The unsung hero of Liveline: Who is the man behind 'talk to Joe'?

Extra.ie​

a day ago

After nearly three decades, Joe Duffy will be bidding farewell to the airwaves as he presents his final episode of Liveline.
Since 1999, the country have tuned into Joe to listen to the qualms of the nation, ranging from good deeds of strangers to how 'it's a disgrace' ('it' changing regularly over the years). But, of course, something even more familiar than 'good afternoon to you' was a bass-filled, disembodied voice telling people to 'talk to Joe on 0818 715 815.'
While some may have never realised who was the man behind the iconic intro, RTÉ have since released a video of the man behind the voice — well-known voice actor, Jonathan Ryan. @rtenews Joe Duffy will present RTÉ's 'Liveline' for the final time today. Listeners have been able to 'Talk to Joe' on air since 1999. Meet the man behind the voice, inviting the nation to tell their stories for nearly 30 years. Link in bio to read more 📲 #rtenews #liveline #talktojoe ♬ original sound – RTÉ News
'I've been doing radio and television commercials since 1980,' Jonathan told RTÉ in a video shared to their TikTok, before joking that the way he says 715 815 (you don't even have to imagine it — you already know the cadence) is his 'main thing.'
'I developed a particular way of saying that which would be very familiar to people,' Jonathan said. 'In the late 90s, Joe took over [Liveline] and I was brought in to say 'talk to Joe.' We would tweak it once a year, do a rerun of it once a year, with any little changes that were necessary.'
Despite being the second regular voice on the show, Jonathan revealed that he's only ever met Joe once or twice in the past 30 years, however — but added that he was a natural for Liveline as he's 'very easy to talk to… I was delighted to be a part of that. People say 'was that you?' and I say 'yeah that's me.' I liked it very much.' Jonathan is an accomplished voice actor and actor — as well as being the original Bosco. Pic: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin
Believe it or not, Jonathan actually has a long list of credits on both stage and screen to his name — including as Gerry Adams in Omagh, Greg Hartnett in the Clinic and Bill Taylor in Fair City.
However, many would recognise that he was also a presenter on Bosco; and even voiced the puppet himself in the original season.
As for Joe, he's presenting his final episode of Liveline on Friday (June 27) and spoke about what he plans to do when he wraps up at 3pm — but ruled out going for the Presidency. Joe will hang up the mic at 3pm on Friday, June 27. Pic: RTÉ
'I can see the Áras from Claddagh Green, that's the closest I'll ever get to it,' he told Morning Ireland. 'I'm still a part of RTÉ effectively until Monday, so no. I won't lose the run of myself… there's some great names being mentioned so far.'