The countdown is on to this year's much anticipated Late Late Toy Show, only one more sleep! Now in its 42nd year, the annual show has entertained literally generations of us and is undoubtedly the highlight of the TV schedule for children and adults alike.

Down the years we have seen kids of all ages take to the stage as toy testers, performers and even co-hosts, and while all have been brilliant in their own right, there are some little ones we can just never forget. Between those kids and many other priceless moments over the years, we have put together a list of our favourite Toy Show moments of all time. 

Feel free to let us know any other gems we've missed out on!

13. Oisin the dog

If there's one thing actors and TV presenters have always said - never work with animals or children. Although those rules clearly go out the window when it comes to the Toy Show. While usually there are just shedloads of children to contend with, one year they decided to throw an animal into the mix just to really make sure Pat Kenny earned his keep.

Poor Oisin was not into it at all however, although the Oisin voice-over made it really. And Mary Kingston! Whatever happened to Mary Kingston?! ("Are ya laughin'? We're laughin'!")

12. The Strypes

Long before Cavan band The Strypes caught the attention of Elton John and Jools Holland and the like, they made their TV debut on The Late Late Toy Show. We knew they were going places then, and they didn't fail to disappoint.

11. Fashion savvy Douglas

Young Douglas rocked up to The Toy Show with all the style, informing Ryan he was 'nailing the Christmas look'.

We're pretty sure it's Douglas who made bowler hats happen.

10. No craic, Alex

Not only does this little dude deliver a flawless cupla focal, he also totally nails his exit by breezily replying 'nil' to Ryan's 'any craic' question.

Legend.

9. Any time a Billie Barry kid shows up

We all wanted to be one, although their perfectly synchronsied dancing and gigantic smiles terrified us slightly.

8. Any time Dustin showed up

It's been a while now since we've seen Dustin the Turkey show up to rattle a Toy Show host. Sadly, the latest generation of kids may not even have a notion who he is, but you'll always be special to us Dustin.

7. Co-host Fergal

Fergal wrote to Ryan Tubridy requesting to co-host the Toy Show with him to help with his incurable condition known as 'middle-child syndrome'. Thankfully, Ryan obliged and Fergal burst onto the stage in a matching Christmas jumper and did the parish proud.

6. Brendan O'Carroll's terrified child

Back in the day, there were no Toy Show auditions and many of the kids used were family or friends of the toy show team. So two of Brendan O'Carroll's kids showed up to demonstrate roller blades (a simpler time), however, once they got on stage, the youngest lad Eric was having none of it. Turns out though, he had a pretty good reason...

5. Ashley Tubridy sings Friends Forever

Nine-year-old Ashley appeared on The Late Late Toy Show to perform a song she had written that you would imagine would be a sweet little number about nature walks and sports day and other such significant things to a nine-year-old.

And then, she came out with this heartbreaker.

4. Star-struck with Robbie Keane

This surely has to be the best reaction anyone has ever had to Robbie Keane. Young Domhnall was on testing out a FIFA game on the show, when Ryan decided to surprise him by bringing out his hero Robbie Keane. The look on Domhnall's face is so precious it had the nation reaching for the tissue boxes. Domhnall was quick to recover however and was soon firing the questions at Robbie. We'll see this fella as a sports pundit yet.

3. When Aimee met Ed

This may have been a couple of years ago but it still warms the cockles of our hearts to think about it. To be honest, we didn't really get the Ed Sheeran thing before this.

And then we loved him like no other.

2. When Johnny met Evelyn

Okay okay, forget your Robbie Keane, forget your Ed Sheeran, Johnny meeting Evelyn Cusack trumps them all. Johnny loves the weather more than you love anything, and weather presenter Evelyn Cusack is his HERO.

Young Johnny also gave us the greatest pre-weather forecast game ever - "Who's it going to be? Who's it going to be?"

Pure magic.

 

 1. JohnJoe Brennan - The future horologist

Who else could possibly be at number one? JohnJoe Brennan arrived onto the The Late Late Toy Show with the body of an eight-year-old and the mind of a sixty-year-old intellectual who had perhaps been at the sherry.

It's thanks to JohnJoe we all now know what a horologist is.

Hopefully there will be plenty more moments like these this year, you can catch The Late Late Toy Show on Friday at 9.35pm on RTÉ One.

You can follow all the merriment on the night on entertainment.ie's live blog here. 

We talked to the man of the moment himself, Ryan Tubridy, to get some more deets. Take a look below: