Late Show UK

Regis Philbin dropped by the Late Show on Thursday following David Letterman’s visit to Live With Regis & Kelly this week.

It was Regis’s final week of Live With Regis & Kelly shows this week and Dave let him go out in style – surprising him with a present of a Vespa scooter. However Regis did fall off it as he drove off into the sunset – it could only happen to Regis!

Regis’s little mishap was even featured in the London Evening Standard newspaper. Click here to read all about it.

Late Show favourite Regis Philbin hosts his final episode of Live With Regis And Kelly on Friday 18th November.

He’ll appear on the Late Show With David Letterman on the 17th November, and Dave will return the favour and appear on Live With Regis And Kelly on the 16th November.

Live With Regis And Kelly is usually the only other programme you see Dave on other than his own, so it’s a rare treat!

It’s almost that time of the year again – time for the Christmas decorations to come out of the dusty loft and of course time for the Late Show With David Letterman Christmas show!

Darlene Love has confirmed to me on Facebook her yearly performance of ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ will air on Friday 23rd December.

Expect other festive traditions on the 23rd December show, including Jay Thomas’s story about the Lone Ranger, the meatball quarterback challenge with Jay Thomas & Dave, Paul Shaffer’s always-entertaining Cher impression and the chance to see what outrageous set they have lined up for Darlene’s performance with the CBS Orchestra.

There’s usually one or two other guests on the big Christmas show, but these are yet to be announced.

As we posted last weekend, Coldplay performed a special Live On Letterman concert for the Late Show in September, and separately performed a track for an episode of the Late Show With David Letterman.

Coldplay seemed to enjoy their time at the Ed Sullivan Theater so much that they refused to leave and gave an impromptu encore performance of Us Against The World for the Late Show audience.

Their roadies were trying to clear the equipment away at the time, but Chris and the band just wanted to carry on and perform. Chris had problems with his microphone so played the encore performance without one.

Contactmusic reports “Slowly everyone joins in on stage. Will realises that Chris has taken the piano stool, so ends up kneeling on the floor. Jonny and Guy have their volume backed almost to off. The whole thing is just a joy to witness. Completely off the script, unplanned and ramshackle, but at the same time completely wonderful. Just the band and the audience sharing the moment”.

They say one of the roadies stated “roadies commence unplugging and switching off and then suddenly Chris is spotted walking back to the stage. Further chaos and pandemonium ensues as it transpires they’re going to do Us Against the World”.

Watch the special encore performance below – recorded by somebody in the Ed Sullivan Theater crowd:

Contactmusic – “Coldplay – Coldplay’s Surprise Encore”

Popular British band Coldplay stopped by the Ed Sullivan Theater this week to play a special concert as part of the Live On Letterman series of webcasts.

The concert was streamed live on the CBS Late Show website and is now available to watch on demand on their website:

In addition to the Live On Letterman webcast concert, Coldplay also performed their new song Paradise on an episode of the Late Show this week:

Sunday marked the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Everyone remembers the terrible events of that day in sunny New York as the World Trade Center was targeted, and the Pentagon in Washington was attacked, but do you recall how the talk shows handled the events after they came back on air many days after September 11th 2001?

The Late Show With David Letterman returned to CBS with its first new show since 9/11 on the 17th September 2001. Guests on the show were news anchor Dan Rather and TV personality (and regular Late Show favourite) Regis Philbin.

The most memorable part of this show (and also one of the most memorable in the history of the Late Show) was Dave’s very moving opening monologue talking about 9/11 and the people of New York:

News anchor Dan Rather was interviewed and famously asked Letterman to go to a commercial break when he broke down in tears part-way through the interview:

Regis Philbin was the final guest on this show:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart returned to Comedy Central with its first new show on the 20th September 2001 and provided another touching opening monologue similar to Letterman’s:

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno returned to NBC with its first new show around a week after the attacks. There still aren’t any video clips online for this episode but Wikipedia says:

“The first post-9/11 episode began with a still image of an American flag and a subdued opening without the usual opening credits. Leno’s monologue paid tribute to those who lost their lives and to firefighters, police and rescue workers across the US. Leno had questioned whether a show that regularly poked fun at the government could continue after the attacks, but in his monologue he explained that he saw the show as a respite from the grim news of the world, akin to a cookie or glass of lemonade handed to a firefighter. Senator John McCain and the musical group Crosby, Stills, and Nash were featured guests. For an extended period after the attack, a short clip of a large American flag waving was shown in between the announcement of the musical guest and Leno’s introduction during the opening montage”.

Late Night With Conan O’Brien returned at around the same time as The Tonight Show:

Brit-band Coldplay will perform in a live webcast for the Late Show on Tuesday 20th September.

The webcast is part of the Live On Letterman series of concerts and will stream on the official CBS Late Show website live from the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York.

The performance will begin at 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT.

The webcast will also be broadcast on selected CBS Radio stations in the US and the CBS JumboTron screen in Times Square NYC. Mobile devices can stream audio of it via Radio.com’s apps and the webcast will also be available through VEVO’s website.

It’s not known whether all will be available for non-US viewers, but it’s likely the CBS Late Show website streaming will be, but the other viewing/listening options will be blocked overseas, judging from past Live On Letterman webcasts.

Click here to read the press release in full and click here on the 20th September to watch the webcast on the CBS Late Show website.

Terrorist threats have been made to David Letterman and Craig Ferguson over the past week.

David Letterman was threatened by radical Islamists for a joke he made on the Late Show. The Washington Times reports “David Letterman had a fatwa issued against him by jihadists for having the nerve to make a joke about a jihadist. The edict required that as a Jew, his tongue should be cut out for speaking blasphemy. Mr. Letterman is not Jewish, but Radical Islamists never let facts interfere with fatwas”.

Letterman has beefed up security at the Ed Sullivan Theatre where the Late Show is taped in New York City but has since joked about the threat saying “everybody knows it’s Leno” and did a special segment showing everyone who “hates” Dave. He also said “a radical extremist threatened to cut my tongue out… I wish I had a nickel for every time a guy has threatened… I think the first time was during the Academy Awards”.

Craig Ferguson also had a scare himself this week when an envelope of white powder arrived in the mail at the Late Late Show from overseas. The Los Angeles Times reports “the powder was purported to be anthrax but later proved to be harmless”.

Ferguson joked about his threat saying “In the old days if someone sent me white powder I’d have said ‘Yeah’… I’d have snorted it, ended up at a party at Elton John’s house or rehab or both… but nowadays white powder in the mail is bad… this is the most attention this show has gotten since… this is the most attention this show has gotten”.

The Washington Times – “Radical Islamists target Zionist Infidel David Letterman”
Starpulse.com – “David Letterman Blames Jay Leno For Terrorist Threats”
Los Angeles Times – “Late Night: Craig Ferguson calls anthrax scare frightening”