''Scrap Saturday'' was an Irish satirical radio sketch show created by

Dermot Morgan Dermot John Morgan (31 March 1952 – 28 February 1998) was an Irish comedian and actor, best known for his role as Father Ted Crilly in the Channel 4 sitcom ''Father Ted''. Early life Morgan was born in Dublin, the son of Hilda "Holly" (née ...

, who was also the main performer on the show, and

Gerry Stembridge Gerard "Gerry" Stembridge (born 1958, County Limerick, Ireland) is an Irish writer, director and actor. He was educated at CBS Sexton Street in Limerick and later at Castleknock College. While attending University College Dublin, he was audito ...

, which ran on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

on Saturday mornings from 1989 until 1991.

Pauline McLynn Pauline McLynn (born 11 July 1962) is an Irish character actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Mrs Doyle in the Channel 4 sitcom ''Father Ted'', Libby Croker in the Channel 4 comedy drama '' Shameless'', Tip Haddem in the BBC ...

and Owen Roe participated as performers. The half-hour show lampooned political and cultural figures in Irish society such as

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach on three occasions – 1979 to 1981, March to December 1982 and 1987 to 1992. He was also Minister for the Gaeltacht from ...

and

Pádraig Flynn Pádraig Flynn (born 9 May 1939) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as European Commissioner for Social Affairs from 1993 to 1999, Minister for Industry and Commerce and Minister for Justice from 1992 to 1993, Minister for th ...

. At the centre of the show was the relationship between the then

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

and his political advisor P. J. Mara. A number of Irish cultural figures came in for a lampooning on a regular basis such as broadcasters

Mike Murphy Michael James Murphy (born 20 October 1941) is an Irish broadcaster, actor and property developer. He is best known for his long broadcasting career with RTÉ, presenting many TV shows such as ''The Live Mike'', '' Winning Streak'' and '' The Bi ...

when a presenter of RTÉ Radio 1's "Arts Show", Gay Byrne and Bibi Baskin. Amongst politicians of the time, versions of Gerry Collins and Michael Noonan featured regularly, as did then president

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her electi ...

. Others regularly lampooned include journalist and commentator

Eamon Dunphy Eamon Martin Dunphy (born 3 August 1945) is an Irish media personality, journalist, broadcaster, author, sports pundit and former professional footballer. He grew up playing football for several youth teams including Stella Maris. Since retirin ...

. The show was very popular with listeners and there were accusations of political interference when it was dropped by RTÉ.Irish Examine
Irish Examiner Archives
Accessed 3 August 2006 A 4-CD set of selected extracts from the show was released by RTÉ in 2007, the first two CDs covering general extracts, and the second two CDs covering Charles Haughey ("CJ") and P. J. Mara, the two main targets of the show.

References

Cultural depictions of Taoisigh Irish comedy radio shows RTÉ controversies RTÉ Radio 1 programmes {{ireland-media-stub