KEITH: A very good morning to you. Well, we have a lot of young people, so we have, in the studio today. Because every year around this time, our friend from Hollywood drops in just to say Hello. We're not going to hold him too long today because he's on a break, on a holiday. Gabriel Byrne, a very good morning to you. How are you?
GABRIEL: Very well, Keith. Thank you.
KEITH: This is kind of an annual event here now.
GABRIEL: Well, I think the only reason I come over to Ireland is to do the Keith Finnegan Show.
KEITH: [Laughs] Sure, the payment is so vast.
GABRIEL: You know it allows me to just live scot-free for the rest of the year.
KEITH: We've been trying, we thought, to do the place up a little bit, so we just painted the place for you before you arrived. Is it OK for you?
GABRIEL: I wouldn't have recognized it, and the fact it's now the most modern radio station in Europe, you tell me.
KEITH: Yeah. And you believe everything I tell you. Now tell the young people around here, Gabriel. It's the most modern. How are you?
GABRIEL: Very well, thanks. And I'm delighted to be back in Galway again. (Keith: Yeah.) I don't think that I've missed a year in .. a .. it will be 14 years (Keith: 14 years?) every single year. Yeah, I love coming back here. It's a great town. I really like the people here. And of course all my ---a lot of my family are here. And--
KEITH: We have got a message sent this morning here from Tom, your brother-in-law down in Talco Antiques. Got a special load in this morning and He's trying to ride on the success that you're having. So would you ever tell them all to go down to Talco?
GABRIEL: I never heard of him at all. What is his name?
KEITH: Oh, you disown him? Tom ----
GABRIEL: Tom O'Loughlin. Of (Keith: yeah.) of Talco Antiques (Keith: yeah.). Oh yes, yes. That's where you get the bargains.
KEITH: Yeah. He tried to get in the back door, did he.
GABRIEL: He did?
KEITH: Tried to join the family the back door, by marrying Breda. [Gabriel laughs]
KEITH: And you, with or without your contacts, he has a new load in and he said he's operating and it's very important. How has life been treating you? You've been on the stage. You've been doing lots and lots of different things, so you have.
GABRIEL: Yes, I've just finished a run of A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O'Neill on Broadway. I was doing that for 6 months. And that was enormously successful. But extremely, extremely tiring as you can imagine, cause Eugene O'Neill's a very emotionally demanding kind of play write, so it was tough going for about 6 months, but it was exhilarating at the same time.
KEITH: How do you find being back on stage? Was it different than your TV work? Camera work?
GABRIEL: Oh, yeah. Obviously, yeah. It's a different ... a very different technique, but I began my career on stage; so it's something you don't forget, like a bicycle. Which you have to do, but it took me a couple of weeks to feel my way again. But once I, once I found it, I realized what I had been missing all those years.
KEITH: But the nightly grind of it, Gabriel, did it take a lot out of you?
GABRIEL: Yeah, it is, but at the same time, it's a tremendous discipline, too. Because there's no way you can get out of it. You can't say, "Well, I don't feel so well", or "You know, I think I'll do something else". You have to do it. And with Eugene O'Neill, especially, it's not something you can phone in. You have to really be there, because it is, as I said, a very emotionally demanding thing.
KEITH: How were you asked to get to go back up on stage again? How did that approach come?
GABRIEL: They just … just asked me and you know the time was right I felt. I had been talking about going back to the stage for quite a while, and I think they had heard about this. And, and the part they asked me to play, which was James Tyrone, Jr., which is a character based on Eugene O'Neill's brother. Uh ... who, who died at 39. But I ... I had been told that was one of the most difficult roles in American Classical Theater. So, that kind of whetted my appetite as well. So, it was a real challenge to do.
KEITH: So, you really need the break in Galway with the fresh wind...
GABRIEL: [Laughing] I don't know that Galway is a break, to tell you the truth. I mean it's a beautiful city and I
love coming here, but there's never a, there's never a moment that I...that I'm not doing something.
KEITH: Did you get a chance to have a walk on your own yet?
GABRIEL: I did, yeah. I did go up around the Mary Road up there. It's really, really beautiful up there. Yeah, but I love walking in Kinbarron and Marion. I've got a lot of walks that I just...
KEITH: Just let the breeze run through the hair.
GABRIEL: Through the brain.
KEITH: No mobile phones.
GABRIEL: No mobile phones. No.
KEITH: No people a-roarin’ at you.
GABRIEL: No, I don't carry a phone here.
KEITH: You're dead right. You have Jack with you, so you have. Where's Jack. Oh, Jack is in front of you. Hi Jack! How are you doing?
JACK: Good.
KEITH: Are you behaving yourself?
JACK: Yeah.
KEITH: Is Auntie Breda being good to you?
JACK: Uh-huh.
KEITH: Is she?
JACK: Yep.
KEITH: You want to say hello to Granny, I know, so you do.
