The Gerry Ryan Show begged him "on bended knees" and "over whiskey" to stay with 2fm but at the same time Ryan was impressed that Tubridy was willing to compete with him directly. Tubridy has credited Ryan with being "one of the few gentlemen in [RTÉ]", saying he had been "very kind to me when I started out in RTÉ making tea and coffee and right all the way up to the very day I got "The Late Late Show" job". In 2004, Ryan was the subject of controversy when he cancelled an interview with the Taoiseach of the time, Bertie Ahern. Ahern had
Death of Gerry Ryan posthumous lifetime achievement award was collected by the Ryan family some weeks after the funeral during the TV Now Awards. In June RTÉ 2fm was reported to be "haemorrhaging" 10,000 listeners every week since the death of Gerry Ryan as RTÉ struggled to confirm a successor. Melanie Verwoerd later spoke of the difficulties she had listening to Gerry Ryan's eventual RTÉ 2fm successor Ryan Tubridy. Tubridy took over the role on 20 August 2010, paying tribute to Gerry and having Bono as a guest on his opening show. Lottie and Rex Ryan received a posthumous accolade on behalf of their