The 2 Johnnies say they don't lose sleep over ratings as RTE show Late Night Lock In returns

The 2 Johnnies have said they don’t "lose sleep" over ratings as their new series Late Night Lock In returns to our screens.

Returning tonight at 9.35pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, viewers can anticipate a lively and unpredictable mix of celebrity guests, live music, silly games, and stand-up comedy, hosted by Johnny Smacks and Johnny B.

But the pair said they don’t worry too much about the ratings and never lose sleep.

READ MORE: The 2 Johnnies reveal why they left RTE 2FM and discuss potential future return to radio

READ MORE: The 2 Johnnies say they felt like they were 'butter scraped over bread' as they talk about 2FM exit

Johnny Smacks told us: "Yeah, no, we don't. We're not losing sleep over the ratings, and we're not ringing up people like looking for the ratings. Someone will tell us, I'm sure if they're bad, I'm sure we'd hear about it.

"We genuinely don't worry. We're more worried about the content of the show and how it comes across, and that we make sure that our job is to give people a bit of entertainment on a Thursday night, give them a laugh, have a bit of craic.

"We don't take ourselves too seriously. The show is not a real, you know, serious show. So, we genuinely don't worry about ratings. And we never have in anything that we have done."

Johnny B added: "It's different too. I mean, something goes out on Thursday night, you could be up against the Champions League final, and then your show could get bigger ratings, you know, out the tail of it, like on the RTE Player, or a couple clips could go viral on social media that were part of the TV show, and that builds up a general awareness, and then it might pick up over time.

"So it's not, you know, the ratings in the next morning are important, but, you know, like, the way people consume TV is changing too so it can be hard to know how much to read into it."

The RTE2 show returns tonight and the Tipperary duo will be joined by Derry Girls star Jamie Lee O’Donnell who will be joining in on the fun and games on the night.

Also catching up with the lads are comedy legends Jason Byrne and Gearóid Farrelly, while Ruaille Buaille will be bringing the tunes.

Also making a comeback this series are fan-favourites Dub or Culchie?, the infamous Doghouse and of course The Parish Quiz. With lots of surprises in store, The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In will showcase the great characters, humour, music, and craic to be found in pubs throughout the country.

Johnny B said: "Having the first series under the belt has been massive for us because last year going in and to be honest, we didn’t quite know how it was going to work or if it was going to work.

"So now we understand the principles of what we are trying to do, you can push, pull and break the rules a little bit more."

The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In - Roz Purcell, Chris Kent and Kayleigh Trappe with the boys

Johnny Smacks said: "Last year was a great experience… it’s onto series two trying to make it bigger, better and bolder and wilder."

Johnny B added: "I think we’re not as afraid to take chances because we know from last year what worked and what didn’t work and so we’re able to mess about a bit more."

The former 2FM stars said "they don’t live their lives" worrying about upsetting people on social media.

Johnny Smacks said: "You can’t live your lives worrying about upsetting people on Twitter. I think people will choose to be upset on Twitter a lot of the time and I’m sure they’ll find something to be upset about."

Johnny B said: "We work with a great production company and people bring a different experience to what we have. They wouldn’t have asked us to do a show if they didn’t like what we do but also we need their experience too.

"Between us we meet in the middle and there’s lots of over and back, we don’t always agree but that is what it is to be working in a creative space – everyone has to put on their big boy pants and be told that is a bad idea. We go over and back and hammer it out."

He said they have a great producer that “controls the funny”.

"On the podcast you can take a chance and something might go on for half an hour and edit it down to two minutes but when you’re doing a TV show on a big station.. because of all the handheld cameras in a mad area, the team really need to know that it is going to work.

"There is a lot of money and a lot of effort that goes into every segment."

Johnny Smacks said: “We’ve chanced loads of things on the fly on the podcast and we think ‘that kind of worked’ but kind of worked isn’t good enough for television.

"The great thing about the producers and the team we have is if we came in with some mad idea, they wouldn’t just go ‘no, boys you can’t do that’.

"It is a very collaborative process which is something that is important to us."

The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In airs Thursday, October 3 at 9.35pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.

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