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
Ryan Tubridy place which is so full of ego and bizarre resentment". Tubridy was also influenced by the "nerd made good" style of British broadcaster Chris Evans. Later he worked as a reporter for "Today with Pat Kenny", as well as occasionally presenting the radio news show "Five Seven Live". In the summer of 1999, Tubridy presented "Morning Glory" on RTÉ Radio 1 and in July 2000 he moved to "The Sunday Show". From 2002 until 2005 he presented RTÉ 2fm's morning breakfast show, "The Full Irish". The move to the morning by Head of 2fm John Clarke was seen as risky,