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.
Posted: Saturday, 22nd March 2008 at 5:16pm by Paul
Colbert will be on tour with his Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report, next month. The FoxInsider post on FXUK.com says he will be going “specifically to Philadelphia to report on, mock and generally abuse the shenanigans that will be the Democrat party’s Pennsylvanian primary”. The post on FoxInsider also says The Colbert Report will be coming to FX UK in May - so we now have a (sort of) fixed date for The Colbert Report on UK television.
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: Tuesday, 8th January 2008 at 9:25am by Paul
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report came back to the air with the first new show in about two months last night. On last night’s first Daily Show back, Jon Stewart said “From now on, until the end of the strike, we’ll be doing A Daily Show with Jon Stewart. But not The Daily Show”. Both shows returned without their writers.
The Associated Press reports “Though both Comedy Cental late-night series have always largely been scripted, that would now violate strike rules of the Writers Guild of America. Even Stewart and Colbert, as guild members, are apparently barred from writing anything”. You can see last night’s new episode of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart on More 4 in the UK tonight at 8.30pm. The Colbert Report doesn’t currently air on UK TV.
Posted: Monday, 7th January 2008 at 1:00pm by Paul
Programming reminder - Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will return with new episodes of their respective programmes tonight on Comedy Central in the US (The Daily Show With Jon Stewart’s US episode from tonight will air on More 4 in the UK on Tuesday at 8.30pm). As the writers strike continues, Stewart and Colbert (like the other chat show hosts - except Letterman) will be without their usual writing team. The Canadian Press reports “WGA members Stewart and Colbert are barred from writing anything”.
Both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have been airing reruns since the strike began about eight weeks ago (the last new show aired at the beginning of November). A Comedy Central spokesman told The Canadian Press “Stephen and Jon are still figuring out what they’re going to do on Monday night’s show”. It will be interesting to see how both shows cope without the writers - most of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report rely heavily on scripted segments and news pieces. It is thought they will try to use more time with guest interviews instead, although The Canadian Press does say “performers who do not belong to the guild will be free to write material for themselves”.
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 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;
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.
