The Right Hook is a late afternoon to early evening talk programme broadcast on the Dublin, Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

-based national Newstalk commercial radio station, and hosted by George Hook

George Hook

George Hook is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and rugby union pundit. He had a career as a rugby union coach and businessman, before becoming a rugby pundit with Raidió Teilifís Éireann...

.

It was the first radio show in Ireland to broadcast the show entirely live via web cam on the internet.

Features

As well as featuring news and current affairs interviews and analysis, a number of regular segments feature including technology with Joe Drumgoole, travel with Fionn Davenport, movies with Philip Molloy and sport, which features regular contributions from well-known Irish sport pundits such as Johnny Giles

Johnny Giles

Michael John "Johnny" Giles is a former association footballer and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s...

, Liam Griffin

Liam Griffin

Liam Griffin is a retired Irish hurling manager and former player. He played hurling at various times with his local clubs Rosslare and Newmarket-on Fergus with the Wexford and Clare senior inter-county teams in the 1960s. Griffin later served as manager of the Wexford senior inter-county team...

 and Jim Glennon

Jim Glennon

Jim Glennon is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician and former Irish International rugby player. He was a Teachta Dála for the Dublin North constituency from 2002–2007....

. On Fridays, the outspoken right-wing talk show host Michael Graham links up live from Boston.

History

The Right Hook is the only show that has been presented since the start of Newstalk by the same presenter. While Off The Ball has also been a staple since day one, original presenter Ger "Pippy" Gilroy has since been replaced by Eoin McDevitt.

Garrett Harte was the original producer, and is credited by Hook on his autobiography Time Added On with moulding him into the presenter he is today. Harte was later appointed Newstalk's station editor and the show is currently produced by Mark Simpson.

The show is well known for Hook's opinionated style of broadcasting and regularly travels around Ireland for on-location broadcasts. Throughout the course of the 2008 US Presidential Election Campaign, Hook broadcast from key locations in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 such as New York for Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday

In the United States, Super Tuesday, in general, refers to the Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party's presidential candidates are officially nominated...

, Denver for the 2008 Democratic National Convention

2008 Democratic National Convention

The United States 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver,...

 and Washington D.C. for both the 2008 election and the inauguration of Barack Obama

Inauguration of Barack Obama

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C., marked the commencement of the four-year term of Barack Obama as President and Joe...

 as 44th President of the United States in January 2009.

During campaigning ahead of the 2011 Irish presidential election, Fine Gael

Fine Gael

Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...

 candidate Gay Mitchell

Gay Mitchell

Gabriel "Gay" Mitchell is an Irish politician and Member of the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency since 2004. He is a member of Fine Gael, part of the European People's Party, and a former Teachta Dála for the Dublin South Central constituency from 1981–2007. He was defeated by...

 made a joke about suicide on while appearing on The Right Hook. He promised to "jump off O'Connell Bridge

O'Connell Bridge

O'Connell Bridge is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey in Dublin, and joining O'Connell Street to D'Olier Street, Westmoreland Street and the south quays.-History:...

" if he was asked to smile. Founding Secretary of the Irish Association of Suicidology Dr John Connolly described Mitchell's comment as "unfortunate".

External links

• The Right Hook at Newstalk