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Back when hosts had real skill and were able to make an interesting interview out of anything.
FTA-TV Late Shows - Mega Thread
- Thread starter ManWithNoName
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Back when hosts had real skill and were able to make an interesting interview out of anything.
musclehead22
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- Sep 21, 2014
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I'm surprised there isn't a lot of mention of Jimmy Kimmel. I think he is the best interview today along with Graham Norton.
- Mar 20, 2007
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Went to the Late Show on Monday, will share some thoughts on the whole experience.
The ticket I had said "General Entry" and that check in closes at 4.30pm. It also said that general tickets are awarded on a first come first serve basis, meaning the earlier you got there, the better seats you were likely to have. I arrived into Manhattan at 2.30pm (2 hour bus ride away from where I am staying) and found out that there were two different types of tickets, "express" and "general". Express guaranteed you a seat in the Ed Sullivan Theatre (400 capacity) and then it was a matter of the best of the rest to get general tickets. I was about 10th in line for general tickets, so wasn't sure if I would even get into see the show. The Late Show definitely skews to a more liberal audience, and I spoke at length to a couple in front of me from Chicago about the state of the country, particularly after the shooting in Vegas earlier that morning.
Finally at around 4pm they merged the general and express lines, and I managed to get a wristband for entry. The cutoff for entry seemed to be about 10 places after me, so if I had arrived around 30 minutes after I did I probably wouldn't have gotten a ticket. After going through security and checking my bag in, we entered the Ed Sullivan theatre. Absolutely no photography was allowed inside the theatre, and they could remove you for even having your phone out. I was seated on the balcony level with a clear view of the stage. What you don't see on the TV is that Colbert has a bookcase and set to the left of his desk that contains some old Colbert Report stuff (mainly the shield).
The first person to come out was a comic named Paul Mercurio who was the warm up act. He obviously does this every night, and knew exactly how to get everyone in the mood. He went through how loud everyone had to be, and then did a good 15 minutes of crowd work. Then Jon Baptiste and Stay Human came out. I know that a lot of people are critical of Jon and his role on the show, but that band is unbelievable and seriously talented musicians. After they had the crowd warmed up, Stephen Colbert came out and answered a few audience questions (none of which were particularly interesting), and then said they would be doing a cold open to the show, so he could address the situation in Las Vegas.
The show then began, and the monitors above the stage played the opening credits. The applause sign is only showed when returning from a commercial break. There are no "laugh here" or "clap here" signs to the audience, so any time there is applause during the monologue, it was totally audience driven. The whole monologue was done in one take, and from what I recall every single joke made the cut to the final show.
During the commercial breaks, Jon and Stay Human play music to keep the crowd amped up (they played some Tom Petty on monday) and Stephen is usually at the desk talking to one of his writers, presumably about the upcoming segment or guest. Coming back from the first commercial break, Stephen and Jon talked about what they did on the weekend, and I noticed in the moment that it was a bit of an awkward conversation that didn't flow. None of that conversation aired on TV, and they cut straight to Stephen showing celebrity puberty photos.
The guests were interesting. Jason Alexander's interview played out on TV, almost exactly how it was recorded. Seemed like a pretty genuine type of guy, and thanked the audience and the band at the end of the interview. The interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates was far more interesting, and I was surprised/impressed that most of the interview was aired as it was recorded. There was a bit where Coates was talking about his definition of white, which made reference to the N word that I don't think made the broadcast, but was a good point from a pretty smart guy.
Finally we were told that Pierce Brosnan would not be on the show that day, because in fact his interview was taped on Thursday (a practice which Stephen said is often done with schedules). Stephen said that given the events in Vegas, he should probably pre announce that the interview was taped prior, so that Brosnans happy attitude isn't taken the wrong way. He had to do about 3 takes for his intro for Brosnan, and this was the only time we really saw the show being worked out on the fly (mainly around the wording saying the interview was pre-taped). They then recorded the outro to the show and Stephen thanked everyone for coming and that was pretty much it. Everyone was out of the theatre by about 6.30pm and on their way.
