NBC last night announced that Jimmy Fallon will be the new host of Late Night when Conan O’Brien takes over at the Tonight Show next year.
Fallon joined NBC in 1998 on Saturday Night Live and went on to “co-anchor” the Weekend Update spot with Tina Fey two years later. The former MTV awards host also guest presented the Late Show in 2003. The announcement appears to put to bed rumours that NBC might be thinking about keeping Leno on as host of the Tonight Show.
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.
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: Thursday, 20th March 2008 at 10:13am by Paul
Conan O’Brien will be stopping by to appear on The Tonight Show on Thursday 27th March, along with Anderson Cooper. Conan will, of course, be taking over The Tonight Show next year when Jay Leno hands over the reigns. Don’t forget to tune in! The show will be airing on CNBC for us folk in the UK on Tuesday 1st April at 11pm (the show returns to the 11pm UK timeslot because British Summer Time begins at the end of March). Conan was also a guest on The Tonight Show on the 27th April last year.
Once again, the rumour mill is in full swing with regards to Leno giving up The Tonight Show next year and what’s going to happen when he leaves and other subsequent changes at NBC. It’s been about 4 years since NBC announced Jay would be giving up The Tonight Show chair in 2009 but it seems Leno might be staying at NBC, with a brand new show, as NBC tries to sign him up to a new contract. Conan O’Brien would still get The Tonight Show gig and BND.com (New York Times) says “NBC has begun construction on a new studio for “Tonight,” as well as offices for O’Brien’s staff”.
According to reports, TV networks aren’t allowed to negotiate with Leno until November 2009. BND.com (New York Times) also suggest “executives who know the details of his contract said Leno would remain attached to NBC through the end of 2009, even though he probably would not be on the air for the last six months of the contract”. Jimmy Fallon - of Saturday Night Live fame - is thought to be the favourite to take over Late Night when Conan leaves, and it’s thought - if Jimmy were to get the job - Conan would leave Late Night several months before starting on The Tonight Show to give Fallon a good chance of settling in, with a lead-in from Jay Leno’s Tonight Show.
It’s also believed that - when Conan starts The Tonight Show next year - Leno wouldn’t be back on-screen hosting a new show until 2010, to give O’Brien time to get the show up and running without any competition from Leno. It’s not known whether Leno would get offered a primetime show on NBC, another late night programme on NBC or whether he would defect to another network to host a show - ABC, Fox and Sony Pictures Television are all interested in signing him up. If Sony Pictures Television got the deal, BND.com say they’re likely to offer him a “syndicated late-night show”. David Letterman is signed up to stay with the Late Show on CBS until 2010, and it’s not known whether he will retire after this, or renew with CBS - or another network - again.
Posted: Sunday, 10th February 2008 at 1:45pm by Paul
Conan O’Brien and Stephen Colbert dropped by to The Daily Show on Monday, to put an end to the “Who Made Mike Huckabee?” debate. Colbert visits first, then Conan comes in - with the Moment Of Zen at the end involving the showdown with Conan, Colbert and Jon. The whole thing was pretty hilarious - video clips are embedded below.
Posted: Monday, 4th February 2008 at 5:44pm by Paul
Media website The Celebrity Cafe is reporting it “has learned that Conan O’Brien has shaved his strike-beard” and say “O’Brien’s constant support for the strike, by not shaving for such an elongated period of time was a great gesture. One in which he must be commended”.
In other Conan-related news, he appeared on a front cover of Entertainment Weekly in the US last month (still sporting his strike beard). The official website for Entertainment Weekly has three exclusive interview clips with Conan, which are well worth a watch. His feature in the magazine includes Conan’s strike tips. The three video clips are linked below for your enjoyment.
And if you love the zip line segment Conan does on Late Night, someone’s gone and created a (quite addictive) Flash-based game. Late Night Underground has the game (below).
Posted: Thursday, 3rd January 2008 at 9:45am by Paul
Last updated 16:05
The first new episode in about 2 months last night in the US - the Late Show is back. Reports of the show (I have not seen it yet) reveal Letterman came out onto the stage “through a chorus line of dancers holding signs that read, “Writers Guild of America on Strike”, and sporting a full beard he grew during his eight-week break”. Dave looks very different with a beard - as far as I can tell, Dave (and Conan too) has grown a beard as a sign of unity for the WGA strike.
Letterman joked about being glad to get out of rehab and “show or no show I really enjoy drinking in the morning”. Dave told everyone he’s the only show to be back with union-backed writers. Before the show titles, Hillary Clinton popped up to welcome us back to the Late Show. Donald Trump wasn’t on the first show back, as was previously thought - Robin Williams was instead. Watch Dave’s monologue here,check out the Top Ten list and see Bill Scheft’s message to the Late Show audience.
Jay Leno returned with new episodes of The Tonight Show last night - but without his writers. The Kansas City website (TV Barn) said “Leno’s monologue was remarkably ordinary” and that Leno “was trying to pretend like it was business as usual”. Late Night With Conan O’Brien was back - but without his writers. Conan - sporting a new beard - returned last night. The Kansas City website says “O’Brien is better positioned than Leno to stick out a long strike, thanks to stronger interviewing skills”. Craig Ferguson was also back with new episodes of the Late Late Show. Craig had his writing staff with him - as this was covered in the Letterman deal - and started off the first show back with “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted”. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report remain off air, will be returning with new shows starting from the 7th January.
