In Concert is a late-night television series created by Don Kirshner . Hosted by Don Branker, the series was a showcase for bands of the era to be taped "in concert" and then broadcast on ABC on Friday nights.
119-417: The series premiered on November 24, 1972, preempting The Dick Cavett Show . The first episode was the broadcast of a concert taped at Hofstra University on November 2, 1972, with Alice Cooper , Bo Diddley , Curtis Mayfield , and Seals & Crofts . The second episode, broadcast on December 8, 1972, and again preempting Cavett , featured The Allman Brothers Band and Chuck Berry . David Sontag became
238-425: A commune , when they in fact were followers of guru Mel Lyman . When Cavett asked about the "commune" where they lived, Frechette denied that it was a commune and said that "The community is for one purpose, and that's to serve Mel Lyman, who's the leader and founder of that community." At that point, Halprin finally tried to speak, but Cavett went to commercial. When the show returned, the next guest, Dr. Aaron Stern,
357-525: A 33-year career on late-night TV, and was succeeded the following September by Stephen Colbert—who departed from Comedy Central and The Colbert Report to host the program. On August 6, 2015, Jon Stewart also retired from The Daily Show (being succeeded by fellow cast member and South African comedian Trevor Noah ), joining The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as an executive producer and occasional contributor. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert achieved critical and ratings successes for its satire of
476-623: A Beverly Hills psychiatrist and director of the MPAA 's code and rating administration , was brought out, and Frechette and Halprin were not interviewed further. Around halfway through Cavett's Orson Welles interview, Welles reversed the roles and began asking Cavett questions about his life and career. This impromptu interview was well received by the audience and, among other things, humorously acknowledged Cavett's talk-show competitors such as Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin . Director John Cassavetes and actors Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara appeared on
595-457: A Carson competitor, CBS's The Pat Sajak Show , lasted less than 16 months, debuting in 1989 and being canceled in 1990. ABC opted not to compete against Carson with a late-night talk show; in 1980, it produced a pilot of a Richard Dawson -hosted show called Bizarre (it instead went to series on Showtime with John Byner as host) and, for two years, carried the weekly sketch comedy series Fridays . ABC instead counterprogrammed Carson with
714-597: A battle with network executives, leading to her being replaced by Arsenio Hall . Hall performed extremely well among viewers in the 18–49 demographic; however, Fox had already greenlit The Wilton North Report to replace The Late Show , leading to Hall hosting his own late-night talk show in syndication after The Late Show was canceled in 1988. The Late Show continued with several unknown hosts until its cancellation. Hall's syndicated show, The Arsenio Hall Show , began in syndication in 1988, becoming more popular among younger viewers than Carson. The last network attempt at
833-450: A concert series, The Midnight Special , that aired Friday nights, and a low-cost talk show, The Tomorrow Show , hosted by Tom Snyder , that aired Mondays through Thursdays. Both shows aired immediately following Carson's Tonight Show at 1:00 a.m. ET . Tomorrow was different from The Tonight Show . For instance, the show originally featured no studio audience, while Snyder would conduct one-on-one interviews (Snyder's guest list
952-497: A country music counterpart to ABC In Concert , ABC In Concert Country premiered on June 4, 1994. It was hosted by Billy Dean and featured performers such as Billy Ray Cyrus , Travis Tritt , and Trisha Yearwood . This series lasted just over two months, with its final episode airing on August 10, 1994. The first In Concert broadcast was terminated early in Cincinnati, Ohio ; the station manager of then-ABC affiliate WKRC-TV
1071-474: A debate about the Vietnam War, Cavett had two veterans debating on the show. The anti-war side was led by a young John Kerry and the pro-war side by John E. O'Neill , later the founder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth . It was later revealed through then-President Richard Nixon 's secret White House tapes that Nixon wanted to "get rid" of Cavett because of this debate. Director Ingmar Bergman appeared for
1190-730: A defense witness at the Chicago Seven trial, several of Collins' comments were censored at the direction of the ABC legal department. Collins wrote a protest letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), claiming a violation of her free-speech rights and the network license granted to ABC by the FCC. Her protest was denied, with the FCC ruling that a television network could, at its discretion, delete or edit remarks on its programs. Elton Rule , president of ABC Television, noted that in
1309-467: A host of, a slated replacement show (see below). Many late-night talk shows went off the air in the days following the September 11 attacks of 2001, while their networks aired round-the-clock news coverage. Letterman was the first to return on September 17, addressing the situation in an opening monologue. The show was not presented in its normal jovial manner, and featured Dan Rather , Regis Philbin , and
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#17330861110591428-512: A host who could attract guests that otherwise might not do interviews, at the expense of some of the excitement that might ensue from the multiple-guest format. In January 1973, despite a vociferous letter campaign, ratings forced the show to be cut back to occasional status, airing one week a month under the umbrella title ABC's Wide World of Entertainment . Jack Paar , whom ABC had tried to recruit as Cavett's successor, insisted that both he and Cavett would be given at least one week per month as
