Late Night Thing

LNT

Posted by Stephan & Erech on June 8, 2009 ⋅

Email This Post ⋅

Print This Post ⋅

Week # we forget!

First week of the Tonight Show Zone in the can, and we’re ready to weigh in. The show is essentially the same. It was clear Conan was too jacked up during the first show to get the notes right. He talked over Andy pretty consistently, but by the end of the week, the old team was back in session. Unfortunately, the addition of Andy has been tempered by the type of guest Conan is now saddled with. Sure, we did get Patton Oswalt on the Tonight Show, but he was surrounded by Ryan Seacrest and Chickenfoot. Ugh. This is probably the time to start talking about how you need the sour or the sweet just isn’t sweet anymore, but that’s not really an applicable aphorism at all. The Late Night with Conan O’Brien television program already had it’s ups and downs. We don’t need extra bummer guests to remind us of how great the show can be (speaking of great, look at Thursday’s lineup), but that’s what we’re getting. Unless Leno’s primetime bonanza takes the pressure off.

So, where does that leave us with The Tonight Show? The monologue is still mediocre (just like every other show with a monologue), the range of guests is bigger (and arguably worse), but the sketches are just as good, and now Andy is back in the mix. Overall, that’s pretty good. In fact, so good that we’re in trouble here in LNT HQ. Our Tivo only has two tuners and now we’re stuck day in, day out from 11:35-12:37. What happens when basketball goes long, or when HBO bothers to air something good? We won’t be watching. That’s a problem we never had with Leno.

Hey, Dave’s still trying this week, the Tonight Show is as good as it’s ever been since Johnny stepped down, and there’s nothing else on television anyways, so scroll on down as we guide you through the week:

Monday:

• The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien - David Duchovny, Anna Friel, Bill Burr
• The Late Show with David Letterman - Howard Stern, Mos Def
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - Kelly Ripa, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Amadou & Mariam
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - Kevin Bacon, Michael Irvin
• Jimmy Kimmel Live - Adrien Brody, Steve “Lips” Kudlow & Robb Reiner, the Airborne Toxic Event
• Last Call with Carson Daly - Idris Elba, the Ting Tings

STEPHAN: Letterman is not essing around. No offense to Fox Mulder or the lovely Ms. Friel, but Howard Stern into Mos Def is clearly must watch television. I have no idea what Stern is up to, probably trying to salvage some value from all his Sirius stock, but he and Dave are great together. Great! Also, screw Sirius. We’ll all have internet radio soon enough. Sure, we can listen to WFMU on our iPhones already, but then we have to plug our phones into the car and not take any calls (or play Flight Control at red lights) to keep the music going. No thank you future, I want to listen to my jamz whilst endangering others on the road.

ERECH: Jimmy2 has Zack Morris on - and that means we’re one step closer to the Saved By The Bell reunion - and I am all for it. Seriously, I am honestly pumped to see this happen, and being this close with Zack actually showing up means we’re only what, a few heads from it all coming together? Of course Screech and Slater are showing up, those guys don’t turn down any chance to be filmed for something. Mr. Belding is a nice enough sort, and again, chance to be on tv again? Lisa Turtle isn’t doing much these days, and has already agreed to come back. I think that really only leaves Kelly Kapowski and Jessie Spano (and maybe Stacey Carosi & Tori Scott if you’re being a completionist, but I think we’re just sticking to the main crew here) unless I’ve missed the updates about those two. OOOH SO EXCITING!

Tuesday:

• The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien - Eddie Murphy, Angela Kinsey, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal
• The Late Show with David Letterman - Julia Roberts, Black Eyed Peas
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - Will Ferrell, Kyra Sedgwick, Mos Def
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - Dame Edna
• Jimmy Kimmel Live - Paris Hilton, Ken Jeong, No Doubt
• Last Call with Carson Daly - Green Day

ERECH: I’m honestly enthused to see Ferrell and Jimmy2 getting on tonight - should be fun to see them chatting about the old SNL days, because that’s what happens anytime anyone from SNL is on Fallon’s show. Then Mos Def and the Roots? YES PLEASE.

Someone stopped me on the street the other day and asked me why we never cover any of Yimmy’s primetime or post-event special episodes. I told this weirdo that it of course wasn’t anything personal, as Stephan & I are both big fans of the Oscar and Super Bowl afterparty specials he does - and that we’re also both tuning in to the Finals specials for the next few weeks too. Other than that, I’m not really sure why we don’t do better coverage of stuff like that…? Maybe we should? Let us know what you think, reader.

