He was known as the highest-paid person at RTÉ over several years; related controversies included his refusal to take a voluntary pay cut in 2009, and, most importantly for his career, in 2023 over misstatement of his total earnings and additional payments, at least some made via a costly "barter account" mechanism.

He studied for his Bachelor of Arts (BA) in history and Greek and Roman civilisation at University College Dublin (UCD).

[8] While he was interested in the Students' Union when he was attending UCD, Tubridy made his impression while engaging in social, rather than political, activities.

Two of his first cousins, Barry Andrews and Chris Andrews, have also sat in Dáil Éireann as Fianna Fáil TDs, the former being a Minister of State for Children in the coalition government of Brian Cowen, since then becoming chief executive of aid charity GOAL,[18] while the latter was re-elected to Dáil Éireann as a Sinn Féin member in 2020.

[9] RTÉ responded by inviting Tubridy to review films on its Saturday morning programme Anything Goes, and so began a long relationship with the broadcaster.

[9] After leaving college Tubridy became a runner in RTÉ, initially working on The Gerry Ryan Show as maker of tea and coffee.

[27] Around this time, he wrote a column for the Sunday World in which he expressed amongst other things his support for Barack Obama, "one of his favourite singers" Fionn Regan and the success of Kenny Egan, a silver medal winning boxer at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

[48][49] He vowed to bring back Gay Byrne's "one for everybody in the audience" catchphrase, described by Will Hanafin in the Irish Independent as an attempt to "dig up more old relics than archaeologists would on an excavation", in reference to Tubridy's passion for history.

[65][66] Amid constant media criticism related to declining listenership and viewership figures, he received support from Chris Evans and was defended by Vincent Browne.

[72] Tubridy said that the children in each class he visited would ask him three questions: what age he was, why he had chosen to come to their school, and did he like Fanta?

[74] On 16 November 2023, it was announced that Tubridy would join Virgin Radio UK in early January 2024 to present its mid-morning programme live from London following The Chris Evans Breakfast Show.

The jumper he wore on his 2009 Toy Show debut found a suitable cause in the 2010 Haiti earthquake and was dispensed with on the radio programme Money.

[90][94] While researching the book, he discovered that Éamon de Valera had part of John F. Kennedy's speech to Dáil Éireann erased from the record after finding its content offensive.

[95] In March 2012, Tubridy, referred to as a "tabloid star", made his American television debut, during which he discussed his book, JFK in Ireland.

[98] In 2017, to coincide with the centenary of John F. Kennedy's birth, Tubridy read to children from the book at a tea party in County Wexford.

[101] Tubridy has expressed his disdain for "anonymous cowards on the internet", those who operate "under the shadowy cover of names like Catman or Twenty Rothmans or whatever", and has stated that he believes Wikipedia is "a fact-free bull run for any passing eejit to come along and add whatever fact or fiction they desire and up it goes onto the site".

[104] Tubridy left the social networking and microblogging service on 9 August 2011, posting a late night farewell to his followers: "Dear Twitter, this is my last tweet.

[108] Tubridy refused to take a pay-cut in early 2009 (even when colleagues such as Pat Kenny and Marian Finucane agreed to salary cuts), and he attracted criticism for this decision.

[110] Later, on 9 March 2009, Tubridy announced he would take a 10 per cent pay cut, stating that his legal situation had changed in recent days.

[118] In a statement, Tubridy said he was "surprised" to learn about the "errors" and "can't shed any light" on hidden payments made to him by RTÉ.

[123] On 27 June, RTÉ's acting Director General Adrian Lynch issued a nine-page statement addressing the circumstances around the revelations, stating that there was "no finding of wrongdoing" against Tubridy or the commercial partner involved in what happened.

[124] Tubridy and his agent agreed to attend two Oireachtas committee meetings on 11 July,[125] which heard that he had endured a "tortuous", "chaotic" and "destructive" three weeks during which his name and reputation were "sullied" and that he had become "the face of a national scandal; accused of being complicit, deceitful and dishonest".

[127] In 2019, Tubridy attracted criticism for remarks made about climate activist Greta Thunberg following a speech she had given at the United Nations, where he had expressed concern at the stress of campaigning at a young age potentially having a negative effect on Thunberg's health and wellbeing, describing her face as appearing "contorted in pain, in agony and in anxiety" when she had been giving her speech.

[134] Noted for interests ranging from U.S. politics (he took time off work to cheer on[clarification needed] Barack Obama[citation needed] in that country's 2008 presidential election), Inspector Morse box sets (the lead character of which he described as "the morose and melancholic opera lover who deals with an inordinate amount of bloodshed in Oxford"), "real turf, the John Hinde donkey post card kind"[135] and buying out-of-print history books on Amazon.com—while appearing on Seoige and O'Shea in April 2008, Tubridy ranked his top three books of the previous year as The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Christine Falls by Benjamin Black and Exit Ghost by Philip Roth.

[137][138] Before taking over as host of the Rose of Tralee in 2003, Tubridy admitted that he did not often make his own food, but that he was capable of frying onions and liked to buy adult portions of kiddies meals.

The couple had a daughter, Ella, and later married in 2003, Tubridy having proposed in the Abbeyglen Hotel (a "favourite haunt" of his) in Clifden, County Galway.

"[149] While dating Ní Shúilleabháin in 2013,[150] Tubridy introduced his radio audience to Jessica Drake, "a cracking-looking bird, no doubt about it, with big tattoos on her ankles".

[151] In December 2014, Tubridy's agent Noel Kelly announced that he and Miss Ní Shúilleabháin had separated, saying "Aoibhinn and Ryan are no longer together".

While I've been at home watching television and listening to the radio, I have been bowled over by the extraordinary work of our front line heroes and their families who continue to make Ireland a healthier and safer place.

[158] Tubridy himself rang the show to congratulate Dermot, Dave and Siobhan on their achievement of "taking the mick out of him" with a song of "pure ego" that caused him to "burst out laughing when I saw it".