1547-496: A late-night timeslot itself, Broadway Open House , aired on NBC in 1950 and ended a year later after host Jerry Lester left the show, a combination of frustration with being upstaged by his sidekick Virginia "Dagmar" Lewis , burnout from having to go through a large amount of material in a short time, and the lack of enough television sets in the United States to make television broadcasting in late nights viable. (Lester himself
1666-410: A modified version of that show's set. After leaving NBC, O'Brien began hosting his new late night talk show, Conan , on TBS on November 8, 2010, after the non-compete clause in his NBC contract had lapsed. In March 2013, news broke that NBC was expected to part ways with Leno for good after his contract expired in 2014, clearing the way for Fallon (whose tenure at Late Night had found success with
1785-473: A musical performance from Tori Amos . Politically Incorrect also resumed on September 17 and immediately drew controversy due to remarks Maher and a guest ( Dinesh D'Souza ) made concerning the "coward" label given to the terrorists by President George W. Bush . The Tonight Show returned the following night, featuring John McCain and a performance from Crosby, Stills, and Nash . After NBC's placeholding run of SCTV at 1:35 a.m. came to an end after
1904-474: A near-fatal stroke in 1965. During an interview with Christine Jorgensen , the first widely known trans woman to have sex reassignment surgery (in this case a complete male-to-female vaginoplasty ), Jorgensen walked off the show when she felt offended after Cavett asked her about the status of her romantic life with her wife; because Jorgensen was the only scheduled guest, Cavett spent the rest of that show talking about how he had not meant to offend her. As
2023-607: A new prime time talk show on NBC, The Jay Leno Show . It aired on weeknights at 10 p.m. ET/PT before late local news and The Tonight Show , and featured sketches and elements carried over from his tenure. The program faced dismal ratings, which also led to complaints from NBC affiliates that it was impacting the viewership of their late local newscasts. On January 7, 2010, multiple media outlets reported that The Jay Leno Show would be moved to 11:35 p.m. and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien would be moved from 11:35 p.m. to 12:05 a.m. effective March 1, 2010,
2142-432: A plethora of fill-in hosts for the next four years. Even MTV entered the late-night contest when it debuted The Jon Stewart Show , hosted by Jon Stewart , which ran until 1995. Letterman initially won the late-night ratings battle but fell behind Leno in 1995; Leno generally remained in first place until first leaving Tonight in 2009. To combat NBC's Late Night , CBS gave Letterman's studio Worldwide Pants control of
2261-634: A power shift from print to television; Winchell's career never recovered from the damage), and mercurial personality. Paar quit the show in 1960 in a dispute over a censored joke, but was allowed to come back a month later. He permanently left the show in 1962, saying that he could not handle the workload of The Tonight Show (at the time, the show ran 105 minutes a day, five nights a week), and he moved to his own weekly prime-time show, which ran until 1965. After Paar's departure, hosting duties were filled by Groucho Marx , Mort Sahl , and many others. Johnny Carson took over as host of The Tonight Show in 1962 and
2380-465: A result of continuing coverage of the Robert F. Kennedy assassination that took place earlier that morning, Cavett's show did not begin until 11 am, and was interrupted at 11:20 for 30 minutes of further updates on the unfolding tragedy. At 11:50, Cavett's show returned for its final 10 minutes. The assassination was the only topic discussed during the 30 minutes of the show. On the following two mornings,
2499-410: A return to late-night television with a new syndicated program from Sony Pictures Television , Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson ; as opposed to The Late Late Show and other late-night shows, the program was pitched as having a specific focus on television as a topic, and air in a half-hour timeslot. James Corden hosted his final episode of The Late Late Show on April 27, 2023, in a departure that
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#17330861110592618-462: A satire of opinion-based cable news programs, featuring Colbert portraying a narcissistic pundit reminiscent of Fox News hosts such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity , among other influences. Jake Sasseville entered the late-night arena after a self-syndication campaign got him clearance on several ABC affiliates by local general managers in 2008. The Edge with Jake Sasseville aired after Jimmy Kimmel Live! in some markets, reaching
2737-456: A settlement with NBC that allowed him to leave The Tonight Show on January 22, 2010, ending his affiliation with NBC after 22 years. Leno began his second tenure as host of The Tonight Show on March 1, 2010, after the 2010 Winter Olympics , but only after major controversy . Leno's second Tonight iteration was taped at NBC's Studio 11 in Burbank, the former home of The Jay Leno Show , with
2856-529: A sign of respect for Cavett. By the end of 1974, Cavett's show was airing only twice per month. The PBS series featured single guests in a half-hour format and was produced by Christopher Porterfield , a former roommate of Cavett's at Yale University who had coauthored the book Cavett that was published in August 1974. The show remained on the PBS lineup until affiliates voted it off the schedule in 1982. On all three of
2975-465: A similar situation that may have prevented her from appearing on the show, did not allow her to perform at Woodstock. He considered the Dick Cavett Show too important for her career for her to risk missing the taping. Mitchell wrote the song " Woodstock " based on descriptions by Graham Nash and from the images she saw on television, as she could not be there in person. The most famous version of
3094-653: A single guest. Among those receiving such special treatment (some more than once) were Groucho Marx , Laurence Olivier , Judy Garland , Katharine Hepburn (without an audience), Bette Davis , Orson Welles , Noël Coward (who appeared on the same show with Alfred Lunt , Lynn Fontanne , Tammy Grimes and Brian Bedford ), John Lennon and Yoko Ono , Janis Joplin , Ray Charles , Alfred Hitchcock , Fred Astaire , Woody Allen , Gloria Swanson , Jerry Lewis , Lucille Ball , Zero Mostel ("on some shows I've had just one guest, but tonight I have Zero"), Bob Hope and David Bowie . These shows helped showcase Cavett's skills as
