originally headed by Al Porter but this changed to The Viper later in the series. The final episode in series 6 aired on 18 May 2015 and featured a beach party theme.

Seventh series

The seventh series of Republic of Telly aired on 19 October 2015 on RTÉ2 with

Joanne McNally Joanne McNally (born 7 May 1983) is an Irish stand-up comedian, writer and actress. She is a native of Killiney, County Dublin. McNally was the co-host of ''Republic of Telly'' for RTÉ and has also appeared on '' The Late Late Show'', ''The A ...

replacing Jennifer Maguire.

Eight series

References

External links

Republic of Telly
at RTÉ {{RTÉ Comedies 2009 Irish television series debuts 2010s Irish television series Irish comedy television shows RTÉ original programming