I have managed to secure tickets for Conan in November (coming to New York Apollo Theatre) so it will be interesting how the two experiences compare
The ticket I had said "General Entry" and that check in closes at 4.30pm. It also said that general tickets are awarded on a first come first serve basis, meaning the earlier you got there, the better seats you were likely to have. I arrived into Manhattan at 2.30pm (2 hour bus ride away from where I am staying) and found out that there were two different types of tickets, "express" and "general". Express guaranteed you a seat in the Ed Sullivan Theatre (400 capacity) and then it was a matter of the best of the rest to get general tickets. I was about 10th in line for general tickets, so wasn't sure if I would even get into see the show. The Late Show definitely skews to a more liberal audience, and I spoke at length to a couple in front of me from Chicago about the state of the country, particularly after the shooting in Vegas earlier that morning.
Finally at around 4pm they merged the general and express lines, and I managed to get a wristband for entry. The cutoff for entry seemed to be about 10 places after me, so if I had arrived around 30 minutes after I did I probably wouldn't have gotten a ticket. After going through security and checking my bag in, we entered the Ed Sullivan theatre. Absolutely no photography was allowed inside the theatre, and they could remove you for even having your phone out. I was seated on the balcony level with a clear view of the stage. What you don't see on the TV is that Colbert has a bookcase and set to the left of his desk that contains some old Colbert Report stuff (mainly the shield).
The first person to come out was a comic named Paul Mercurio who was the warm up act. He obviously does this every night, and knew exactly how to get everyone in the mood. He went through how loud everyone had to be, and then did a good 15 minutes of crowd work. Then Jon Baptiste and Stay Human came out. I know that a lot of people are critical of Jon and his role on the show, but that band is unbelievable and seriously talented musicians. After they had the crowd warmed up, Stephen Colbert came out and answered a few audience questions (none of which were particularly interesting), and then said they would be doing a cold open to the show, so he could address the situation in Las Vegas.
The show then began, and the monitors above the stage played the opening credits. The applause sign is only showed when returning from a commercial break. There are no "laugh here" or "clap here" signs to the audience, so any time there is applause during the monologue, it was totally audience driven. The whole monologue was done in one take, and from what I recall every single joke made the cut to the final show.
During the commercial breaks, Jon and Stay Human play music to keep the crowd amped up (they played some Tom Petty on monday) and Stephen is usually at the desk talking to one of his writers, presumably about the upcoming segment or guest. Coming back from the first commercial break, Stephen and Jon talked about what they did on the weekend, and I noticed in the moment that it was a bit of an awkward conversation that didn't flow. None of that conversation aired on TV, and they cut straight to Stephen showing celebrity puberty photos.
The guests were interesting. Jason Alexander's interview played out on TV, almost exactly how it was recorded. Seemed like a pretty genuine type of guy, and thanked the audience and the band at the end of the interview. The interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates was far more interesting, and I was surprised/impressed that most of the interview was aired as it was recorded. There was a bit where Coates was talking about his definition of white, which made reference to the N word that I don't think made the broadcast, but was a good point from a pretty smart guy.
Finally we were told that Pierce Brosnan would not be on the show that day, because in fact his interview was taped on Thursday (a practice which Stephen said is often done with schedules). Stephen said that given the events in Vegas, he should probably pre announce that the interview was taped prior, so that Brosnans happy attitude isn't taken the wrong way. He had to do about 3 takes for his intro for Brosnan, and this was the only time we really saw the show being worked out on the fly (mainly around the wording saying the interview was pre-taped). They then recorded the outro to the show and Stephen thanked everyone for coming and that was pretty much it. Everyone was out of the theatre by about 6.30pm and on their way.
I have managed to secure tickets for Conan in November (coming to New York Apollo Theatre) so it will be interesting how the two experiences compare
- Aug 2, 2007
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Why do they have breaks for commercials when it's all pretty recorded?
- Mar 20, 2007
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I assume Stephen needs the time in between to chat with producers and writers about the next segment. A few times he left the set during the break to go backstage
The band plays for about the length of the commercial break, then the applause sign comes back up to let everyone know we are back and filming.