3213-471: A smattering of vaudeville and variety acts. The first version of The Tonight Show , Tonight Starring Steve Allen , debuted in 1954 on NBC . The show created many modern talk show staples including an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, comedy bits, and musical performances; it also had some holdovers from the radio era, including a vocal group ( Steve and Eydie , who went on to decades of success after Tonight ) in addition to
3332-525: A successful news magazine entitled Nightline , beginning in 1980. Beginning on August 22, 1988, NBC concluded its main programming for the day with a half-hour entry, Later , hosted by NBC sportscaster Bob Costas and airing at 1:35 a.m. Eastern, after Letterman, Mondays through Thursdays. It originated from 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York and bore a strong resemblance to an earlier NBC late-night favorite, Tom Snyder's Tomorrow, due to its lack of
3451-599: A total of 35 million homes, despite the network's concerns. The show went off the air in 2010. Another syndicated show that earned significant clearance in the late 2000s was Comics Unleashed , which was produced by Byron Allen 's Entertainment Studios , and had still been cleared by some stations (such as WCBS-TV and other CBS owned-and-operated stations ) as late as 2013 without any new episodes having been produced. Scottish native Craig Ferguson succeeded Kilborn as host of The Late Late Show in 2005, renaming it The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson . TBS entered
3570-516: A traditional studio-based format. Politically Incorrect was canceled due to low ratings in the summer of 2002, after which Maher joined HBO and began hosting the similarly formatted weekly series Real Time . ABC then tapped Comedy Central personality Jimmy Kimmel to host a more traditional late-night program, Jimmy Kimmel Live! . From its beginning in 2003 until early 2013, the show aired following Nightline on ABC's late-night lineup. With Nightline past its prime in audience size due to
3689-466: A week with guest hosts and "Best of Carson" reruns the other two nights. From 1983 to 1986, Rivers and Brenner served as Carson's permanent guest hosts. Many in 1986, including top executives at NBC, thought it was possible that Johnny Carson would retire after reaching his 25th anniversary on October 1, 1987, as it was such a logical cut-off point. In the spring of 1986, a confidential memo, between top NBC executives listing about ten possible replacements in
In Concert (American TV series) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3808-499: A year, the network debuted Last Call with Carson Daly in its place in January 2002; Daly was a former MTV VJ . Four months later, it expanded to five nights a week (from Later's four), and unlike the other shows on the air at the time, only a half-year's worth of first-run programs were recorded each season. In 2009, Last Call was retooled with a travelogue -like format, using interviews and performances filmed on-location rather than
3927-528: A young, culturally savvy audience that was very desirable to advertisers) to take over The Tonight Show beginning that year, which also marked the 60th anniversary of the franchise. NBC confirmed the change on April 3, 2013. Under Fallon, the show returned to New York City, where the show originated from its 1954 debut until 1972; NBC no longer owns the former company-owned studios in Burbank where Carson and Leno's programs originated (O'Brien's Tonight Show taped at nearby Universal Studios ). On May 13, 2013, it
4046-434: Is seated on a couch. Many late night talk shows feature a house band which generally performs cover songs for the studio audience during commercial breaks and occasionally will back up a guest artist. Late-night talk shows are a widely-viewed format in the United States, but are not as prominent in other parts of the world. Shows that loosely resemble the format air in other countries, but generally air weekly as opposed to
4165-796: The Joey Bishop Show, with Regis Philbin as his sidekick, to its late-night lineup in 1967, employing a talk show format, in an attempt to compete against the Tonight Show, which lasted until 1969. CBS went without late-night TV (the closest thing it would have to a late-night show was its late-prime-time variety show The Danny Kaye Show from 1963 to 1967) until 1969, when it acquired The Merv Griffin Show from syndication; Griffin returned to syndication in 1972, and CBS would not air any further late-night talk shows until 1989, instead opting for reruns, lifestyle programs and, later, imported Canadian dramas in
4284-496: The 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign and the presidency of Donald Trump ; following the 2018–19 television season, it was the highest-rated late-night talk show overall for the third season in a row, and narrowly beat The Tonight Show in key demographic (18-to-49-year-old) viewership for the first time since 1994–95. On February 12, 2019, NBC announced that Last Call with Carson Daly would conclude after its 2000th and final episode. Daly had already reduced his role on
4403-490: The United Network that ever made it to air (because that network only had a handful of affiliates, it also syndicated the program to CBS, ABC and independent stations); it, along with the network, only lasted five weeks in summer 1967. Steve Allen himself returned to NBC late night in syndication twice in this time frame, first with a show that ran from 1962 to 1964 and then with a series that ran from 1968 to 1971. ABC added
4522-565: The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes . CBS filled the Late Late Show timeslot with reruns and previously-unaired episodes of Comics Unleashed . The revival, titled After Midnight , premiered on January 16, 2024. Late-night talk show viewership had a brief peak in 2016 in the wake of retirements and new hosts but has been in steep decline since then. Conan O'Brien, in a 2023 interview, noted that several factors played into