JACK: Hi Granny.
GABRIEL: [whispers to Romey] Do you want to say something?
ROMEY: [Loudly] HI!
KEITH: Oh my ears!
GABRIEL: [whisper] Don't talk so loud. [laughing]
ROMEY: OK.
KEITH: I think you just volleyed it, so you did. So you want to say hello to Granny. Granny is in the Orn Morn Nursing Home, isn't she?
ROMEY: I know.
[Everyone laughs]
KEITH: And how is she, Gabriel? I know she had a bit of a start during the year. But, is she in good form?
ROMEY: Yeah.
GABRIEL: Yes.
KEITH: She's going to be on stage isn't she?
GABRIEL: Oh please. --- You know she is already...a --- all of these are actresses, that's a ...
JACK: How can I be an actress, when I'm a BOY!
[Everyone laughing and talking]
ROMEY: Hey!
KEITH: All of these are actresses, yes?
GABRIEL: That's Anya. This is Lana. She is from New York. This is Noreen. She's from Bonny Morn and this is Jack, and this is a...a...Olivia.
VICTORIA: Victoria!
GABRIEL: Oh Victoria. Victoria, I was just testing you out there. And this is, this is Romey.
ROMEY: Hi. How do you do?
KEITH: (laughs) Romey, I think you have your mother's and father's spirit, so you have, absolutely. And then down the line, we got Breda, and who's on the couch down here now, Gabriel?
GABRIEL: We have Breda and her friend Eileen and then you have Doris, is from New York and Leigh Ann is from California.
KEITH: So they're all keeping a close eye on you, so they are.
GABRIEL: A...yeah. I would say so.
ROMEY: No, she's not. Leigh Ann's not from California. She's from Arizona.
[Gabriel laughing]
KEITH: Arizona. I'm just a, I'm delighted you got these things right. We'll have to get you another go at it.
GABRIEL: Nothing gets by Romey.
KEITH: Now, we have to ask you about romance, otherwise cause you won't tell me. You haven't told me in the last 5 years so you ain't going to tell me now.
[Gabriel laughing]
KEITH: Can I twist this over to Dad now, Romey, if you don't mind. [moves microphone] You aren't going to tell me about romance are you?
GABRIEL: A...is that the name of a band, Keith?
KEITH: What type of music does Romance play, I wonder. Nothing's happening there?
GABRIEL: Well, I'll tell you when, if anything does happen, you'll be...you'll be the first to know about it.
KEITH: Will I know this break or will it be next break?
[Both laughing]
KEITH: I need an all exclusive.
GABRIEL: For sure it will be an exclusive. Yeah. Yeah.
KEITH: So you're just enjoying your life and walking and there's nobody else ruffling your hair. The wind is the only thing that is getting close to it.
GABRIEL: (laughing) That was well put, Keith.
KEITH: Tell you one thing, so you... Are you heading to the races?
GABRIEL: Well, you know what? Everybody in Galway says that to me. A..are you going to the races and I really don't...I a... I...a
KEITH: He's getting his hair done leaning down. His daughter has taken over his hair so don't you worry about me. His daughter is doing his hair for him. So you're not going to the races?
GABRIEL: I'm not really into the races at all, but it looks like it will be good weather for it. But I'm not really into the races at all. The last time we were here we went to the dogs, myself and Jack.
JACK: I won money.
GABRIEL: Jack won like five races in a row. So maybe we'll go back to the races tomorrow night.
KEITH: You'll go back to the dogs maybe?
GABRIEL: But not the races. I'm never interested in horses really.
KEITH: A bit like myself, not interested in the horses. Listen, do you want to say-- just if you'll pull back to the microphone, there and you will want to say a big Hi to Granny, because I know she needs-- she needs your support. She needs-- I better turn this around. Pull back a bit and say a big Hi to Granny, because she's listening to us at the Home. Go on.
JACK: Hi Granny.
OTHER CHILDREN: Hi Granny. Hi Granny.
ANOTHER CHILD: Hi Mom.
ROMEY: Hiya.
GABRIEL: OK, Keith. I'd just like to say thank you to the, to the staff at the Orn Morn Nursing Home who are taking great care of my mother and also to the doctors and nurses in the... a...
KEITH: University of Galway Hospital. St. Patrick's ward.
GABRIEL: St. Patrick's ward, yeah.
KEITH: I can understand Breda's sign language. When you get as much news as I do across the table, Breda. I could understand St. Patrick's ward.
GABRIEL: They really did. She was brought in there recently and they did an incredible job there, really, really brilliant and of course I'd like to just mention a word for Croi and for people to continue to support...uh... the local...uh...
KEITH: Charity.
GABRIEL: charity, Croi. Which I'm still attached to and thanks, just to thank everybody for all the tremendous work that they've done on behalf of Croi and the contributions they have made over the years and I know you've helped out there yourself, Keith and it's really made a huge difference to the people of the west of Ireland.
