Patrick Kielty received a surprise message from wife Cat Deeley before his first appearance at the helm of The Late Late Show.
Kielty, 52, is taking over from Ryan Tubridy to host the show for the first time on Friday evening at 9:35pm on RTE One.
Deeley, 46, wished her husband “good luck vibes” in a video posted to her and the The Late Late Show’s Instagram page.
In the clip, which shows Kielty watching a video message from Deeley before the show, she says: “Surprise. I know today is your big day.
“I’d love to be there, but I’m holding down the fort here in London at home, but we are sending you all good luck vibes.
“You’ll be brilliant. No doubt about it. I know it’s your dream job and you’ll be great for sure.
“The boys and I wanted to get you something to mark the occasion so we made this for you, hope you like it. Good luck.”
Kielty opens the package with a keyring in it from sons Milo and James.
The comedian and presenter recently revealed that he had received a message from Tubridy before his debut.
Kielty is the fourth regular host in the run of The Late Late Show, preceded by Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny and Tubridy.
He is the first from Northern Ireland and is originally from Dundrum in Co Down.
Kielty said he was not feeling any animosity being the first host from across the border, and that he had been welcomed into his new role.
“I think it’s going to be fun,” he said.
“It’s going to be a bit strange for people up the road to hear the Co Down accent on the show.
“I think what’s interesting is sometimes we talk these things up even more, I think that if you look at all of the identities that we have on this island at the minute, and the progress that we’ve made, I think that – I don’t see it as a thing.
“And I think that the welcome that I’ve had coming into this building, certainly not a thing down here.”
The Late Late Show has faced controversy in the past, with a High Court case in 1985 for billing two former nuns who were lesbians when Gay Byrne was host, and Tubridy’s interview with Tony Blair which took place the night before the former prime minister was pelted with eggs at a book signing in Dublin.
Kielty said that in his tenure, he would not shy away from difficult discussions, adding: “I think the only way you can have a difficult conversation is to be honest, and not to judge.
“Whenever I was doing my documentaries, and visiting the bonfires, and I think with all conversations, you go in and try to see who the human being is you’re talking to, and why they feel the way they’re talking, what their position is, and I think that’s at the heart of it.
“And I think that hopefully any conversation that I’ll have on the show that I’m hosting, I’ll hopefully bring those skills to it.”
A compilation of messages from people in Kielty’s home town of Dundrum was prepared for him, and he said he felt the benefit of support from his local community.
“That type of stuff… nearly puts you over the edge, like all the other stuff you can kind of cope with, but people in the village and people you grew up with and people who went to school with,” he said.
“I got an amazing wee message sent to me from my best friend’s family, and they were all sea swimming this week, and they were all in the sea jumping up going, ‘Hey, Paddy!’
“It’s nice to know you’ve got so many people in your corner.”