STEPHAN: It’s called “Late Night Thing” not “Prime Time Thing.” Besides, what are you watching at 8 (or 7 or 6 or 5, for that matter) during the summer that’s better than Yimmy getting Amare and Grant Hill to take on Dahntay Jones and Chris Birdm’n in the Team Mating Game?

Anyways, the point of this column is to ~~say horrible, unsubstantiated things about celebrities~~ help you decide which talk shows are worth staying in (or up) for. During Primetime? C’mon, you all know what you like, especially during the summer. You don’t need us to tell you what to watch then.

As for the shows tonight, I’d love to pretend that I was excited about Eddie Murphy stepping into the Zone, but it’s been way too long since Eddie did anything good. Instead, give Dave the ole Looksee tonight. Even if Julia Roberts hasn’t done anything good, well, ever, Dave loves her and he shows up when she’s there. That’s going to beat awkward Eddie Murphy pretending he still understands human interaction with Conzie tonight.

Wednesday:

• The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien - Dane Cook, Steven Ho, Rancid
• The Late Show with David Letterman - Stupid Human Tricks, Sonic Youth
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - John Krasinski, Stephen Moyer, Kudo Tsunoda, Manchester Orchestra
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - Chris Matthews, Theresa Andersson
• Jimmy Kimmel Live - Dominic Monaghan, J.J. Abrams, Bang Camaro
• Last Call with Carson Daly - Rob Huebel, Captain Paul Watson, Green Day

STEPHAN: Yimmy’s got himself a bit of a Flashback Island night. I’m not sure how Bang Camaro fits in though. Arena choir rock does seem like something Jack probably listens to while oxy’ed out, so maybe that’s it. As for the main dudes, Conan’s lineup tomorrow is so good, he has no reason to try tonight I guess and Dave, well, Dave hates people, so there you go.

ERECH: I’m pretty sure we’re getting a real guest on Dave tonight, not that that line-up isn’t full of a lot of entertainment value as it it. Stupid Human Tricks means Dave gets to take all that pent up frustration from having to pretend to care about anything Howard Stern says on Monday and unleash it on regular jerks like you and me while we play the harmonica with our butts or some other wierd crap. Stupid Human Tricks, yay!

My only complaint with the new Conan show, aside from not being able to unsee the Mario Bros. background now, is the musical acts. I forgot he was going to have to do that thing where he has big name douchey bands on now who are just there to sell records. Would a band like Rancid have ever been on Late NIght (too lazy to actually verify that data, but I’m going to assume I’m right for the sake of this argument)?? Or would some jackass like Billy Ray Cyrus have ever even been asked to come on? Well this is the trade-up folks, shitty bands located out of LA who’re signed to big record labels are going to get on this show a lot more than the cool indie stuff we were getting at 12:35. I hope Conan & Co. at least find a happy medium on this front, because if I ever see Conan introduce Motley Crue with anything but a sarcastic sneer on his lips, I’m kicking a hole right through my teevee, yes I am.

Thursday:

• The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien - Norm MacDonald, Jim Gaffigan, Neko Case
• The Late Show with David Letterman - Denzel Washington, the Jonas Brothers, Top Ten List w/ Regis Philbin
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - Betty White, Opie & Anthony, Martha Wainwright
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - Larry King, Anna Friel
• Jimmy Kimmel Live - Artie Lange, Adam Perry Lang, Blink 182
• Last Call with Carson Daly - Jay Mohr, Sig Hansen, Green Day

ERECH: Not a fan of Sandra Bullock, or most romantic comedies these days, but I tell you what (dangit bobby!) that thing with Ryan Reynolds and her almost has me wanting to pay to see it in theaters just to see Betty White pwn the crap out of everyone else in the flick. Betty White is great, one of the greatest. Comedic genius for years, and she’s still doing it. Too bad Fallon isn’t going to be able to riff with her well enough to really keep this interview tonight moving (although in fairness and a credit to her, not that many people CAN keep up with her) - but good on Jimmy2 and his people for putting her on the couch to begin with. Not like anyone else is this week, and shame on them for it too. Late Night Thing is giving you the forever thumbs up Betty - you’re the best!

Too bad Betty is getting followed up by those two baboons Opie & Anthony. Good grief, are these guys still really around? Well I guess it works out for me, since I’ll be able to go to bed early tonight then, riiiiiiight around 1AM if my calculations are correct.

