Cringe de Burgh

I caught about 5 minutes of the Late Late Show the other night but it was worth it! Chris De Burgh was sitting at a piano being interviewed by Pat. It was a strange one - Chris sat while Pat stood above him possibly trying to mask just how short he is. Chris talked about how popular he is overseas (Beirut, Moscow and Iran to name just 3 cultural hotspots) and how his daughter is eclipsing his popularity (he seems a little put-out by that).

Anyway, it was the usual flim-flam you'd expect from Pat but when it ended, Chris stood up and said something from the heart. Actually, he said it was unscripted which makes you wonder if the rest of it is scripted.So Chris stood up, took Pat by the hand and told the audience that he's known Pat for 30 years and he gets a huge amount of flak. He said that we've no idea how tough it us to do Pat's job and he's a helluva professional and a great fellow.

All very nice and probably quite heartfelt (I'm being a bit generous) but you have to wonder how big Chris de Burgh's ego is that he thought: 'Pat's been getting a rough ride from the public and the media lately. What he really needs is someone to stand up publicly and defend him. Someone the people will listen to. Someone whose every word the media clings to. Someone... someone... someone like me!!'

It takes a lot to embarrass Pat Kenny. Week in, week out he has to sit through some terrible panels and monosyllabic guests. To say nothing of the Toy Show. But this was genuine, cover your eyes & ears and hide under the couch material..

You can see it here.. Unfortunately, you have to sit through the whole 8 or 9 minutes of the interview. He sang Borderline at the start which begs the question, what do you do when your song stays the same but your voice can't cut it anymore. In Chris' case you just close your eyes and go for it!

But in fairness, in the spirit of decency and credit-where-it's-due-ness, Chris de Burgh did write Lonely Sky which is a fantastic song. I suppose I can't take that away from him.. And in the 80s his father lived in Wexford and Chris was always terribly nice to my friend Monica when she called down to see him. But that was then and I can't help thinking that Beirut and Iran's gain is Ireland's gain too!