Late Show UK

The final episode of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross aired on Friday night.

David Beckham, Jackie Chan, Mickey Rourke and Roxy Music were guests on the final show. Ross said “I should start by saying thank you to all the guests we’ve had on over the 10 years we’ve been doing the show – at least 95 per cent of them were great”.

The BBC1 show bowed out with Jonathan saying “everyone here at the BBC has always been terrific… I’ve been lucky to work over the 10 years with the most fabulous teams… the experience I’ve had here at the BBC has been a blessed one… I’ve never come in here feeling anything other than grateful, lucky and honoured, so thank you”.

Jonathan moves to ITV to host a new primetime chat show in late 2011. The final episode of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross is available to watch on BBC iPlayer for the next few days.

BBC News – “Jonathan Ross ‘honoured’ to have worked at BBC”
BBC News – “Fans mourn Jonathan Ross’s final show”
BBC Programmes – Friday Night With Jonathan Ross

Jay Leno’s second tenure on The Tonight Show started last week amid much controversy over the ousting of former host Conan O’Brien.

The first show on Monday 1st March gained a huge amount of viewers for NBC who have been struggling of late – not just in late night but across the board. He said “It’s good to be home. I’m Jay Leno, your host… at least for a while… I’ll admit I’m a little bit nervous, not because it’s my first night back, but because I know Dave [Letterman] and Oprah [Winfrey] are watching”.

However, since that first show The Tonight Show has been falling behind and the Late Show With David Letterman is now leading the ratings war.

TV By The Numbers report ““The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (3.2/8 in metered-market households) trailed CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” (3.5/9) while topping ABC’s “Nightline (2.7/) and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (1.3/4) in Nielsen’s 56 metered markets” and “◦In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (1.1/5) ranked #1 among the major networks in the time period over “Late Show” (1.0/5), “Nightline” (1.1/4) and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (0.9/4)”.

However, certain guests like Sarah Palin have helped boost ratings for certain shows.

Will The Tonight Show With Jay Leno stand the test of time? I guess we’ll wait and see.

Digital Spy – “Leno: ‘It’s good to be back on Tonight’”
Examiner – “TV Ratings News: Leno’s ‘Tonight Show’ now trailing Letterman…”
TV By The Numbers – “Early Tuesday Results Indicate Split Decision…”

The final episode of The Jay Leno Show aired on NBC last night. The failed 10pm show wrapped up last night with host Jay Leno saying NBC had allowed it to end early “for good behavior” – “This show was supposed to last two years, but my sentence was reduced to five months for good behavior”.

During his final monologue he said “We were on the air five months – it seems like just yesterday I was telling NBC this is not going to work”. Ashton Kutcher, Gabourey Sidibe and Bob Costas were the guests on the final show, with Donald Trump appearing as a special guest via satellite.

MTV report the show ended quite abruptly for the NBC news programme. MTV report “before the talk-show host could give any closing comments to the gathered audience, the feed ended abruptly and transitioned directly into NBC’s scheduled news program… the show’s unceremonious sendoff offered a stark reminder that Leno’s departure from the airwaves is only temporary”.

Leno will go head-to-head with Letterman in the ratings war when he returns to The Tonight Show at 11.35pm from the 1st March. On the penultimate Jay Leno Show on Monday, Jay talked about the Super Bowl commercial he filmed with David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey, saying there was no animosity between Dave and himself.

NBC have now officially closed the website for The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien – www.thetonightshowwithconanobrien.com now just redirects to www.nbc.com.

TV Guide – “NBC Ends Jay Leno Show Early “For Good Behavior”"
MTV – “‘The Jay Leno Show’ Comes To An End”

Click here for to watch Leno talking about the Super Bowl commercial

Jimmy Fallon appeared on The Jay Leno Show on Wednesday to take part in the “10 @ 10″ feature.

Click here to watch Jimmy Fallon’s appearance

The final episode of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien aired on Friday night. Steve Carrell, Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell and Neil Young all appeared on the last show. Click here to watch highlights from the final few shows. In his final monologue Conan said “we have exactly one hour to steal every single item in this studio”.

Highlights of the final show included another “World’s Most Expensive Sketch” to use up the remaining portion of the budget for The Tonight Show, Conan asking what will happen to the almost-new Tonight Show studio he’s leaving behind (“leave the studio cold and empty and rename it the world’s largest metaphor for NBC programming”), Steve Carrell conducting Conan’s NBC “exit interview”, Tom Hanks coming out to greet Conan wearing sunglasses and plying him with alcohol and Will Ferrell’s song to to close the show (with Conan on guitar and Max on the drums).

Conan has been using some expensive music throughout the final week of The Tonight Show and will be sending the bill to NBC to pay for the rights for that – including Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones and Lovely Rita by The Beatles.