4641-406: The ABC schedule on April 25, 1975. During its three seasons on the air, the series received four Primetime Emmy Awards . The series was revived on June 7, 1991, under the name In Concert '91 . It was intended to be a summer replacement for Rick Dees ' late night series Into The Night . In Concert '91 proved to be more popular and achieved high ratings for a late-night show on Fridays. Into
4760-476: The Drum " a cappella . Jefferson Airplane (with Crosby) then launched into " Somebody to Love ". The credits rolled as the musicians, without Mitchell, engaged in an instrumental jam as the audience danced. Jimi Hendrix was scheduled to join the others, but was unable to appear at the afternoon taping that occurred only a few hours after he had performed at the late-running festival. Mitchell's manager, apparently fearing
4879-499: The Night was consequently not brought back for the next season. In Concert '91 featured both newer performers (e.g. Alice in Chains , Poison ) and more established acts (e.g. David Bowie , Cher , Judas Priest , Phil Collins ), and was simulcast in stereo on ABC radio stations. It was renamed ABC In Concert in January 1992 and aired its final episode on September 11, 1998. Created as
In Concert (American TV series) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4998-484: The US (the actual line is "In order to survive we steal, cheat, lie, forge, fuck, hide and deal". Another line with the forbidden word was "Up against the wall, Up against the wall, motherfucker ".). Mitchell sang " Chelsea Morning ", "Willy" and "For Free". Grace Slick purposefully called Cavett "Jim" and briefly talked about her school days at Finch College . Stephen Stills performed "4 + 20". Joni Mitchell sang " The Fiddle and
5117-500: The arts, theater, acting, painting, whatever…[The Electric Church] is a belief that I have. We do use electric guitars. Everything is electrified nowadays. So, therefore the belief comes through electricity to people. That's why we play so loud. Because it doesn't actually hit through the eardrums like most groups do nowadays. They say 'Well, we're going to play loud too, because they're playing loud.' And they've got this real shrill sound that's really hard. We plan for our sound to go inside
5236-445: The behavior was mere showmanship and a calculated publicity stunt . The incident was reported on the news before it aired that night, increasing viewership. In Greenwood, Mississippi , the hometown of Cavett's wife Carrie Nye , the guests at a country club dance abandoned the dance floor to watch the show on the TV in the lounge. In Atlanta , then-ABC affiliate WQXI-TV (now WXIA ) led with
5355-476: The decline, all of which impacted his decision to end Conan and focus on other projects, including a saturated market, the loss of the captive audience to video on demand options, and a changing culture that made it more difficult to make genuine fun of the culture (O'Brien, who tended to rely less on political humor than some of his contemporaries, cited Donald Trump as an example of a figure so polarizing that even those who do not like him would be repulsed by
5474-434: The earlier time slot, forcibly changed the show's format to resemble Carson's, and added gossip reporter Rona Barrett as a co-host. The two did not get along and had an acrimonious relationship on and off the air. The agreement gave Carson's production company ownership of the timeslot following Tonight , which, a year later, Carson Productions and NBC used to create Late Night with David Letterman . When NBC offered Snyder
5593-515: The early 1970s to focus on Hollywood celebrities also helped to minimize guest overlap. The late-night show's 45-minute midpoint would always be signaled by the musical piece "Glitter and Be Gay" from Leonard Bernstein 's Candide . The Candide snippet became Cavett's theme song and was used as the introduction to his later PBS series, and was played by the house band on his various talk show appearances. Typically each show had several guests, but occasionally Cavett would devote an entire show to
5712-421: The early ABC shows the bandleader was Bobby Rosengarden and the announcer was Fred Foy of The Lone Ranger fame. The morning show was produced by Woody Fraser. Tony Converse was the producer of the 1969 ABC prime-time show and the original producer of the ABC late-night show, succeeded by John Gilroy. Cavett's writer was Dave Lloyd . The Dick Cavett Show was also the name of a short-lived radio show. In
5831-508: The end of the year. On September 8, 2014, British actor and comedian James Corden was announced as the new host of The Late Late Show . His incarnation of the program was modelled more upon British chat shows such as The Graham Norton Show , de-emphasizing the monologue and relying on multiple guests present throughout the entire show (rather than interviewed individually). Meanwhile, in May 2015, David Letterman retired from Late Show, ending
5950-496: The event of Carson's retirement the next year, was leaked. When Rivers saw it, she was shocked to see that she was nowhere on the list despite the fact that she had been The Tonight Show' s permanent guest host since 1983. In 1986, Joan Rivers joined the brand-new Fox network, where she would host her own late-night talk show, The Late Show , which competed directly against The Tonight Show . Clint Holmes served as Rivers' announcer while Mark Hudson served as band leader. Carson
6069-417: The exception of The Daily Show, which opted to continue without an audience as a stylistic choice) had full audiences return to their studio. One of the few programs initially unaffected by COVID-19 restrictions was A Little Late , as it had already filmed the entirety of its first season in 2019. The program shifted to a home-based production for its second season in January 2021, with Singh citing both
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#17330861110596188-404: The executive producer of In Concert starting with the 3rd show and for the rest of the first season. Don Kirshner had no direct connection with the show after the second episode except that the production credits listed In Concert as a "David Sontag Production" and a "Don Kirshner Production". Starting with the 3rd episode there was no host; Joshua White (Joshua Lightshow) became the director and
