Rylan Clark-Neal reveals all about his new late night talk show

From the heart of London’s West End, Channel 5 is unleashing Rylan Clark-Neal for late night fun and frivolity in Up Late With Rylan, airing throughout May. This lively and irreverent late night show will be packed full of engaging celebrities, social buzz, live music and mischievous late night games.  Featuring a live studio audience, the series will be interactive and edgy and if you’re not ready for bed, stay up late with Rylan!

Please can you describe Up Late With Rylan?

It's a late night entertainment show which is a hybrid of all sorts of different influences. It's a lively mix of chat, entertainment and games; it's been inspired by all of my favourite parts of all of my favourite shows.

Such as…?

Growing up, I've always loved watching things like Chatty Man and Graham Norton, and I've always liked the way they have a lovely time chatting to their guests. I love Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway as well, and that idea of giving something back to the audience. And I love the silly games of Celebrity Juice. We've come up with all our own brand new ideas for Up Late, but that gives you an idea. It's a hybrid of all the shows I've been on, but we've given it the Rylan touch, and put it into one show.

And what is the 'Rylan touch'? What do you bring to it?

A big set of teeth! And I bring the viewer to it. What I mean by that is, I'm a viewer myself. So I represent you, at home, asking the questions that you want to ask. I'm just normal. I'm not a TV host like that. I just enjoy it, and I want people to feel they're having a night out with me. Guests will come on the show to promote their single or their book, but I'm not going to be one of them, 'Ooh, tell me about your boring book', I'm going to be more, 'I loved your book, I loved the bit where you fell over and your tits fell out'. Nobody will be sat at home going, 'Why isn't he asking about that?'. I'll ask anything.

How did Up Late With Rylan come about?

It's been a long time coming, we've been talking about it for a while. But I didn't want to run before I could walk. Working at Big Brother and This Morning has been the best training, and now I feel really pepped up and it's the right time.

It's on at 11pm; does that mean you can be a bit cheeky and rude?

Yeah. I looked at the success of The Late Late Show in America, and we haven't got that sort of thing here that you can just watch if you're a bit of a night owl, or you've just got in from a night out. At that time of night, all we've got in the UK is just repeats or news based shows, no entertainment. I'm always searching for something to watch at that time of night. So this is going to be a late night destination. Just like This Morning is a staple of your morning, this is going to be a staple of your late night. It's something that's not been done for about 20 years.

Is it live?

It's recorded just a few hours beforehand, and it's recorded 'as live'. Other shows of this type are all recorded over a few hours, and then edited down. Ours has no edit.

What's your biggest fear; what could go wrong?

Everything! Absolutely everything. Most shows just edit down to all the best bits and they're all slick, but ours, if something goes wrong, you'll see it.

Will you be offering your guests a glass of wine like Graham Norton and Alan Carr?

No. We're not going to be having a glass of wine. We're not going to have a drinks cabinet. We're going to have a fully fledged bar. We'll be having guest barmaids every week. We're coming from the heart of London, The Hospital Club, and it will be buzzing. The studio is amazing, out of this world.

How did you choose your guests?

It's a mixture. A lot of it is a matter of who is over in the UK at the moment doing promotion. A lot of it is people I've worked with and never had a chance to put them on the spot. There's going to be a lot of different people on there. We're going to have actors, actresses, comedians, TV presenters. music performances.

Can you tell us about any of the regular slots?

A lot of them have to be secret for now because they involve surprising people, and we don't want to ruin the surprise! But I can tell you about a few. We're going to do a lot of audience interaction. If you want to be part of the show, you just have to ask. It's the people's show. It's not just Up Late With Rylan, it's up late with everyone. There's going to be one slot where we find someone who works really hard, and we're going to give them a day off, and I'm going to go and do their job for a day.

What are the other slots?

We'll do another one where we go out and find someone a boyfriend or a girlfriend on social media. And there's another one, I can't go into detail, but it brings a whole new meaning to, 'bring your old'. One woman's rubbish is another woman's treasure: we'll leave it at that. And one I'm really looking forward to is Throwback Thursdays. I'm bringing them all back! If you grew up with them, I'm bringing them back. It's a bit, 'Where are they now?', but ten times bigger. We'll be looking at the TV shows you loved, the pop stars you loved.

You mentioned Graham Norton and Alan Carr earlier. What does it feel like to be joining them as a late night host?

Surreal. I remember in January when I was at the National Television Awards, and I saw Graham Norton and said, 'I'm so sorry, Graham'. I couldn't believe I was nominated in the same category as him. I was looking around at all these people I've grown up watching and learning from, and it was crazy to be amongst them. I felt like a fraud because Bit On The Side is brilliant but it's a side show, it hasn't got my name in it like theirs has! To be doing a show now that is my own show, my chat, I'm running it - it's amazing.

Have you asked anyone like Graham or Alan for any advice?

No, purely because when I over-think something, I screw it up. This Morning love me and hate me at the same time, because I'm supposed to get there at 7am and go through every brief and do my homework on everyone. I turn up at 10.15am and go straight into the show, because that's how I work. I'm the viewer: the viewer hasn't had a brief or done any research. When I'm sitting with a Hollywood actor, it's not my job to sell their film, it's their job - it's my job to be like the viewer and go, 'What do you mean? Why did you do that?'

Who would be your dream guest on Up Late With Rylan?

All five Spice Girls. It's my one wish in life, to get them all in one room together. Someone's got to do something, surely? I would just die if I pulled it off. I would settle for one Spice Girl, though.

Will you be doing any singing?

I don't know, but it could happen. If I've got a guest on who's performing, I might join in and do a duet. Who knows? Anything could happen on this show.

Up Late With Rylan, Monday to Thursday at 11pm from 9 th May on Channel 5.