Conan’s final speech on The Tonight Show was emotional. He said “every comedian dreams of hosting The Tonight Show and for seven months I got to… I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I’ve had more good fortune than anyone I know and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-Eleven parking lot we’ll find a way to make it fun… I don’t want to do it in a 7-Eleven parking lot”. There wasn’t one mention of Jay Leno throughout the entire show.

NBC officially confirmed The Tonight Show will return on 1st March with former host Jay Leno. Conan will be able to start a new talk show from September if he wants to – Fox are rumoured to be very interested.

Conan’s final Tonight Show will air on CNBC at 11pm tomorrow night – the usual CNBC 30-minute cutdown version. Reruns of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien will air on NBC next week.

NBC – “NBC Announces That Jay Leno Will Return To Host ‘The Tonight Show’”
NBC – “Statement From NBC and Conan O’Brien”
BusinessWeek – “O’Brien thanks fans, NBC on final ‘Tonight’ show”
NY Daily News – “Questlove: Use of Beatles’ ‘Lovely Rita’ on Conan O’Brien’s last ‘Tonight Show’ cost NBC $500k”

Jimmy Kimmel appeared on The Jay Leno Show on Thursday night live from his Jimmy Kimmel Live studio for the “10 @ 10″ feature.

The interview between Jimmy and Jay was somewhat uncomfortable following Kimmel’s impression of Leno on his programme this week. When Jimmy offered Jay to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live on a “12 @ 12″ feature Jay said he was busy.

Leno said to him “you’re known for pranks – what’s the best prank you ever pulled?” and Kimmel answered “I think the best prank I ever pulled was I told a guy that 5 years from now I’m going to give you my show and then when the five years came up I gave it to him and then I took it back almost instantly… I think he works at Fox or something now”.

Another question from Jay was “ever order anything off the TV?” With Kimmel asking “like NBC ordered your show off the TV?”

Click here to watch Jimmy Kimmel on The Jay Leno Show

Merry Christmas everyone!

The big Christmas show aired on Wednesday 23rd December. The Late Show tradition is still going strong – Jay Thomas (with his Lone Ranger story) and Darlene Love (singing Christmas, Baby Please Come Home) both featured, including the Quarterback Challenge where Dave and Jay Thomas try to knock the meatball off the top of the Late Show Christmas tree.

Paul Shaffer’s impression of Cher also featured, but is only available on the CBS website as it was cut from the final broadcast (presumably because of time constraints).

Alec Baldwin was the main interview and there were special messages from serving US troops stationed overseas.

Click here for video clips from the Christmas show

Paul Shaffer was a guest on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on Thursday 17th December. The Late Show band leader was on the show to promote his new book and discuss his showbiz life.

Click here to watch clips of the interview

Craig Ferguson celebrated his 1000th edition of The Late Late Show last night with a special musical opening, a special monologue and another special musical number to close the show. Craig has been hosting The Late Late Show for almost 5 years.

The entire show was hosted by Wavy the puppet. Guests on the programme were Kristen Bell, Maria Bello, Jason Schwartzman, Jason Segel & his puppet Dracula, and The Broken West.

Click here to watch clips from the 1000th show

Late Show band leader Paul Shaffer was a guest on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on Wednesday night. He discussed his new book – We’ll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives – and also talked about growing up in Canada & playing bagpipes as his hometown was twinned with Scotland. The introduction with bagpipes he did at the start of the show was pretty hilarious.

Click here to watch Paul Shaffer on the Late Late Show

Paul Shaffer was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. The band leader for the Late Show With David Letterman was on the programme to promote his new book We’ll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives. It’s quite odd to see Paul on another talk show other than the Late Show but it was a good interview. Paul discussed his time in Las Vegas, his parents, Jerry Lewis, his production of Godspell early on in his career and also talked about David Letterman & what Dave thought of Jimmy Kimmel and his show.

Click here to watch clips from the Paul Shaffer interview

Paul Shaffer was interviewed by Letterman on Tuesday night’s Late Show to promote his new book which was released in the US this week.

Paul was hilarious during the interview and told us what it was like meeting Britney Spears when she was a surprise guest on the show in the past – let’s just say his name is now “DJ Paul Shaffer” and she wasn’t quite sure who Bob Hope was.

Paul’s new book – We’ll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives – is a candid memoir of his rock and roll life including his time as a musical director for Saturday Night Live, his memories of John Belushi & Jerry Lewis, his work getting the Blues Brothers together and the time he’s spent as musical director for the Late Show With David Letterman & previously on Late Night With David Letterman.

The book is available to buy now at Amazon UK – click here. To win an autographed copy of the book for free head over to paulshaffersdayinrock.com.

Watch a clip of the Paul Shaffer interview

During Thursday’s episode of the Late Show, David Letterman revealed he’s been a victim of attempted “sex blackmail”.

During the show Letterman announced he’s had relationships with women working on the Late Show – he said “I have had sex with women who work for me on this show” and for that reason a guy was trying to extort money from him to keep it a secret.