6307-444: The first African-American female late-night host. Unfortunately, Garrett only lasted a year before NBC canceled the 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 -year-old Later in favor of reruns of the critically acclaimed cult Canadian-produced sketch comedy series, SCTV , itself a former NBC late-night program that aired Fridays between 1981 and 1983. That action, a temporary measure, was necessitated by the prolonged development of, and negotiations with
6426-499: The first broadcast of his 90-minute morning show, Cavett had as his first guest engineer, designer and futurist Buckminster Fuller . The two discussed how politicians would eventually become obsolete through technological advances, and the wide-ranging discussion included a comment from Fuller that a woman is a baby factory and that a man's role is to simply press the right button. Later on in the program, Cavett chatted with actress Patricia Neal , who discussed her long rehabilitation from
6545-557: The first time in its history that the show would begin after midnight in the Eastern Time Zone. On January 12, 2010, O'Brien publicly announced in an open letter that he intended to leave NBC if it moved The Tonight Show to any timeslot after midnight in order to accommodate The Jay Leno Show at 11:35 p.m. ET. He felt it would damage the show's legacy, as it had always started after the late local news since it began in 1954. After several days of negotiations, O'Brien reached
6664-417: The first time on a US talk show, one of the few television interviews he ever granted. Actor/singer Danny Kaye appeared for the entire show with film clips, performing and promoting UNICEF . Moments before the episode with Gore Vidal , Norman Mailer and Janet Flanner , Mailer, annoyed with Vidal's less-than-stellar review of Prisoner of Sex , headbutted Vidal and traded insults with him backstage. As
6783-478: The genre competed against general variety shows for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Series . Jay Leno hosted his final episode of The Tonight Show on May 29, 2009, with his successor Conan O'Brien, and musician James Taylor as his guests. O'Brien took over hosting duties on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien the following Monday, June 1, 2009. In September 2009, Leno began hosting
6902-402: The host were speaking directly to each member of the watching audience. Late-night talk shows are also fundamentally shaped by the personality of the host. The late-night talk show format was popularized by Johnny Carson and his sidekick Ed McMahon with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on NBC . Typically the show's host conducts interviews from behind a desk, while the guest
7021-680: The house band, something that later late-night shows would abandon. By this point, the Federal Communications Commission had lifted a freeze on new television stations, which allowed new stations to appear across the country, and television set sales soon grew exponentially. As a result, unlike Broadway Open House , Tonight proved to be a resounding success. The success of the show led Allen to receive another show, entitled The Steve Allen Show , which would compete with The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights. Meanwhile, hosting duties of The Tonight Show were split between Allen and Ernie Kovacs ; Kovacs had defected to NBC from his own late-night show on
7140-493: The interview, Cavett asked Coward, "What is the word for when one has terrific, prolific qualities?" to which Coward answered in a deadpan manner, "Talent", drawing a great amount of laughter. Actors Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin appeared together with movie producer Mel Brooks and movie critic Rex Reed . The interview went poorly from the outset, with Frechette giving abrupt, non-conversational answers and Halprin staying silent. Cavett apparently believed that they lived in
7259-403: The late-night TV race was hosted by Les Crane , which pioneered the controversial tabloid talk show format that would not become popular until two decades later. With most viewers not accustomed to the visceral conflict it entailed, Crane's show lasted only six months. Shorter still was The Las Vegas Show , a Las Vegas -based late-night show hosted by Bill Dana that was the only offering of
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#17330861110597378-495: The late-night scene in 2009 when it debuted Lopez Tonight , hosted by comedian George Lopez . On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of The Tonight Show ' s debut, NBC announced that Jay Leno would be succeeded by Conan O'Brien , in 2009. Leno explained that he did not want to cause a repeat of the hard feelings and controversy that occurred when he was picked for the show over David Letterman following Carson's retirement in 1992. O'Brien's final Late Night episode
7497-417: The mention of him, even in a satirical context, while those who are his fans would be offended). In a 2024 podcast, Jimmy Kimmel admitted that he only agreed to continue Jimmy Kimmel Live! because he feared he had no career options if the show were to end, also noting that he anticipated that within the next ten years, the networks would decide that the format was no longer cost-effective and cancel all of
7616-585: The mirror one morning, and I figured, why waste five and a half dollars?" In an interview with Jimi Hendrix, Cavett spoke about Hendrix's performance of the " Star Spangled Banner " at Woodstock, and called the style "unorthodox". Jimi commented that the song was "not unorthodox" and that what he played was beautiful. The audience clapped, and Dick blushed. Hendrix performed "Izabella" & " Machine Gun " with his band, Billy Cox , Mitch Mitchell and Juma Sultan . During an interview with singer Judy Collins in which Cavett and Collins discussed her experiences as
7735-405: The moon don't shine?" A long laugh by the audience ensued, after which Mailer asked Cavett if he had "come up with that line himself". Cavett replied, "I have to tell you a quote from Tolstoy ?" The headbutting and later on-air altercation was described by Mailer in his short book Of a Small and Modest Malignancy, Wicked and Bristling with Dots , including a description that does not jibe with
