British guests include Russell Brand who has rescheduled his appearance on the Late Show - he will now be appearing on the 15th May (his original appearance was cancelled due to an a problem with him getting into the country at the airport), and Leona Lewis will be on the Late Show on the 20th May to perform a song from her debut album.
Other notable guests coming up on the Late Show include Letterman’s buddy Regis Philbin on the 13th May, Jungle Jack Hanna (with some interesting animals and creatures no doubt) on the 14th May, America Ferrera (from Ugly Betty) on the 15th May, Teri Hatcher (from Desperate Housewives) & Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the 16th, Harrison Ford (promoting the new Indiana Jones film) on the 20th and Sarah Jessica Parker (from the new Sex And The City movie) on the 22nd May.
The latest edition of The Tony Mendez Show is now available on the official CBS Late Show website. This week tells you everything you need to know about Tony Mendez and the Company Spy in two minutes, six seconds. Also if you haven’t seen the 30th April edition yet where Tony Mendez goes backstage, check that out as well. Links below.
Following on from Barack Obama’s appearance on the Top Ten last week, Democratic US President candidate Hillary Clinton stopped by the Late Show on Monday to read out a Top Ten list of her own - “Top Ten Reasons Hillary Clinton Loves America”. One of the Top Ten points was “Thanks to the Internet I can order new pantsuits 24/7. There’s your pantsuit joke, Dave. Are you happy now?”. See the video in full below or read more on Reuters.
Posted: Wednesday, 7th May 2008 at 11:02am by Paul
Stephen Colbert - host of The Colbert Report - has won the Person Of The Year award at this year’s Webby Awards. The official Webby Awards website says “Stephen Colbert will be honored for the innovative way he has used the Internet to interact with fans of The Colbert Report”. The Webby Awards ceremony is being held in New York from the 8th to 10th June. The Colbert Report had its first airing on FX UK last night, and appears on FX UK every weeknight at 11pm.
The host of the Late Late Show - Craig Ferguson - is rumoured to be top of the list to replace David Letterman on the Late Show when he retires from the CBS talk show in a few years. The Late Late Show - which airs directly after the Late Show With David Letterman on CBS in America and is produced by Letterman’s own production company Worldwide Pants Inc - has been a favourite with late night TV viewers and he recently - briefly - overtook Conan O’Brien in the ratings, beating Late Night With Conan O’Brien’s viewing figures.
Craig Ferguson recently ‘gigged’ at a George W. Bush press event & dinner, which he impressed 3000 people at what The Times say is “the toughest dinner-club comedy gig in the world”. The Times also say “it has put Ferguson… into the front row of contenders to take over the chat show hosted by his CBS stablemate Letterman when the veteran compere bows out gracefully over the next few years”. Scotsman Craig started out as a standup comedian under his alter ego of ‘Bing Hitler’ before he got the Late Late Show gig.
US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama stopped by the Late Show on Thursday night to deliver the Top Ten list - “Top Ten Surprising Things About Barack Obama”. Highlights included “In the Illinois primary, I accidentally voted for Kucinich” and “This has nothing to do with the Top Ten, but what the heck is up with Paula Abdul?” Click here to see what all the 10 points were, or view the embedded YouTube clip below.
There’s a really random statement in UK publication New Magazine this week saying Russell Brand - who had to pull out of his guest appearance on the Late Show recently when he was allegedly refused entry into the US - may be guest hosting the Late Show With David Letterman when Dave has a week off (whenever that may be).
They say “Russ, 32, could be set for TV fame stateside - I hear his show “Ponderland” is set for an American remake. Even more interesting for Russell, perhaps, are secret plans for the comedian to take over from US chat show giant David Letterman, 61, when the “Late Show With David Letterman” host takes a week off. Just Imagine how many A-list ladies the notorious lothario could chat up if he us offered the gig!” It seems like a strange thing to say off-the-cuff, so maybe there’s some truth in it.
The Simpsons episode which Jon Stewart guest stars in will air on Sky One next month. The episode - called ‘E. Pluribus Wiggum’ - will be broadcast on Sky One on Sunday 25th May at 20:30. A video of Jon Stewart behind-the-scenes on The Simpsons was posted up on YouTube back in January. Jon Stewart plays himself in the episode - with The Daily Show van.
Jimmy Fallon will take over from Conan O’Brien on Late Night from next year, when Conan moves to The Tonight Show. It’s been long rumoured that he was top of the list for the Late Night job for a long time, so we can all now stop speculating.
