The Podge and Rodge Show

The Podge and Rodge Show
RTÉ promotional picture
Created by	Ciaran Morrison Mick O'Hara
Developed by	Ciaran Morrison Mick O'Hara
Starring	Lucy Kennedy Ciaran Morrison (Rodge) Mick O'Hara (Podge)
Country of origin	Ireland
Original language	English/Irish
No. of episodes	42
Production
Executive producer	Jim Jennings
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22 minutes
Original release
Network	RTÉ Two
Release	6 February, 2006 – Present

The Podge and Rodge Show (also known as The Podge and Rodge Show with Lucy Kennedy) is an Irish television show, broadcast and produced by RTÉ, featuring the two puppets Podge and Rodge as the hosts of the chatshow, with Lucy Kennedy as a co-host. It currently airs every Monday and Tuesday at 22:50 on RTÉ Two.

The show takes place in the fictional Ballydung Manor, a joke at Irish town names that begin with 'Bally-' (eg. Ballymena or Ballyhaunis). Another place mentioned is the "Stickitt Inn", thought to be in Ballydung.

It features celebrity interviews of a humorous nature and other humorous elements such as quizzes and racenights including hamsters in mazes and sheep shearing.

The show has been a phemomonal ratings success, regularly getting over 400,000 viewers a show, peaking at 440,000 for the week beginning April 9th 2006. It regularly has more viewers than Desperate Housewives and Lost, both of which are also shown on RTÉ Two. It is catching up to RTÉ's flagship show—The Late Late Show—which airs on Friday nights on RTÉ One, and has approximately half a million viewers.

First series

A pilot episode was broadcast on RTÉ on St. Stephen's Day in 2005. The series began in earnest on 6 February 2006.

Foster and Allen were among the guests on the first series. Podge and Rodge had previously mimicked them on their show A Scare at Bedtime with Podge and Rodge. Their characters are called "Fester and Ailin'" and have been seen on Irish television satirically arguing with Foster and Allen, with each claiming the other copied their act. Fester states: "Ailin' here came out of the womb with that accordion on him". Fester and Ailin' also claim that Foster and Allen's song "Bunch of Thyme" was in fact a stolen copy of their original work "Bunch of Lesbians". Fester and Ailin's other songs include "Tropical Diseases", "The Monkey Song" and "Doing the Wife's Sisters on the Sly" as well as the classic yuletide number "Dead Man Up The Chimney".[1]

The series may best be remembered for Podge and Rodge's lustful fascination with Áine Chambers who they discovered online at www.sligozone.net and later invited on the show as a guest. She partook in a "Blind Date" spoof in which she was asked to choose between the two to take on a date.[2]

Never to be accused of ignoring current affairs,[3] the duo did their bit to help out when Ireland was faced by fears of a bird-flu pandemic; they decided to 'kill' The Late Late Show owl. After spending much time taking aim, they eventually shot him to pieces.[4]

Johnny Vegas appeared as the last guest on the final show of the first series which was broadcast on 2 May 2006. His memorable interview involved him rambling on and on while Podge and Rodge watched on in disbelief.[5]

Second series

The second series began on October 16, 2006. A feature that first appeared in this series was Ballydung Idol which featured spoofs of famous songs including "David Hasselhoff" performing "Jump in My Car" with "Pamela Anderson". Others to feature included Richie Kavanagh and Bernard McHugh. When the performance had reached a sufficient level of "crapiness" a fart sound erupted to halt proceedings. The level of "crap" was measured on a crapometer which Richie Kavanagh currently leads with one minute and fifty-five seconds.[6] Miss Ballydung was a beauty contest of sorts; a cross between Miss World and The Rose of Tralee.

Episode fifteen of this series, broadcast on 4 December 2006, was billed as The Sex Toy Show, a reference to the popular annual Irish television tradition The Late Late Toy Show which had been broadcast three days earlier. The guests were asked to demonstrate a number of adult toys which jokingly included an inflatable Pat Kenny. Patrick Kielty was surprised to find himself locked in a cage as the credits rolled.

In continuing with their trend of inviting weathermen onto the show, Daithí Ó Sé made an appearance.[7] He was asked to present the weather while taking part in an Evil Circus.

When Dara O'Briain appeared on the show as a guest he pointed out that he had asked the duo to appear on his show The Panel at a time when nobody else in RTÉ would give them a chance and that they had the cheek to now have 100,000 more viewers. Podge responded by pointing out that the correct figure was 250,000.

Ray D'Arcy was another face from the past to feature in the second series.[8] Darcy, now a popular DJ on Irish radio, used to present children's television show The Den on which Podge and eventually Rodge made their first television appearances.

The duo gave their own version of The Late Late Show intrusion when comedian Paddy Courtney interrupted them as they broadcast one episode, shouting foul-mouthed obscenities which resulted in the screen switching to the show logo. The show continued as Podge promptly pulled out a gun, a fake gunshot was heard and the man was next seen lying flat on the floor as if dead.[9]

Innuendo was again a common feature in each episode including references to places such as Wank, a mountain in Bavaria and the village of Fucking, near Salzburg in Austria.

Christmas special

Podge and Rodge will host a special show from Ballydung Manor on December 19. It will celebrate Christmas from their perspective. Guests are yet to be confirmed.

New Year's Eve special

Podge and Rodge will ring in 2007 on 31 December in a special programme lasting forty minutes instead of the usual thirty-minute format. The New Year's Eve show will be called Bogmannay. It will be broadcast on RTÉ Two from 11.30p.m. On it the boys will be looking back at some of the highlights of their year. They will also be handing out their very own Ballydung Awards and announcing the winners of the Miss Ballydung and Ballydung Idol contests. Guests are yet to be confirmed.

DVD

A DVD of highlights from season one and other bonus features was released in Ireland on Friday, 3 November 2006.

See also

• List of The Podge and Rodge Show episodes
• A Scare at Bedtime with Podge and Rodge
• Podge on The Den

External links

• Official 'Podge and Rodge' site on MySpace
• RTÉ.ie page
• [[10] Daithí Ó Sé on the show]]
• Clip of Johnny Vegas on 2nd May
• Podge and Rodge on the Bird Flu Crisis
• Podge and Rodge Irish test
• Podge and Rodge Local News

Songs

• Fester an Ailin’ - A Special Tribute (featuring clips from A Scare at Bedtime
• Dead Man Up The Chimney
• Fester an Ailin' offer some handy advice on what NOT to do on Halloween
• Richie Kavanagh's Podge and Rodge Song

Articles

• YouTube Brings Gem from Ireland - November 1, 2006 MP3 Newswire article wonders if YouTube can be a catalyst to bring Podge and Rodge to American TV.