7854-580: The network moved the 15-minute show, which regularly aired up to 11pm, nationwide in March 1950. In 1950, Emerson also hosted a similar show on NBC called Fifteen with Faye for about six months before committing the CBS show. Emerson's show was distinguished from her competition on NBC in that she was more openly political; Emerson, an avowed Democrat , regularly interviewed political and intellectual figures on her show (among them Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ) in addition to
7973-432: The network's judgment, "her remarks ... were not within the bounds of fair comment." Blues guitarist Eric Clapton appeared on the show with a new group called Delaney & Bonnie & Friends , which was Clapton's first attempt to break from his lead role and operate as an anonymous sideman. This was also possibly the first time Clapton had appeared on American television with a Fender Stratocaster ; up to that time, he
8092-719: The next several days. The Dick Cavett Show The Dick Cavett Show is the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including: Cavett normally taped his programs in New York City , though occasionally he would venture elsewhere, including Los Angeles, New Orleans and London. The Dick Cavett Show refers to television programs on the ABC, PBS, USA and CNBC networks hosted by comedian, comedy writer and author Dick Cavett between 1968 and 1995 in New York. The first daytime show featured Gore Vidal , Muhammad Ali and Angela Lansbury . ABC pressured Cavett to get prominent celebrities on
8211-499: The nightly airings of those in the United States. They also generally air in time slots considered to be prime time in the United States. Late-night talk shows had their genesis in early variety shows, a format that migrated to television from radio, where it had been the dominant form of light entertainment during most of the old-time radio era. The Pepsodent Show , which opened each weekly episode with host Bob Hope 's rapid-fire, topical and often political observational comedy ,
8330-496: The only people here." Mailer moved his chair away from the other guests and Cavett joked that "perhaps you'd like two more chairs to contain your giant intellect?" Mailer replied "I'll take the two chairs if you'll all accept finger bowls ." As Cavett professed to not understand Mailer's "finger bowl" comment and made further jokes, Mailer stated "Why don't you look at your question sheet and ask your question?", to which Cavett responded "Why don't you fold it five ways and put it where
8449-435: The pandemic and a creative preference against a traditional studio-based format. Singh opted not to continue A Little Late beyond 2021, and NBC returned the time slot to its affiliates. Conan concluded its run on June 24, 2021, with O'Brien having announced plans to produce a weekly "variety" show for HBO Max and focus on other digital media projects. On January 17, 2023, it was announced that Craig Ferguson would make
8568-542: The position in 1967 and served as bandleader with the NBC Orchestra . The show originated from NBC Studios in New York City but, as part of Carson's shifting the show toward a more entertainment-oriented program, moved to Burbank, California , in 1972. NBC's two other rivals during the early television era, CBS and ABC , did not attempt any major forays into late-night television until the 1960s. ABC's first effort at
8687-501: The post- Late Show time slot, and would premiere The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder in 1995—serving as a spiritual successor to Snyder's Tomorrow . They had originally attempted to lure Bob Costas away from NBC and Later (offering to have him host The Late Late Show and become a correspondent for CBS's newsmagazine 60 Minutes ) , but were unsuccessful due to his desire to stay with NBC Sports , as well as his relationship with NBC chief Dick Ebersol . Snyder departed in 1999 and
8806-1018: The program in 2013 due to his commitments to the Today Show and other projects. On September 16, 2019, NBC premiered A Little Late with Lilly Singh —a new talk show hosted by Indian-Canadian YouTuber Lilly Singh . She became the first openly bisexual person and the first person of Indian descent to host a U.S. late-night talk show. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , nearly all U.S. late-night talk shows were forced to impose major changes to their formats in March 2020 due to public health orders and restrictions on gatherings. They initially adopted formats produced remotely from their hosts' homes, with all guests appearing via videoconferencing . By July 2020, late-night shows began to migrate back to studio-based productions, but with reconfigured or different studios than normal with no audience, and continued use of remote interviews. By October 2021, all late night TV shows (with
8925-414: The proliferation of cable news, and ABC believing in stronger ratings potential in the timeslot, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was moved to 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on January 8, 2013—placing it in line with its competitors, Letterman and Leno. On October 17, 2005, Comedy Central premiered The Colbert Report , a spin-off of The Daily Show hosted by regular cast member Stephen Colbert . The show was structured as
9044-475: The purpose of his music when he discussed his concept of the "Electric Church": [Music] is getting to be more spiritual than anything now. Pretty soon I believe that they are going to have to rely on music to get some kind of peace of mind or satisfaction—direction, actually—more so than politics, because politics is really on an ego scene…[Politics] is the art of words, which means nothing. So, therefore you have to rely on more of an earthier substance like music or
9163-455: The same day and shown on two nights. During the first part, he discussed the depiction of oral sex in movies and made a parenthetical utterance: "oral-genital sex...mouth on sex organs." A flap ensued when executives demanded that the censor cut the second phrase. An angry Cavett described the ongoing situation at the beginning of the second part, reusing the phrase. One of the guests, legal scholar Alexander Bickel , sided with Cavett. The result