Carson and Jay Mohr deserve each other more than any 2 kinda-celebs I can think of right now. Seriously, here’s two guys who make more money in a month than most of us do in a whole year, and have been doing so for YEAAAAARS, yet neither of them have any actual fanbase and both of them are pretty aggressively awful at what it is they do. I used to think I liked Mohr, but between his hosting gig on the NBC’s Last Comic Standing and that ridiculous CBS sitcom he’s in (was in?) where he looked like a swarm of bees had all decided to sting his face at the same time, I’m off the wagon. At this point I’m not sure if he actually has any real talent at all (or ever did), other than his name offering and people being like “oh yeah, he was that dick Bob Sugar in Jerry Maguire right?“. If he does have any juice left though he should maybe start thinking of working in a behind-the-camera capacity, writer, producer, something along those lines. I’m pretty sure I’m not speaking out of turn here when I say Jay, we’ve had enough.

STEPHAN: If you’re not watching the Zone tonight, you’re crazy. That might be the best lineup we’ve seen since we started LNT. It’s going to be so good, that it’ll take at least an hour to come back down to Earth. Luckily, Craiggers has nutbag Larry King and the great Anna Friel on (even if that movie is balls out terrible, we can just pretend she’s on to talk about Pushing Daisies), just the ticket to wind down the night.

Friday:

• The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien - Jamie Foxx, Kevin Nealon
• The Late Show with David Letterman - Sandra Bullock, Pete Correale, P.J. Harvey & John Parish
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - Mary J. Blige, Jarod Miller
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - Dane Cook, Peter Travers
• Jimmy Kimmel Live - Paula Abdul, Ty Murray and Chelsie Hightower, Todd Glass
• Last Call with Carson Daly - Ed Helms, Tarah Paige, Foxboro Hot Tubs

STEPHAN: A lot of made up people filling out the lineups tonight: Tarah Paige, Ty Murray, Pete Correale, and Chelsie Hightower all on one night? I’m sure they’re all wonderful people, but I don’t care about any of this nonsense tonight. The only things any good are Persophone Jean Harvey and Jarod Miller. Are either of them worth staying in for though? Probably not. Go out and enjoy the summer. You’re better than anything on tonight.

ERECH: Time to face it, there is nothing Carson Daly can do to get me interested in that show (and judging from the data on that pie chart to the right here, I’m not alone in the lack of interest department either…). Even with the new format, which I’ve actually found myself in a few arguments with people recently over and I was the one defending it (hey, when you know as much about late night stuff as we do, people are always trying to take you down a notch or two!)! I mean, I like Ed Helms. I like Rob Huebel. I just cannot like Carson Daly. Late Night Thing is giving you the forever thumbs down, Daly. Suck it.

That’s right Carson, suck it! And another week of Late Night Thing can suck it as well, as Stephan & Erech tear through history righting wrongs and telling all you folks out there what to watch and why!

The Thing though is never content to let itself do all the talking, and is opening up the podium again this week for all of you to join in and voice your opinions on the first week of Conan, in what we’re calling What The World Thinks About The New Tonight Show!

Chas in Maryland wrote:

I can’t remember the last time I’ve laughed my ass off so loudly and for so long! The Tonight Show is awesome again.

Been forced to catch it on Hulu so far, but I’ll make the effort to stay up late tonight to see him. Only for you, CoCo.

Carlo in the Philippines wrote:

Previously worried it was gonna be a sort-of watered down, more populist version of late night, judging by the first episode ( was still going through the motions, but he was clearly endearing himself to a larger crowd - and one that is quite exponentially different from the uptight, more deadpan New York one, which allowed for more cutting humour; didn’t like the ‘ Circle ! Circle ! ‘ chant for instance ).

But he rebounded real quick, and by the time that Super Mario thing went up at the Friday show, it was a blast. It’s not just that he got his groove on, even in the face a more mainstream timeslot, it’s that the show catapulted itself into another level. It’s really Late Night with a mammoth Hollywood budget. Wasn’t sure it would work as well, but it did.

Rod in Canadia wrote:

I haven’t watched the show in a year or more, but have caught every show since Conan took over and set a PVR timer to make sure I can keep up with it. I guess that kind of says it all for Conan’s first week. Hopefully he can keep it up.

Carla from Rhode Island wrote:

Watching the show this week gave me a warm giggly feeling of excitement in my stomach I haven’t felt for a television show in a long, LONG time. I loved it, and am excited that Conan is back.

And there you have it. We looked high and low for negative criticism, and it wasn’t to be had. Sure, there are creeps out there who hate everything good, fun, and awesome - but we’re not going to give them the time of day around here. Nope, not even a notice. It’s a new era, and we’re all better for it.

LNT - Hey, what happened to all the negativity around here, a-holes? (there it is, whew!)

Now go check out theLNT ARCHIVES!!