KEITH: And long may it continue. What do you do from here now, Gabriel? I know you're going into a new series. Which we're going to leave to one side and see how it goes. And what do you do from here? You're going to take another couple of weeks off. Is that what you'll do?
GABRIEL: Yes, I'm going to take another couple of weeks off. I'm going to take maybe another week in Ireland and then maybe go to...uh Nantucket and then uh...
CHILDREN whispering.
KEITH: They want you to talk about the new series, Dad.
ROMEY: No, you're too serious.
GABRIEL: They're telling me I'm too serious.
ROMEY: You're too serious.
KEITH: Wait, you think your Dad is too serious, do ya?
ROMEY: [Cheerfully] Yeah, yeah, yeah, he is. Don't worry, Gilligan. You'll cheer up!
[Gabriel laughing]
KEITH: [Laughing] I thought they wanted you to talk about the new series. But he's too serious, is he? He's always good fun, is he? He's always good fun, yes? The oldest goes along, yeah.
ROMEY: Yeah, he is.
KEITH: Yeah, sons will do that alright, but daughters always tend to agree. So you're going to take another week off in Ireland, and then you're going to head out.
GABRIEL: Yeah.
ROMEY: [Cheerfully] Tend to agree!
GABRIEL: [Laughing] To Nantucket, yeah.
KEITH: Nantucket. Enjoy yourself. We're going to check them out, so we are ,Gabriel.
GABRIEL: Oh yes, Keith, they want to ...they want you to play a request on your magic computer there.
KEITH: I'd love to play a request.
ALL THE CHILDREN TOGETHER: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Californication!
KEITH: You want what?
CHILDREN: (louder) Red Hot Chili Peppers, Californication!
EVERYONE laughing.
KEITH: Do you... Do you know about this subject any, Mr. Byrne. Do you?
GABRIEL: Well, uh, the Red Hot Chili Peppers-- Californication..Huh? and a.. Oh yeah. (A child says something.) Yeah sure.
KEITH: Yeah, go on a second.
CHILD: Hi Dad!
KEITH: That's your Da. You're Tom's daughter aren't you?
CHILD: Yeah.
KEITH: You're Tom's daughter. He doesn't stay long at all down at Talco this week, or there'll be no food for the weekend. Do you know that? That's what he told me, he told me that. I believe I just got a message in. It's from the nursing home.
ANOTHER CHILD: Hi Camille.
KEITH: And they say that your mom is a fan of Jonathan O'Brien, did you realize that?
GABRIEL: Yes, I knew she was, yes.
KEITH: And they want me to play, to do… A Farewell to Galway is the one they want to hear, but I can't find it. Then we're going to pick something. Oh, I have it on Track 17. I told you technology was gone, didn't I, no more CD's.
GABRIEL: Yeah.
KEITH: Then I have to turn round and rely on a CD, have to turn round and rely on a CD. Listen, Gabriel, nice to talk to you.
GABRIEL: Thank you, Keith.
KEITH: Regards to Mom, enjoy shopping or whatever you're going to do. And this is.... especially. What's your mom's name, Gabriel? Mrs. Byrne, we'll refer to.
GABRIEL: Are you going to play the Red Hot Chili Peppers?
KEITH: I'll play that after. If I played that Red Hot Chili Peppers right after that thing, some of my listeners would turn the radio just off like that. So I'll play it just before I'm finished, just as you're going into town shopping, I promise you. We're going to send this out to your Grand. This is called Farewell to Galway. Gabriel, thanks for joining us and to Breda and to friends as well. Thanks for joining us again.
GABRIEL: We enjoyed it, Keith.
KEITH: Enjoy the break, enjoy the dogs. Technology... will it work? I wonder then.
CHILDREN TOGETHER: Bye!
KEITH: I reckon will it work for me this time round?
PLAYS A Farewell to Galway and a few commercials.
KEITH: A very good morning to you. We're just having a little chat here, so we are. The Byrne family are still here and we were having a chat with Gabriel en familia. Thank you, Gabriel. Good luck to you and God bless.
GABRIEL: Thanks.
KEITH: Thanks for dropping in today. [they leave] They wanted the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Among the artists, I found it here, so I did, and we'll play it for them quite shortly as well.
Lovely, lovely, lovely people, just stopping in to say hello when they're in town. Just simple down to earth people. Just talking there the last time I spoke to Gabriel, we spoke about other people indeed involved in his life. He told me by the time he left here and got back to Los Angeles, the papers over there were quoting the radio station here. It just shows how small the world is.
AFTER another guest and more commercials, Keith plays the children's request. Afterwards he said something about wasn't that different, now Mrs. Byrne knows what the grandkids are listening to. Then he read a few messages that were phoned or emailed in, mostly about movies Gabriel was in.
Thank you so much BP and daughter for putting a lot of hard work into making this transcript available for us all!
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