Patrick Kielty kicked off the new season of The Late Late Show with his signature aplomb on Friday night, hosting a jam-packed show in which he announced the air date for this year's Toy Show.
As he opened the show, the host joked that it's the "scariest day of the year and your worst nightmare has come true - I'm back for my second season of the Late Late!"
After an entertaining opening monologue that included a few Enoch Burke and Donald Trump jibes, the Co Down presenter welcomed his first guests, the Kabin Crew and Lisdoonvarna Crew.
They got the show got off to an energetic start as they hopped around the studio belting out their irrepressible hit The Spark.
Crew member Martin recalled their reaction to the song going viral early last summer: "It was just crazy, I don't think anybody in the Kabin expected it, anybody in the world expected it! Somehow it blew up."
Kielty went on to present a selection of the young rappers with the inaugural Late Late Legend Award, which prompted a celebratory "Up Knocknaheeny!" from Martin. Legends indeed.
After an amusing prompt from the crew members, Kielty donned a Santa hat and delivered the news we've all been waiting for.
"On Friday 6 December the studio will be hosting a little thing called the Toy Show," he said. "Applications for the Toy Show are now officially open.
"We're looking for amazing kids from every county in Ireland to join us in the studio, so parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, neighbours, teachers, SNAs and coaches, we want to hear from you.
"If you know a kid that you would like to see on the Toy Show send them our way, and who knows they could be joining me on the most magical night of the year."
Liverpool comedian John Bishop joined Kielty next to discuss how he recently discovered he's 65% Irish.
"I went on this DNA show and I found out why I've always liked the rain. I've always loved Daniel O'Donnell, when it happened it felt like coming home," he shared.
Bishop also joked about the difference between performing in front of Irish and American audiences.
"Ireland is my home and I'll go anywhere in Ireland," he said. "The next thing was to go to America, it's an extension of Ireland, and I loved it, but the difficulty is it's got Americans in it, and they just don't get everything we get."
The audience rose to their feet for the next segment as the Late Late welcomed home Ireland's Olympic and Paralympic champions.
Pommel horse victor Rhys McClenaghan said of taking home the gold medal: "It's hard to say that you're definitely going to win an Olympic gold medal, and that's something I never actually done, what I did say was that I wanted to win the gold medal, I wanted it so bad, more than anything in the world and I'm glad it's happened."
Paralympic silver medallist Eve McCrystal said of her experience at the games: "The experience was amazing, it was my last games, my third games. You go in and you want to finish on a high, so to go in and get the silver medal in the velodrome, it's still sinking in. It was a phenomenal experience."
Continuing the sporting theme, the audience was treated to the vision of Kielty wearing his jazziest trousers as he headed to Co Down to meet golfing legend Rory McIlroy at the Irish Open.
The legendary golfer said of taking part in the Irish Open: "The love's here so the pressure's off in that way. I've won the Irish Open before which is lovely as well, I still feel the pressure because I want to perform.
"I don't get the chance to play in front of my home fans very often so when I do get the opportunity I try so hard to play well. I find myself trying a bit too hard sometimes when I come back home."
McIlroy opened up about taking a break from the game earlier this year, saying: "There's been a lot going on this year, golf wise and personal wise. Sometimes life can get a lot as you know, it can get too much.
"I had to take a little bit of a break and get away from the game more than anything else. Golf and the business of golf had become all-consuming for me for the past couple of years and I needed to take a bit of time away to realise what was really important to me - friends, family, enjoying myself."
The professional golfer also spoke about his support of Daisy Lodge, a therapeutic centre in Newcastle, Co Down for families across the island of Ireland affected by cancer.
He said: "For me, you look at these families that have been so unfortunate to have to deal with cancer. I visited the Cancer Fund for Children and I decided I wanted to help fund a new facility for them because I saw the work that the staff does, I saw how appreciative that the families were that they had a place to go.
"To be able to help in some small way to provide something for those families, it's incredibly fulfilling."
Folk music royalty John Sheahan and Phil Coulter also joined Kielty to unveil Sheahan's new stage show The Dubliners Encore, with Sheahan saying: "The Dubliners finished touring 12 years ago, 2012, and a lot of people lamented the fact that it had come to the end of an era."
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