The Den is set to return with Ray D'Arcy, Dustin the Turkey and Zig and Zag back in action on screens around the country again in the New Year.
Following the huge response to the show’s return last November, Dustin and Ray revealed the popular programme has got the green light for another season in January.
Announcing the news, the popular puppet said he was ‘over the moon’.
"I actually got the phone call during the week, The Den will be back in January on RTÉ One," Dustin told Ray’s RTE Radio 1 show listeners on Friday.
Also delighted by the announcement D'Arcy responded: "Which is great news".
It wasn’t long before his on-screen sparring took the opportunity to poke fun of him on live on air, taking aim at his Saturday night chat show.
Dustin said: "It's brilliant. I loved it last time.
"I mean, I have to say, like, I didn't fancy working with you again, but it wasn't as much of a chore as I thought it was.
“And anything to take your chat show off Saturday night is what I said."
D'Arcy laughed it off, saying: "So you're doing it for the country. That's very big of you."
But Dustin didn’t leave it there, also adding a cheeky jibe about the Late Late Show whilst he was at it.
He said: "Being able to interview Luke Skywalker - Mark Hamill - and Niall Horan - I know we had our bar in Mullingar and all that - and Whoopi Goldberg and Stephen Fry.
“It's not like the usual Late Late Show Dermot Bannon, Mario Rosenstock and George Hook, what were you doing last week. This is proper," the notorious motormouth TV personality added.
Dustin went on: "At first, I just thought it would be a one-off.
"We can't come back before Christmas because Zag's making his new movie, Beach Yoga with Van Morrison. That's in production at the moment."
D'Arcy previously said that he chose not to go ahead with his Saturday night chat show last year due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
The broadcaster has been at the helm of Saturday nights on RTE since 2015, but explained that he didn't want to front a show that consisted of Zoom interviews and no audiences.
"I didn't want to be in an empty studio with somebody on Zoom. No thanks. Hats off to Ryan Tubridy because it's a very difficult thing to do," he told The Irish Times.
But the future of the show remains up in the air, as Ray also admitted his hesitations about ever returning to the show.
"I actually don't know...
“We're a small country and the world has changed and people are communicating in different ways. And people don't feel the need to hop on a plane and come to Ireland to publicise their book if they have six million followers on Instagram or Twitter."
In the meantime, Ray will be back on screens with The Den in January on RTE One.
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