Fox News says “it’s a done deal”. Fox News also says Jay Leno will be retiring from The Tonight Show in “May 2009″ - just over a year from now. Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com reports “NBC will make the formal announcement about Fallon around May 11 or 12, when the network presents the fall ‘08 schedule to advertisers here in New York”. The Associated Press also reports the story.
After the success of the Impressionist Week and Ventriloquist Week in the past, the Late Show With David Letterman will be bringing you Magic Week on 5th-9th May! Magic Week will feature a different magician act Monday-Friday on the show.
Monday 5th May will see magician Lance Burton, magician Mac King drops by on Tuesday 6th May, Wednesday 7th May sees magician Dirk Arthur on the show, the Late Show will play host to magician Steve Wyrick on Thursday 8th May and the final show of Magic Week on the 9th May will have the legendary Penn and Teller.
ReviewJournal.com says “magicians were told Letterman’s week of magic won’t be treated as facetiously as previous weeks celebrating ventriloquists and impressionists, though the host’s participation in illusions isn’t guaranteed. The acts were told to plan on doing their usual act unless Dave decides he wants to get onboard”
Posted: Friday, 25th April 2008 at 12:20am by Paul
Russell Brand had to pull out of his visit to the Late Show With David Letterman this week due to allegedly not being allowed into the country. The Sun’s Bizarre column reports “when he arrived at JFK, humourless immigration officials decided to spoil his finest hour with a paperwork problem… he boarded the same plane to go back home”. The Sun also says “the Letterman show will happen eventually — and when it does, he’ll charm the pants off the Yanks”. Danica Patrick and Keith Olbermann replaced Russell and Tina Fey on the show. Tokyo Police Club provided the music.
Posted: Wednesday, 23rd April 2008 at 10:19pm by Paul
Thoughts are rolling in again as to who’s going to take over from Conan O’Brien on Late Night when Conan moves to The Tonight Show next year, and time is ticking away. Leno is, of course, retiring next year - unless NBC executives change their mind and keep him on for another year. Variety.com reports if that were to happen NBC “would have to pay O’Brien a penalty estimated at more than $40 million”. The most logical choice for Late Night - as has been said before - would be Jimmy Fallon who’s proved popular on Saturday Night Live. Not forgetting Carson Daly (currently host of Last Call which airs after Late Night With Conan O’Brien on NBC) - he could also be an obvious choice.
Variety.com says “some of the names floated for O’Brien’s replacement have included Jon Stewart, Dane Cook and Australian television star Rove McManus”. My personal favourite would be Jon Stewart. He’s become hugely well received on The Daily Show (Comedy Central) and also proves he’s liked on a mainstream level - the Academy Awards hosting duties for example. The last piece of the jigsaw for the talk shows in 2009 is whether or not The Tonight Show will stay in Burbank or if it will move to New York City - currently home to Late Night With Conan O’Brien (and the Late Show on CBS, of course). The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was based in New York. I feel The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien should be based in New York and perhaps moving Late Night With ???? to Burbank.
Posted: Tuesday, 22nd April 2008 at 10:15pm by Paul
The Colbert Report’s first airing on FX UK will go out on Tuesday 6th May at 11pm. The Colbert Report will air at a regular 11pm 30-minute timeslot on the channel Monday-Friday, and there’s a chance to catchup on all the week’s episodes on a Sunday night when FX UK air all four shows from that week back-to-back at around midnight (on Sunday 11th May the reruns start at 11.50pm and run through to 1.20am - that’s a lot of Colbert!). FX UK is available on Virgin Media channel 179,Tiscali TV channel 10 and Sky channel 165.
The Colbert Report will air on a one-day delay from America (like More 4 with The Daily Show), and - as The Colbert Report only airs shows on Comedy Central in the US Monday-Thursday (like The Daily Show) - the Monday evening 11pm show on FX UK will be a compilation show with highlights from the previous week. FX UK have launched a new Colbert minisite at www.fxuk.com/series/the-colbert-report - check it out!
Posted: Tuesday, 22nd April 2008 at 8:59pm by James
To avoid leaving a carbon footprint ahead of their US tour, UK band Radiohead are set to pre-record their Wednesday performance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in their London studio.
Frontman Thom Yorke told reporters that the band would be avoiding leaving the equivalent of driving a car for a solid year.
Late Show UK is a blog based around US and UK talk shows. Since July 2005 we have covered the Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Night With Conan O'Brien - and more recently The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, Friday Night With Jonathan Ross and Saturday Night Live. We sometimes include stories for other shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live.