- Mar 20, 2007
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Anyone else seen David Lettermans new Netflix show
The Obama episode is up, and its fantastic. Forgot how much of a good interviewer Dave can be
The Obama episode is up, and its fantastic. Forgot how much of a good interviewer Dave can be
- Sep 28, 2000
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Yeah it's great. Look forward to more.
- Mar 20, 2007
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I get recycling a segment, but recycling its premise word for word and punchline as well ?
- Mar 20, 2007
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Conan was cool, but not overly memorable. Ended up seeing Colbert, Conan and Fallon whilst in New York.
Conan was the only one that didn't talk to the audience before or after though. Probably because it was a special show in a theatre, so the whole thing didn't really feel like a Conan show.
One thing from an audience perspective you realise is how much pre recorded segments don't play all that well. Conan had a few of these, and it just felt like you were all just watching a TV screen for 10 minutes. Compare that to the energy of Fallon doing one of his live studio bits, and the audience are just way more into it.
Although I think he's a bit of a hack, the Tonight Show experience was probably the coolest of all just because of the history of the show and 30 Rock. Also got to talk to Questlove who is a great dude
vast
Hall of Famer
Conan's trip to Japan has produced some funny s**t. The ones where he rents and family and gets etiquette training are gold.
- Sep 27, 2014
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Comedy Central struggling for years to replace The Colbert Report. The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore cancelled, The Opposition with Jordan Klepper cancelled, and now Lights Out with David Spade cancelled.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah still going but with a fraction of previous host Jon Stewart's audience.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah still going but with a fraction of previous host Jon Stewart's audience.
- Sep 27, 2014
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- Jan 15, 2012
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John Olivier show (from home) has been entertaining. I am waiting for the new episode to be released
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Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers both way better without a crowd.
John Oliver better without a crowd.
Samantha Bee probably better with a crowd. Much of her crude jokes take a moment to register and hearing the audience reacting a second or two later was amusing.
Bill Maher badly needs his audience back. His interviews are normally more like debates so doing them over webcam gets in the way. And he's unable (or too lazy) to adjust his monologues. Plays canned laughter over them.
John Oliver better without a crowd.
Samantha Bee probably better with a crowd. Much of her crude jokes take a moment to register and hearing the audience reacting a second or two later was amusing.
Bill Maher badly needs his audience back. His interviews are normally more like debates so doing them over webcam gets in the way. And he's unable (or too lazy) to adjust his monologues. Plays canned laughter over them.
This doco series is very good
www.sbs.com.au
The Story of Late Night
Explores the history of late-night TV from its inception, featuring stories about hosts such as Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert.
- Mar 20, 2007
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Will watchThis doco series is very good
The Story of Late Night
Explores the history of late-night TV from its inception, featuring stories about hosts such as Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert.
I liked the movie they did of the Leno/Letterman Tonight Show battle in the 90s
- Mar 20, 2007
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Anyone catch the podcast "Strike Force Five" between Jimmy Kimmell, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Seth Myers and John Oliver ?
Also this was in the news the other week. Ellen/Corden 2.0
www.rollingstone.com
Also this was in the news the other week. Ellen/Corden 2.0
Chaos, Comedy, and 'Crying Rooms': Inside Jimmy Fallon's 'Tonight Show'
Sixteen current and former staffers of 'The Tonight Show' say Fallon’s erratic behavior spoiled their 'dream' of working on the show.
www.rollingstone.com
Doesn’t really surprise me that Fallon would be like that to be honestAnyone catch the podcast "Strike Force Five" between Jimmy Kimmell, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Seth Myers and John Oliver ?
Also this was in the news the other week. Ellen/Corden 2.0
Chaos, Comedy, and 'Crying Rooms': Inside Jimmy Fallon's 'Tonight Show'
Sixteen current and former staffers of 'The Tonight Show' say Fallon’s erratic behavior spoiled their 'dream' of working on the show.
- Jan 15, 2012
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Not surprised, didn't Fallon have a drinking problem?
