Category Archives: Late Night
“The Best of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” Review
Jimmy Fallon may have recently been voted most desirable celebrity neighbor because he’s so friendly, but last night’s The Best of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon made him seem stiff. To make matters worse, the special was too long. It clocked in at two hours and only contained brief segments of commentary from Jimmy. The majority of the special wasn’t new comedy. It was reshowing the old stuff. So when we weren’t relieving the last 5 years of Jimmy’s life, we saw a comedian out of his element saying “watch this cool/funny thing my crew and I did” and doing pratfalls in a desperate attempt to be funny.
Let’s be honest, Jimmy’s success isn’t because he’s the best late night host. Depending on your tastes, Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, or Conan O’Brien is the best. Then again, there are tons of people who will argue no one will ever be better than Johnny Carson. However, Jimmy’s show works because it’s unusual nowadays. For the most part, it’s a talk show with a few Saturday Night Live style sketches that gets celebrities to loosen up. No one else would get Tom Cruise to crack eggs on his head or Bruce Springsteen to sing Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair.”
We’re Celebrating Thankgiving with Johnny Carson
Since it’s Thanksgiving, we figure you could use a break from trying not to burn your house down because Uncle Bob decided to fry the turkey this year. If you have 7 minutes to spare, enjoy this delightful clip of Johnny Carson and Doc Severinsen reading kids’ letters on how to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving.
Conan Celebrates 20 Years In Late Night, We Look Back at ‘Late Night’
It’s hard to believe that Conan O’Brien has had a late night talk show for 20 years. Granted, he’s had three of them: Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, and Conan, but that’s still no easy feat. He could have gone the way of Pat Sajak and Chevy Chase a long time ago. Actually, that was expected of him. Very few critics foresaw Conan having a long career and many, as demonstrated in this review from Entertainment Weekly, were unnecessarily harsh. It didn’t help that they were fueled by NBC’s decision to renew Conan’s Late Night contract on a weekly basis.
In hindsight, it is hard to watch Conan’s first night as host of Late Night, especially knowing the terrible treatment he received. Even hardcore Conan fans have to admit, on his first night, he was very green. To be fair, Conan did acknowledge it in a funny way and immediately addressed the fact that everyone kept hounding him with some variation of “better be as good as Letterman.” Conan had potential and viewers were willing to give him a chance, even though his bosses only kept renewing his contract because they had nothing else to throw on the air.
David Letterman Plays the Joker in “The Riddlers”
In 1977, David Letterman was still a struggling standup comedian trying to break into television, which is the only way to explain why Letterman would ever take part in the mess of a pilot that is The Riddlers. Unless you’re a fan of David Letterman, perpetual b-list game show guests from the 70s, or things that are so bad, they’re good, The Riddlers is not worth watching.
The Riddlers‘s pilot has many things wrong with it. The most obvious are several format flaws. First, there’s the fact that Letterman is almost useless. The contestants are reading the riddles to other members of their team. The Riddler‘s doesn’t need a host and it doesn’t deserve on as good as Letterman. He exists solely to read the rules and repeat questions that have already been read. While it is necessary to repeat questions every now and then, no game show needs a dedicated echoer.
As if a built in redundancy isn’t bad enough, the starting team is almost guaranteed to win. The problem isn’t that the object of the game is to answer 9 riddles correctly. It’s that the losing team from the previous game starts the new one and keeps control of the game until they get an incorrect answer. It’s entirely possible for a really good team to win the game without the other team ever answering a question. The only reason that doesn’t happen in the pilot is because Joyce Bulifant isn’t too bright, which she has also demonstrated multiple times on Match Game, so it’s not like she was having a bad day.
Celebrating Letterman’s 20 Years on CBS
Yesterday, August 29, marked David Letterman’s 20th year hosting the Late Show on CBS. While fans are probably a little disappointed that Dave didn’t give in and do a retrospective episode or primetime special (Neither one was ever going to happen. This is Letterman we’re talking about.), there’s no reason we can’t, with the help of YouTube, take a look back at Dave’s time on CBS.
First Episode
Dave may not have gotten The Tonight Show and NBC may have tried to sue him for using their intellectual property, but that didn’t stop Dave from bringing Larry “Bud” Melman, now using his real name, Calvert DeForest, to CBS. In fact, DeForest was the first person seen on the Late Show. Unfortunately, the clip below doesn’t have DeForest’s appearance on the first show, but it does have Ed Sullivan introducing Dave.
Sonny and Cher on ‘Late Night with Letterman’
On November 13, 1987, ten years after their divorce, Sonny and Cher appeared on Late Night with David Letterman. The duo stopped by for an interview and to sing their hit “I Got You Babe.”
During the interview, it is apparent that Sonny and Cher still care deeply for each other.
NBC Wants Jay Leno To Stay
NBC Entertainment President Bob Greenblatt doesn’t know the definition of insanity. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Greenblatt told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour that he hopes Jay Leno stays with NBC, after his run at The Tonight Show is over and Jimmy Fallon takes over as host. Clearly, the Peacock Network is conveniently ignoring the lessons it should have learned from situations with Conan O’Brien and, his Late Night predecessor, David Letterman. The golden rule at NBC should be: “Until Jay Leno no longer works here, don’t give The Tonight Show to the host of Late Night.”
‘Saturday Night Live’ Loses Another Castmember
Jason Sudeikis leaves Saturday Night Live. Last night, Jason Sudeikis announced on the Late Show with David Letterman that Saturday Night Live‘s 38th season was his last with the long running sketch comedy show. At the end of the past season, Bill Hader and Fred Armisen also left the show.
Jesse & The Rippers Perform On ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’
Jimmy Fallon has not matured since 1995. The man loves his 90s shows, which explains the recent reunion of Full House‘s Jesse & The Rippers on Late Night. Every part of this clips is perfect. Danny Tanner is in the audience and Aunt Becky kisses Uncle Jesse at the end. What more could a Full House fan ask for?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dor96YnM_qo
Want more Jesse & The Rippers? Check out their classic “Forever” music video.
Johnny Carson’s Memorable Moments
Since TCM airs some of Johnny Carson’s interviews every Monday night at 8pm in July, Wait! What’s a Dial? has compiled other memorable moments from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. None of these moments are rare. We’ve all seen them in every Johnny Carson special, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to watch them again. In no particular order, here are four memorable moments from Johnny’s 30 years as host of The Tonight Show.
Wait! What's A Dial? 