| The Live Mike | |
|---|---|
The Lives of Mike was a 2008 documentary that glanced back on The Live Mike. |
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| Genre | Comedy, entertainment, satire |
| Format | Variety show |
| Written by | Brendan Martin, James Morrissey, Paddy Murray, Dermot Morgan |
| Presented by | Mike Murphy |
| Starring | Adele King Dermot Morgan Fran Dempsey Mary Ryan Honor Heffernan |
| Country of origin | Ireland |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 3 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | John Keogh |
| Location(s) | Studio 1, RTÉ Television Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, Ireland |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 40-70 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Radio Telefís Éireann |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | RTÉ 1 |
| Original run | 9 November 1979 – 2 April 1982 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The Live Mike was an Irish comedy variety and chat show presented by Mike Murphy. It was first broadcast on RTÉ 1 on 9 November 1979. The programme featured a candid camera piece by Murphy himself, parody songs and comedy sketches by Adele King, Dermot Morgan and Fran Dempsey, as well as a serious studio interview. The show ended on 2 April 1982.
Contents |
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 candid camera scenes invariably ended with the host saying "I'm Mike Murphy from RTÉ", which virtually became a catchphrase.
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.
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]
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