New 'Late Late' signature tune the work of Navan composer

Navan composer Brian Byrne's arrangement of the new 'Late Late Show' theme music was unveiled at the weekend as Ryan Tubridy presented his first Late Late Show following his appointment to succeed Pat Kenny. Tubridy thanked Byrne and the RTE musicians for his new signature tune at the beginning of the revitalised chat show on Friday night. Los Angeles-based Byrne, who is currently working on an arrangement for 'Sex and the City II', describes it as a mix of the old, new and big band, "the type of thing that Ryan likes". Byrne was contacted by 'Late Late Show' producer Michael Kealy only a few weeks before the show was to go out, and got to work on the prestigious RTE flagship project immediately. He had built up a good relationship with Ryan Tubridy over recent years, and returned home for 10 days recently to complete the arrangement. "He had just moved to his Radio 1 show around the same time I started working with the RTE Concert Orchestra," Byrne told the Meath Chronicle from his LA base this week. "And he was presenting the live concerts we were doing. We did a few radio shows and it took off from there." Byrne says that the last time he was on Tubridy's radio show, the presenter had just been announced as the new 'Late Late Show' host. "He said that we'd have to go onto the show with the big band sometime," he said. "Then, at the last minute, the call came to arrange the signature music." As the longest running show in the world, the idea was to develop a 'retro-style' signature evoking memories of the original music from Gay Byrne's time, but at the same time moving forward with the new presenter and new era. Byrne says he was very much let do it his way and let produce it, as he knew Tubridy liked jazz and the whole big band idea. RTE this week issued figures saying that over 1.6 million people tuned in over the course of 'The Late Late Show' on Friday night when Ryan Tubridy debuted as host of the longest-running chat show in the world.