The Late Late Show, sometimes referred to as The Late Late, or in some cases by the initialism LLS, is the world's longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster and the official flagship television programme of Irish broadcasting company Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The show is broadcast live for over two hours in front of a studio audience at 21.30 on Friday nights between September and May. It is regarded as an Irish television institution, even outside the country, and is considered "Ireland's chat show".
The show, originally conceived as a temporary summer filler programme for a niche audience on Saturday nights at 23.30, began broadcasting on Friday nights in 1962 and was presented by Gay Byrne for over 35 years, on Saturday evenings for some of that time. For most of its early years, the show was broadcast live from Studio 1 at RTÉ in Dublin. The studio was small and could only accommodate an audience of around 100. Gay Byrne talked about this on a 2008 RTÉ programme called "Gaybo Laughs Back", which showed classic comedy moments from his tenure as host of the show. In 1995, the show moved into the more spacious and RTÉ's largest television studio, Studio 4, a studio specifically adapted to cater for this flagship production, and Kenny's former chat show, Kenny Live. The Late Late Show has on three occasions been broadcast externally, most recently from the Wexford Opera House on 5 September 2008. Until recently the chat show was sponsored by Halifax but they declined to renew their sponsorship.