RYAN TUBRIDY surprised 2fm listeners this morning by kicking off his new 9am show today – three days before he was scheduled to take the slot.

The Late Late Show host was due to take over the slot, vacated by the late Gerry Ryan, on Monday morning – but tweeted yesterday, after meeting with 2fm controller John McMahon, that he’d be bringing the launch forward:

Just had conversation with Mr.2FM.I will now be busy tomorrow morning at 9am.Work to do.Goodnight and good luck. See you on the other side.

Tubridy then began his new show, simply called ‘Tubridy’, with an early tribute to his predecessor, saying he “wished it weren’t so” that he had taken over the prime morning broadcast slot in such conditions – though not before reviewing the day’s newspapers, just as Ryan would have done.

Within an hour, he had secured a live telephone interview with U2 frontman Bono, who said Gerry had come to him in a dream the night before, and had uttered an unfortunate line…

Et tu, JimJim?

…referring to the decision of the former breakfast show host, JimJim Nugent, to quit the broadcaster via YouTube video earlier this week.

Before the show Tubridy explained that he was “nervous as hell” and implied that he had wanted to kick off the show early, without the sense of occasion that would have come with a much-hyped launch show anticipated for Monday.