AS SHANE COLEMAN steps into the presenter seat for The Tonight Show full-time, the Dundalk man has hit out at the abuse and aggression shown towards politicians.

“I worry about it if I’m being totally honest,” Coleman told The Journal ahead of the new season of Virgin Media’s flagship current affairs show next month. 

“I think most politicians, the vast majority of them, are in there for the right reasons. Yeah, they get things wrong, absolutely, but I think they are trying in the main to do what is best.”

Coleman said he “really dislikes the aggression” increasingly levelled at politicians, both online and in real life.

“Particularly towards female politicians, it’s a huge issue.

“And I worry that we’re going to get to the point where people will say: ‘Why the hell would I go into politics? You know, I can earn just as much money in the private sector. My hours are going to be a lot shorter, and, most importantly, I don’t have people threatening me or threatening my family or being really hostile.’

“So, I have no time for that hostility towards politicians. And, you know what?

“If you think you can do a better job, go and stand for election.

“I have massive respect for anyone who puts themselves forward at an election…and I have very little respect for people who trash that and attempt to belittle it,” Coleman said.

Coleman, who also co-anchors Newstalk’s Hard Shoulder programme with Ciara Kelly, was announced as the Tonight Show’s permanent host in June of this year after the departure of former presenter Kieran Cuddihy.

The Tonight Show has been in the midst of a transition period since the departure of Claire Brock and Ciara Doherty in November 2024, with a rotating set of hosts since then.

Cuddihy was announced as the permanent host in February of last year, but left the gig less than nine months later to replace Joe Duffy on RTÉ Radio 1′s Liveline.

Following the exit of Brock and Doherty, the show was also cut from four nights a week to two amid a changing media landscape, where more people are getting their news and analysis online rather than via traditional television.

Asked if he thinks the show can be returned to the glory days it experienced under veteran journalist and broadcaster Vincent Browne, who anchored it for 10 years up to 2017, Coleman said he isn’t “going to try and be Vincent Browne”.

“Vincent was a legend. I mean, he is one of the giants of journalism, never mind broadcasting, over the last 50 years.

“The show was brilliant when Vincent did it. I was regularly a guest on it, and I loved being a guest. You just never knew what was going to happen next.

“I’m not Vincent Browne. I’m not going to try and be Vincent Browne.

“Neither am I Kieran Cuddihy or Matt Cooper or Ivan Yates or Ciara Doherty or Sarah McInerney, you know. I mean, there’s been a long series of really good, really professional presenters on the show. Hopefully, I’ll put my own stamp on it. I’m not going to try and be any of those people. I’m just going to be myself, basically, and we’ll see how that goes,” Coleman said. 

Coleman, who has published four books on Irish politics and has previously worked as a political correspondent for the former paper The Sunday Tribune, said his plan for the Tonight Show is to offer people informed debate and expert analysis on issues that are being discussed by ordinary people.

“When I think of The Tonight Show, if I think of my typical viewer, I’m thinking of a couple who work hard during the day, they’ve got kids, life’s a bit hectic, they’re maybe picking up a bit of news here and there, and at the end of the day, they just want to sit down and they want to be entertained.

“And it’s really important we’re entertaining. We’re not here to give a tutorial to people or anything. But also, we want to inform people and give them incisive, informed analysis so they can get up to speed on the issues of the day,” Coleman said.

“That’s the ambition. I don’t think social media can do that, and that’s why I think shows like The Tonight Show are so important.”