9282-463: The same guests, Cavett was receptive to rock and roll artists to a degree unusual at the time, as well as to authors, politicians and other personalities outside the entertainment field. The wide variety of guests, combined with Cavett's literate and intelligent approach to comedy, appealed to a significant enough number of viewers to keep the show running for several years despite the competition from Carson's show. Carson's move to southern California in
9401-516: The show (including some 6,000 pieces of hate mail ) than any other he had done. Maddox later returned for another appearance, and this time Cavett walked off as a joke. Left alone on stage, Maddox cued the band and began singing "I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do" as Cavett reappeared in the wings to join in. The walk-off incident is mentioned at the beginning of the Randy Newman song " Rednecks ". Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí appeared on
9520-400: The show according to his preferences, the show was canceled the following month. On NBC's Later, Bob Costas gave way to the host of the cable show Talk Soup , Greg Kinnear , whose tenure was accompanied by a move to Burbank and toward a more conventional, audience-and-celebrity-driven format. Kinnear parlayed that experience into a movie career and stayed only two years; he was succeeded by
9639-521: The show began at its regular time of 10:30 am, and was once again devoted exclusively to assassination coverage, and presented without commercial interruption. Because of conflicting network broadcasts, Cavett pre-taped a one-man, 60-minute episode with Groucho Marx. In the July 7, 1969, interview, rock star Jimi Hendrix modestly downplayed his abilities and displayed his sense of humor. Perhaps most importantly, he revealed some of his aesthetic ideals and
9758-419: The show began taping, a visibly belligerent Mailer, who admitted he had been drinking, goaded Vidal and Cavett into trading insults with him on air and continually referred to his "greater intellect". He openly taunted and mocked Vidal (who responded in kind), finally earning the ire of Flanner, who announced that she had become "very, very bored" with the discussion, telling Mailer and Vidal "You act as if you're
9877-481: The show in the middle of a conversation about segregation . Cavett had made a reference to the "bigots" who had elected Maddox. Following an exchange about how insulting the remark might have been and Maddox's demand for an apology, Cavett finally apologized to those Georgians who had supported Maddox that might not be bigots. Not satisfied, Maddox left the studio. During the hastily called commercial break, Cavett tried to coax Maddox back to no avail. Cavett suspected that
9996-458: The show to promote the movie Husbands . All three guests were highly intoxicated, and "for thirty-five minutes they smoked, flopped around on the floor, and generally tormented Cavett, whose questions they'd planned to ignore." Dick Cavett pronounced it "one of the most interesting evenings of my life." Retiring Georgia governor Lester Maddox , appearing in a panel discussion with author Truman Capote and football great Jim Brown , walked off
10115-450: The show was renamed The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . Carson streamlined the format of the show, focusing more on entertainment personalities, tweaking the monologue to feature shorter jokes, and emphasizing sketch comedy. Ed McMahon served as Carson's announcer, while from 1962 to 1966, the band was led by Skitch Henderson , who hired, among others, Doc Severinsen . When Henderson left, Milton DeLugg took over. Severinsen assumed
10234-501: The show with silent-screen star Lillian Gish and baseball legend Satchel Paige . Dalí brought an anteater on a leash with him when he came on stage, and he tossed it in Gish's lap, much to her consternation. Cavett asked Dalí why he had once arrived to give a lecture at the Sorbonne in an open limousine filled with heads of cauliflower. Dalí responded with a barely coherent discourse regarding
10353-666: The show, although subsequent shows without them got higher ratings and more critical acclaim. A well-received summer replacement prime-time series that aired three times per week led to the memorable late-night talk show that ran from December 29, 1969, to January 1, 1975, opposite NBC 's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . Cavett took the time slot over from The Joey Bishop Show . In addition to his usual monologue, Cavett opened each show reading selected questions written by audience members, to which he would respond with witty rejoinders. ("What makes New York so crummy these days?" "Tourists.") While Cavett and Carson shared many of
10472-402: The show. The episode is now often referred to as "The Woodstock Show", as many of the performers, and Cavett's audience, came directly from the concert for the taping the afternoon before the show aired. Stills pointed out the mud from the concert venue still on his pants. Jefferson Airplane's performance of " We Can Be Together " marked the first time the word "fuck" was uttered on television in
10591-512: The similarity of the cauliflower head to the "mathematical problem discovered by Michelangelo in the rhinoceros' horn." Cavett interrupted him by waving his hands in Dalí's face, exclaiming "Boogie boogie!" (imitating Groucho Marx in the film A Night at the Opera ). The audience broke up, and Dalí appeared at a loss. Actor Robert Mitchum , known for avoiding public appearances, gave a rare interview as
10710-511: The sole guest. Mitchum talked about his childhood, Hollywood, his disdain for politics and politicians and his 1948 arrest. The show featured film clips from Ryan's Daughter (1970) and The Night of the Hunter (1955). On June 7, 1971, publisher J. I. Rodale , founder of Rodale, Inc. , a health and wellness publishing conglomerate headquartered in Emmaus, Pennsylvania , died of a heart attack during
10829-520: The song is by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, who recorded it for their Déjà Vu album (1970). It appears in the film Woodstock during the closing credits. Mitchell recorded it for Ladies of the Canyon (1970). Groucho Marx remarked about the Musical theatre musical Hair , which had just opened and was notorious for its ground-breaking use of explicit nudity: "I was going to go, but I saw myself in
