Late Show UK

Conan O’Brien stops by the Ed Sullivan Theatre this Thursday for a chat with Dave. This will be the first visit between the two former Late Night hosts since Conan’s appearance on Dave’s show 13 years ago.

This will be a very interesting interview considering we all know how Dave and Conan feel about Jay Leno after he took The Tonight Show back from O’Brien in the controversial move by NBC.

Conan now hosts his own talk show on cable channel TBS.

Jay Leno made a brief appearance on The One And Only Des O’Connor last weekend.

He recorded a special message from The Tonight Show set to interview legend Des O’Connor for this commemorative programme looking back at Des’s long-running career.

Leno appeared on The Des O’Connor Show way back in the day when he and Letterman were just starting out in the business. David Letterman also appeared on The Des O’Connor Show at around the same time.

You can watch Leno’s appearance on last weekend’s The One And Only Des O’Connor on ITV Player if you missed it. Leno appears right near the end of the programme, and Letterman gets a mention from Bradley Walsh as well when he credits Des for giving them both their big breaks.

Click here to watch on ITV Player.

David Letterman has renewed his contract with CBS to become the longest-serving late night talk show host in television history. He will surpass his idol Johnny Cason’s record of 30 years in late night.

Craig Ferguson has also inked a new two-year deal.

The new contract extensions mean Letterman and Ferguson will set stay with CBS through 2014 with the Late Show With David Letterman and the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson respectively.

As part the new deal the Late Late Show will move to a larger stage at CBS Television City in Los Angeles and CBS will co-produce the series with Worldwide Pants. It’s not known whether Craig will finally get his own house band when the show moves to the new stage.

President of CBS Entertainment Nina Tassler said “David Letterman is a late night legend with an iconic show and Craig Ferguson continues to evolve the genre in exciting and innovative ways… these new agreements deliver ongoing high-quality entertainment for our audience and continued strength and stability for CBS in late night”.

Letterman’s first late night talk show was Late Night With David Letterman which premiered on NBC on the 1st February 1982, and he then moved to CBS with the Late Show when The Tonight Show gig was given to Jay Leno following Johnny Cason’s retirement.

Scottish-born Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show premiered on CBS in 2005.

CBS Corporation – “CBS announces new contract extensions with late night stars…”

We previously reported back in January about Craig Ferguson possibly returning to his Scottish homeland to host some special editions of his CBS talk show the Late Late Show.

Sure enough CBS have now confirmed the Late Late Show will be filming a week of episodes from Scotland.

Craig Ferguson was spotted out in his native Cumbernauld this week by the local press.

Cumbernauld News reports “The News and Chronicle managed to snap Mr Ferguson with a film crew at Cumbernauld High School, as our pictures show, and we can reveal that the former pupil was shooting an episode of his popular talk show at the school and in other locations throughout Cumbernauld and Scotland”.

Ferguson joked about his return to Scotland saying “with the statute of limitations finally expiring, it seemed like a great time to go back”.

E! Online says the shows are being filmed in Scotland now but won’t air until the 14th May. This is similar to how they filmed the special France episodes in Paris last summer – they were all pre-recorded well in advance.

Will we see any of his old Bing Hitler material whilst he’s on Scottish soil?

Cumbernauld News – “Craig Ferguson back to visit home town”
E! – “Craig Ferguson Takes Late Late Show Home for Week of Shows in Scotland”

First Lady Michelle Obama recently appeared on the Late Show With David Letterman to talk about her family, Barack Obama’s Presidential re-election race and things close to her.

Watch the interview below.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Jimmy Kimmel has been named as the host for this year’s 64th Primetime Emmy Awards. The awards ceremony will air on ABC on the 23rd September.

Previous people to get the top gig have included Glee’s Jane Lynch, Late Night host Jimmy Fallon, How I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris, presenter Ryan Seacrest and former Late Night hosts Conan O’Brien & David Letterman.

Kimmel joked “I hope to be able to do for the Emmys this year what Eddie Murphy did for the Oscars” – a quip about Eddie Murphy being forced to pull out of hosting this year’s Oscars ceremony.

Jimmy has previously hosted several awards shows including the American Music Awards and the ABC “after-Oscars” special.

The Hollywood Reporter – “Jimmy Kimmel to Host 2012 Emmy Awards”

It’s Bruce Springsteen week on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. All next week sees tributes to Springsteen by other artists and the man himself taking to the stage.

On Monday’s show Bruce will perform to promote his new album Wrecking Ball and Tuesday will see country star Kenny Chesney cover Springsteen’s I’m On Fire.

Elvis Costello will peform a cover version of Brilliant Disguise on Thursday’s show and Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen returns on Friday’s show with another winning performance.

Conan has signed a new deal with TBS to keep him with the channel through to April 2014.

The new two-year deal will keep him on the basic cable channel with his popular late night talk show which premiered in November 2010 following his popular theatre tour and of course prior to that the furore that was his controversial Tonight Show axing by NBC.

A press release from TBS says “Since premiering in November 2010, CONAN has been a hit with TBS’s core audience of young adults. The show recently charted its third consecutive month of audience growth. The success of CONAN also extends well beyond the show’s TBS telecasts to include widespread DVR, online and mobile viewing; interaction through Twitter, Facebook and TeamCoco.com. In the past year, CONAN has conducted special events throughout the country, including a week of shows from the Beacon Theater in New York and fan art exhibits in New York City and San Diego. In June 2012, CONAN will travel again, this time for a week of shows in Chicago”.

The network’s executive vice president Michael Wright said “night after night, Conan and his team have put together terrific shows that draw a young and fiercely loyal audience. As if that weren’t enough, they have also built a dynamic online presence that keeps fans engaged like no other show in late night”.

Conan O’Brien has announced “I am excited to continue my run with TBS because they have been fantastic partners” and joked “this means I’ll be taping episodes of CONAN well into the Ron Paul presidency”.

The power of “Team Coco” has attributed to the show’s success. Team Coco was dreamt up by fans of Conan after his axing from the NBC talk show The Tonight Show to make way for Jay Leno’s return to the programme.

The TBS press release continues – “Conan O’Brien is a true powerhouse when it comes to online activity and engagement. He has amassed 5,020,000 followers on Twitter, more than any other late-night host. Video clips from CONAN presented through TeamCoco.com, viral players and YouTube attracted more than 83 million video views in 2011. And the Team Coco Facebook page has drawn more than 1.8 million fans, nearly doubling the page’s January 2011 figures”.

“In its first year on TBS, CONAN earned three Emmy nominations, including one for Outstanding Variety Music or Comedy Series and another for the show’s outstanding team of comedy writers. In addition, Conan O’Brien won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Talk Show Host. Meanwhile, the Team Coco website has garnered a wide array of industry recognition, including a 2011 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media and a 2011 Webby Award for Best Fan Site”.

Conan will continue to air Monday-Thursday on TBS at 11pm.

Turner Newsroom – “TBS Extends CONAN through April 2014″