Letterman said the guy had left a package in his car outside the Ed Sullivan Theatre which contained evidence of the “terrible things” Dave had done and threatened Dave to reveal everything in a new book he was writing, which he said would then become a screenplay, unless he was given money.

Dave said that on the advice of his attorney he contacted Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and as part of the investigation he handed over a $2million “phoney” cheque to the guy trying to blackmail him.

Letterman said “this morning I did something I’ve never done in my life… I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury”. Because of the court case, David had to come clean over his sexual encounters with Late Show staff. He said “I had to tell them all of the creepy things that I had done… the creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show”.

Dave described the whole experience as “bizarre” and went on to say he wants to protect his family, himself and his job.

Belinda Luscombe from Time Magazine said “while Letterman seems to be in no immediate risk of losing either his family or his job (ratings from last night’s telecast will likely be stratospheric), his troubles may not be over. Having sex with people who were his employees or whom he managed could leave him, or CBS, open to a sexual-harassment lawsuit”.

BBC News reports “CBS employee Robert “Joe” Halderman, who was arrested on Thursday, appeared in court in New York… Mr Halderman, a producer for the real-life crime show 48 Hours, entered his plea as he appeared in court in Manhattan on a charge of attempted grand larceny” – he’s pleaded not guilty.

The story was covered on this evening’s News At Ten on BBC1 and has been covered by many UK newspapers today with tabloid coverage expected tomorrow. Click here to watch the story reported on the BBC’s News At Ten.

Time.com is reporting that Dave’s assistant Stephanie Birkett was one of the staffers Dave allegedly had an affair with – they report “widespread reports say Birkitt had a romantic relationship with Letterman before his marriage, while she was working as his personal assistant and appearing regularly on his program”.

David Letterman married his long-term partner Regina Lasko earlier this year.

BBC News – “Letterman reveals ‘sex blackmail’”
BBC News – “Man denies Letterman ‘blackmail’”
Time.com – “Stephanie Birkitt: Letterman’s Lover?”
The Associated Press – “The joke’s on Letterman after on-air confession”
BBC News – “Letterman’s life in TV spotlight”

Click here to watch Dave’s announcement from Thursday night’s Late Show

Madonna was a guest on the Late Show With David Letterman on Wednesday night. Madonna has been on the show several times, including the infamous appearance in 1994 with her excessive swearing and rudeness towards Dave.

Madonna arrived into the theatre on Wednesday night at the start of the interview being carried by members of the New York Rangers.

In this latest interview she seemed more subdued than in previous appearances and discussed her relationship with US sports star A-Rod, her marriage to Guy Ritchie & whether she’d ever want to remarry (for the record she would “rather get run over by a train”) and her infamous 1994 appearance. She also asked Dave not to call her ‘Madge’ as it makes her sound “boring and middle-aged”.

At the end of the interview – as Madonna said she had never eaten a New York pizza before – Dave and Madonna dined at Angelo’s Pizza next door to the theatre (he whisked her off during the taping and they enjoyed a slice of pizza – without cheese – in front of the crowd who were peering in from outside).

Telegraph – “Madonna: please don’t call me ‘Madge’”
The Sun – “Remarry? I’d rather be hit by a train”
London Evening Standard – “Madonna tries pizza for the first time”
Digital Spy – Star Snaps – David Letterman and Madonna

Click here to watch highlights from Madonna’s LS appearance

Craig Ferguson was a guest on the Late Show With David Letterman last night. The host of the Late Late Show visited Dave to discuss his talk show (which follows directly after the Late Show on CBS) and tells us about his encounter with Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger (including a very good impersonation of him as a “sexy dinosaur”).

Click here to watch clip of the Craig Ferguson interview

The night after President Obama’s Late Show appearance, former US President Bill Clinton was a guest on the Late Show With David Letterman on Tuesday. He talked to Dave about how he feels about Hillary becoming Secretary Of State, and also how he felt about her running for President and helping Obama win the election last year.

Click here to watch a clip of the Bill Clinton interview

US President Barack Obama made an appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman last night – the first time a US President has appeared on the programme whilst still in office. When the President came out onto the stage he was greeted by a standing ovation (as seen in this clip on the BBC News website).

Obama discussed the financial crisis saying “we’re not going to recover overnight”. He mostly spoke about the health care reform programme and when asked if people’s objections to it were racist views, he said “I was actually black before the election” and “one of the things you sign up for in politics is that folks yell at you”. Security was tight at the Ed Sullivan Theatre – Dave joked the security was “tighter than Joan Rivers’ face”. At one point during his appearance he accepted a heart-shaped potato from an audience member.

The Guardian – “‘I was black before the election’ Obama tells David Letterman”
The Independent – “Letterman gets to the heart of it all”

Click here to watch a clip of the Barack Obama interview and for a web exclusive Top Ten list which was cut from the original TV broadcast last night