Posted: Friday, 21st December 2007 at 9:08am by Paul
It has been confirmed The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report will be both be returning to the air with new shows on Comedy Central from the 7th January. The Los Angeles Times says “After a previously scheduled two-week hiatus, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” will resume production Jan. 7, Comedy Central said in a statement released late Thursday afternoon” but “Stewart and Colbert said they wished they could return to work with their writers”. I also noticed yesterday that More 4 in the UK have started airing The Daily Show again - last night’s rerun on there featured the Barack Obama interview.
The article on the Los Angeles Times website also states Letterman’s production company (Worldwide Pants Inc) will be “meeting with Writers Guild of America officials today in an effort to make an interim deal that would allow the shows to go back on the air with their writing staffs”. The Associated Press says “Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel have all said they would resume their programs on Jan. 2 without their writing staffs” and “Letterman is also aiming for a Jan. 2 return”. If the deal with Worldwide Pants goes through, this would also mean the return of the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.
Posted: Wednesday, 19th December 2007 at 5:01pm by Paul
Just a quick pointer to something James told me about a while back that I’ve only just remembered to post up here - a website called Late Night Underground, which is run by official Late Night staffers. It’s well worth checking out - there’s videos (some include Conan and other staffers) and random musings from the Late Night team. Just head on over to www.latenightunderground.com and join in the fun (it’ll keep us amused until the show returns in January). Also, not forgetting the Late Night With Conan O’Brien official blog over at NBC.com - this hasn’t been updated since the writing staff got laid off though, but a lot of random bits and pieces related to Conan (just search through the archives on there). The Late Night blog is available at blog.nbc.com/latenight.
Posted: Wednesday, 19th December 2007 at 12:24pm by Paul
The Broadcasting & Cable website is now reporting there’s a likely return date for the Late Show With David Letterman. The writers strike continues, but most of the late night US chat shows are to return to the air whilst it rolls on. We reported yesterday that Leno and Conan were planning on coming back with new shows on NBC starting from the 2nd January (without writers), and that Letterman would be back as well, but a date was not known for certain. Now it seems Letterman will be returning with new episodes on the 2nd January as well (but he’s hoping to have his writers back as well). In addition to this, the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson is expected to return on the same night.
No news has been revealed about when to expect new episodes of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, but it’s thought they won’t return until the writers strike is over (Multichannel News website article here). I hope The Tony Mendez Show returns to CBS.com when the Late Show comes back in January - I would assume it will return at the same time (although Tony may be on the picket lines, so perhaps not). The Broadcasting & Cable website says “David Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants, targeted Jan. 2 for the return of its two late-night shows, The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. But while late-night hosts Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel plan to resurface the same night, sans writers, Letterman’s shows plan to return with their writing staffs intact”. Digital Spy also has some news on “reaching agreements with individual producers”.
The return of the Late Show is not a moment too soon - here’s a message from Late Show Videotape Operator Tom Catusi (from the Late Show Writers On Strike YouTube channel) - it looks like it’s been snowing in New York;
Posted: Tuesday, 18th December 2007 at 11:33am by Paul
Good news - Late Night With Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and the Late Show With David Letterman will all be back on our TV screens with brand new shows in January. An article on the BBC News website says “US talk show hosts Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien have vowed to resume recording their shows in January - despite their writers being on strike”, and (as we posted yesterday) David Letterman has been negotiating a deal between his production company Worldwide Pants and the WGA.
Showbiz website Perez Hilton says “NBC is expected to announce today that both Leno and O’Brien will be back on the air by January 2nd, although they’ll be coming back without writers”. Perez Hilton even goes as far as saying Dave “should could be back on the air in a matter of days” - so we might get that Christmas Special after all. Conan O’Brien told BBC News “my show will not be as good. In fact, in moments it may very well be terrible”. Watch this space for return dates as and when they are released.
Posted: Monday, 12th November 2007 at 5:05pm by Paul
Is Jay Leno having second thoughts about his planned 2009 retirement from The Tonight Show? An article on The Star Online eCentral states “Leno has said he is comfortable with his planned departure but, according to a report earlier this month in the Los Angeles Times, the comedian has grown reluctant to retire as host of the top-rated, late-night programme”. Conan O’Brien is thought to be a certainty to takeover The Tonight Show from 2009.
Jay Leno has been writing for the Sunday Times (or Times of London, as they say) driving supplement, now “In Gear”, for a few years, either as a guest or filling in for Clarkson. Leno is back again this week with a piece on The Beckhams in LA; Life in Beckham Hills.
There seems to be some confusion over an interview Conan O’Brien gave to Entertainment Weekly. They report that Conan deadpanned;
“I cleared my talk show schedule for a year at great financial cost to myself, got an apartment right outside the Fox lot, and told them I was ready to report to work. All I heard back was that they were having trouble finding me a parking space, and then they stopped returning my calls altogether. I am stunned and disappointed…. Truth be told, I worry that the Simpsons-writing portion of my brain has been destroyed after 14 years of talking to Lindsay Lohan and that guy from One Tree Hill, so maybe it’s all for the best.”
Some took this to mean Conan was ditched or snubbed, others (mostly bloggers) that Conan had joked about being left off the team.
Finally, there’s news that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will make appearances in the upcoming season of The Simpsons.
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.
