Mark Stedman / Photocall Ireland Mark Stedman / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

LAST NIGHT BRENDAN O’Connor announced that the Saturday Night Show is coming to an end.

He dropped the bombshell unexpectedly during the show, confirming that his hold on Saturday night’s will come to an end, with Ray D’Arcy coming on board to present his own show on the same night in the autumn.

O’Connor’s not going too far though, he’ll be back in 2016 with his own prime time programme, and RTÉ has said he will remain in a “central” role.

He’s been presenting the Saturday Night Show for five years, and has had some shockers (and some triumphs) in that time.

Here’s how he earned those RTÉ gagillions…

1. When he managed to get through the Pussy Riot interview without breaking down or tipping himself out a window

Ireland cringed like it has never cringed before when Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina from the Russian feminist punk group Pussy Riot sat down for a chat with Brendan.

Remember when he kept calling them “girls”?

And then they walked off?

Hold us.

2. When the international press got wind of it

Dazed and Confused called it “inane chatshow banter”.

There there Brendan. There there. Have some euro to mop up the tears.

3. And then Stephen Colbert did it so much better

We catalogued the differences between the two.

4. When this…

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led to this….

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and this…

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and this…

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Unwittingly, O’Connor, The Saturday Night Show and RTÉ brought the homophobia debate to the forefront in Ireland. Give him a pay rise. Give him your house!

5. When he told a heckler to “sit down you clown”

Everyone knows that “clown” is one of the harshest Irish insults ever.

6. When he had to deal with this guff from Noel Gallagher

https://vine.co/v/O22xKAQpg6K

He threw Kathryn Thomas under the bus. And put up with Gallagher miming. Heroic stuff.

7. When he had to deal with George Hook’s naked ankles

There isn’t enough money in the world.

8. The time he sang Elvis on his own show

Double jobbing, the poor lamb. Give him another pay rise. Give him two!

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