Profile - Podge and Rodge: What these puppets get away with on the national broadcasting channel is remarkable, writes Brian Boyd.
The current Rose of Tralee, the lovely Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, has been travelling around the world, getting her home made-over and driving a new car, courtesy of her victory last August. Ní Shúilleabháin, a graduate in theoretical physics as well as a fluent Irish speaker and an award-winning sean-nós singer, has to fulfil a certain number of social engagements as part of her prize. One such engagement was on February 12th last when she appeared on RTÉ 2's The Podge and Rodge Show. Rodge opened by asking her "Did any of the escorts drop the hand?".
Podge and Rodge are two bachelor farmers in their 50s and the line of questioning on their current chat show duly reflects their lewd and lascivious interests. When faced with the TV presenter, Síle Seoige, they pressed her on whether her sister, Sky News broadcaster Gráinne, ever came to stay.
"What happens if there isn't enough hot water for two baths? You'd probably jump in together, wouldn't you?" they drooled excitedly.
Nothing if not consistent in their line of inquiry, they remarked to the Afternoon Show presenter Anna Nolan that she was "quite a high-profile doughnut banger". Singer Frances Black got off relatively lightly when she was merely asked, "Do you ever turn up for a gig and they say, 'Oh shit, it's you. I thought we'd booked your sister.' "
A human chat-show host simply couldn't ask these questions. Disguise the appearance though, and the rules are relaxed. The character Dennis Pennis (played by an actor) got away with this form of bawdily irreverent questioning on British TV in the 1990s because he was a caricature, as did the character of Ali G. As puppets, Podge and Rodge have been able to travel even further along the "good taste in broadcasting" spectrum.
THEIR CURRENT CHAT show, which airs every Monday and Tuesday night on RTÉ2, is pulling in very impressive viewing figures for the station. Even allowing for the fact that it is scheduled directly after two hugely popular imports on both nights - Lost and Desperate Housewives, the prurient puppets are averaging close to 300,000 viewers each night. Although the show has been running since early February and potential guests by now have a good idea of what sort of treatment awaits them, any amount of Irish media types are clamouring for a slot on the show before it finishes its run in May.
The brothers first appeared on the RTÉ children's programme, The Den, where they had verbal skirmishes with Zig and Zag and Dustin the Turkey.
Their somewhat indecorous use of language and constant sexual innuendo at 4pm in the afternoon proved too much though, and they were soon given their own night-time show, A Scare At Bedtime, which was a play on the name of the long-running religious programme A Prayer At Bedtime.
The show, which ran for seven years from 1997, featured the characters narrating a ghost story - albeit a ghost story with lewd jokes and salacious asides. Each episode followed a strict structure: Rodge would arrive home, Podge would insult him and then go on to tell a story - acted out by live actors - on schlock-horror lines. The programme won a well-deserved IFTA award for Best Entertainment Programme.
Freed from the daytime constraints of The Den, Podge and Rodge began to leak out bits of information about their background. It's a tragic story: born 54 years ago within minutes of each other, they were largely brought up by a psychiatric nurse in a rickety old house called "Ballydung Manor" in an unspecified area of rural Ireland.
Their formative years were marked by acts of criminality, rampant pyromania and a frenzied search for pornography. The only job they've ever had is running an illegal bicycle repairs service - which was handy as it dovetailed nicely with Rodge's all-consuming passion for ladies' bicycle saddles.
They have a sort of depraved Morecambe and Wise type relationship. Rodge would be, euphemistically, not very intellectually inclined and is an innocent romantic. Podge is the ambitious one and is bitterly resentful of how Rodge has held him back all his life.
They made the leap from raconteurs on A Scare At Bedtime to interviewers on their own chat show only because they caught an episode of Tubridy Tonight and thought to themselves, "well, obviously anything goes up in Montrose these days". The tone of the chatshow was set when they asked one of their first guests - popular novelist Marisa Mackle - if she was an "airport blonde".
"You know, blonde on top but you have a black box?"
A riot of gleefully executed bad taste, the chat show is recorded in front of a live audience from Ballydung Manor itself.
Apart from the guest interviews, there are also quizzes (such as "Lady or Ladyboy?) and the occasional racing of hamsters and ferrets.
Given what viewers complain about on RTÉ1, it's remarkable how far Podge and Rodge are allowed to act with impunity.
Even allowing for the fact that it's a late-night show on an ostensibly "youth" channel, the latitude they enjoy on the national broadcasting channel is remarkable.
But this very transgressive approach to humour has always been a characteristic of the real-life Podge and Rodge. In a different time and a different place, they were Zig and Zag, the pair of extraterrestrial puppets who began on The Den before joining Channel 4's The Big Breakfast.
The ultimate skill with Zig and Zag was how they managed to play on one level to children and on another to adults. They released a series of best-selling albums, a lucrative merchandising range and are still fondly regarded as one of the best comic creations to come out of the country.
Their success in Britain enabled their creators to devise two new puppet characters - The Bronx Bunny and Teddy T, two ribald New Yorkers - for a show on the E4 station (affiliated to Channel 4). With a series of X-rated interviews and a regular feature on ghetto survival tips delivered in a Sesame Street style, the show is credited with being an influence on Channel 4's later offering, Avid Merrion's show, Bo Selecta.
IT IS NO secret that Zig and Zag/Podge and Rodge are two thirtysomething Dubliners, Ciaran Morrison and Mick O'Hara. Admirably though, you will never see or hear the two real life creators. The only interviews they do are in character and unlike many less talented comics, they go about their work without the constant need for hysterical media reportage.
The two are held in huge esteem by British television executives and could, one supposes, put the "For Sale" sign up on Ballydung Manor and bring Podge and Rodge to a bigger broadcaster.
What they have in their favour is the Spitting Image effect. No matter how cruelly that satirical puppet-show treated their targets, politicians and showbiz stars never felt they had really made it until they had been "done" on the programme.
Which is why Podge and Rodge can say what they say without reproach. The status of the show is now bigger than any potential humiliation awaiting a guest. It's why Victoria Beckham pleaded to be ridiculed by Ali G, and it's why what passes for the Irish Media Personality is queuing up to be ritually debased by a pair of foul-mouthed bachelor Irish farmers.
The Podge & Rodge File
Who are they: Pádraig Judas O'Lepracy and Rodraig Spartacus O'Lepracy, 54-year-old twins from Ballydung.
What they do: Podge and Rodge host their own wildly successful Grand Guignol chat show on RTÉ2. It's like watching a contemporary version of the medieval stocks - only funnier.
Likes: Shooting dolphins, taxidermy, "art" films and magazines.
Dislikes: All their guests. Each other.
What next? Hosting Celebrity Love Island.