The Live Mike
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Live Mike | |
 The Lives of Mike was a 2008 documentary that glanced back on The Live Mike. |
|
| Format | Variety |
|---|---|
| Starring | Mike Murphy Adele King Dermot Morgan Fran Dempsey |
| Country of origin |  Ireland |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | RTÉ 2 |
| Original run | November 1979 – 1981 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
The Live Mike was a television variety show which was broadcast in Ireland by Radio Telefís Éireann. It ran for three series between 1979 and 1982.
Contents |
[edit] The show
[edit] Ideology
The Live Mike was created to fill the vacant Friday night slot on the newly created channel, RTÉ 2 in November 1979. As such, it was in direct competition with RTÉ's Saturday night prime time programme, The Late Late Show, the two programmes soon easily becoming RTÉ's two most popular shows. Presented by Mike Murphy, the show contained more comedic elements than The Late Late Show. The Live Mike usually consisted of a serious discussion, comedic inputs from Dermot Morgan and a candid camera set-up of unsuspecting members of the public [1] [2] (including a famous clip featuring Gay Byrne, whom Murphy tormented in the guise of a quizzical Frenchman in Trinity College Dublin, constantly getting into camera shot and asking questions while Byrne, increasingly irritated, tried to record a "promo". This clip is still shown at regular intervals on RTÉ programming.) The background to this was that there was an international rugby game with France happening in Dublin at the time, leading to an influx of French sports fans.
[edit] Controversial ending
The Live Mike ran for three series and ended in 1982. On the last show Murphy caused consternation when he told the viewers that the show would not be returning for another series. This was Murphy's decision and had not been discussed with any of the senior management at the station. Many thought that this incident would result in the death of Murphy's career. However he remained with the station for the next twenty years. Murphy said in an interview in 2006 that he had decided to end the show when, after the second season ended in 1981, a number of crew members had left, and that the show was no longer as fun to make as it had previously been.
[edit] Documentary
A two-part documentary series, The Lives of Mike was broadcast in 2008. The series focused on Murphy's part in the original show. [3]
[edit] References
- ^ "Dark side of Murphy's life revealed in show". Evening Herald. 2008-10-20. http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/dark-side-of-murphys-life-revealed--in-show-1503889.html. Retrieved on 2008-10-22.
- ^ "What’s on the box this week?". Meath Chronicle. 2008-10-22. http://www.meathchronicle.ie/articles/6/32362/. Retrieved on 2008-10-22.
- ^ "The Bourne Supremacy". Irish Independent. 2008-10-25. http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/the-bourne-supremacy-1510144.html. Retrieved on 2008-11-02.