10948-421: The soul of the person…and see if they can awaken some sort of thing in their minds, because there are so many sleeping people. Hendrix then performed " Hear My Train A Comin' " with the house band and played the guitar with his teeth at the end of the song. On Tuesday, August 19, 1969, Jefferson Airplane , Joni Mitchell , David Crosby and Stephen Stills (of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ) all appeared on
11067-414: The story on its 11 p.m. newscast, but as it was a Friday night, when the station normally aired movies and delayed Cavett's Friday show to Sunday, Atlanta viewers had to wait until Sunday night to see the incident. Capote, after watching Maddox walk offstage, paused and quipped, "I've been to his restaurant and his chicken isn't that finger lickin' good ." Years later, Cavett said he got more comments about
11186-486: The taping of a segment for the show. Cavett was speaking with journalist Pete Hamill when Rodale began to make a snoring noise. Cavett's reaction to this is contested: he claims that both he and Hamill realized immediately that something was wrong, while other accounts have him addressing the unconscious man with "Are we boring you, Mr. Rodale?" The audience did not realize anything was seriously wrong until Cavett asked if there were any medical doctors present. The program
11305-430: The then-crumbling DuMont Television Network . Both Allen and Kovacs departed from Tonight in 1957 in order to focus on Allen's Sunday night show. After the two left, the format changed to something similar to Today and was renamed Tonight! America After Dark, hosted first by Jack Lescoulie , and later by Al Collins, with interviews conducted by Hy Gardner , and a house band led by Lou Stein performing. The show
11424-441: The time slot after Letterman, he refused it, having always been resentful of the forced change in format, and NBC News Overnight , a newscast, took the slot instead, some months after Tomorrow's final broadcast in 1982. During his tenure as host of The Tonight Show , Carson became known as The King of Late Night . While numerous hosts ( Merv Griffin and Dick Cavett being the best-known) attempted to compete with Carson, none
11543-623: The time slot. By the 1960s, NBC had already cornered the market for late-night television viewing and would dominate the ratings for several decades in the future. A number of restrictions on television networks that took effect in 1971, among them a nationwide prohibition on tobacco advertising , the requirement that a portion of prime time be set aside for local stations , and rules prohibiting networks from also acting as syndicators , prompted NBC to extend its broadcast day by an additional hour with programming it hoped would recuperate some of its lost revenue. In 1973, NBC launched two new programs:
11662-475: The typical late-night trappings in favor of a low-key but intense concentration upon Costas interviewing a single guest. Costas hosted the program until 1994. Carson retired as host of The Tonight Show in 1992 following his 30th anniversary as host. This garnered major media attention and speculation on who would replace Carson. The two candidates were David Letterman (host of Late Night since 1982) and Jay Leno (Carson's regular guest host since 1987). Leno
11781-438: The very successful Late Night with David Letterman on NBC expanded from four to five nights per week, displacing the four-year-old Friday Night Videos to the timeslot following it. FNV, which had several subsequent format changes, ran until 2002. Carson did not retire in 1987, instead continuing as host until 1992 with Leno as sole permanent guest host. Rivers was fired from The Late Show in 1987 after abysmal ratings and
11900-439: The videotape and which was disputed by Cavett decades later in his New York Times online column. Cavett noted that Mailer said that he received more mail about this episode than for anything else in his career. Critic John Simon revealed on the air that during the most recent commercial break, fellow guest Mort Sahl had threatened to punch him in the mouth. Cavett did a two-part show on pornography; both parts were taped
12019-450: The voice-over announcing the acts, and serving as the production stage manager was Chip Monk, often known as the voice of Woodstock. In January 1973, both The Dick Cavett Show and In Concert became part of ABC's Wide World of Entertainment programming block. Kirshner left in late 1973 to produce the syndicated series Don Kirshner's Rock Concert . In Concert continued to appear approximately every other Friday night until it left
12138-417: Was a half hour in length and (following a brief host monologue) featured a panel of four guests debating topical issues while Maher moderated in a comedic fashion. With the new millennium in 2000, NBC's Later finally got another permanent host after various figures had taken the chair for several years, in the form of a VH1 personality, Cynthia Garrett, who broke the proverbial " glass ceiling " by becoming
12257-532: Was a last-minute replacement host for up-and-coming 26-year-old comic Don Hornsby , whom Hope had recommended to NBC but who caught polio and died less than a week before the show began.) For the next season, the only late-night program on the networks was NBC's Nightcap , a preview of the next day's programming hosted by Mary Kay Stearns . The first late-night television talk show was The Faye Emerson Show , hosted by actress Faye Emerson . It began airing on CBS on October 24, 1949, in local East Coast markets before
12376-489: Was a particularly important predecessor to the late-night format. Early television variety shows included The Ed Sullivan Show (originally known as Toast of the Town ), which aired on CBS Sunday nights from 1948 to 1971, and Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle , which aired on NBC from 1948 to 1956. These shows aired once a week in evening time slots that would come to be known as prime time . The first show to air in
12495-637: Was announced that Fallon's former SNL castmate Seth Meyers would assume the duties of Late Night once Fallon moved to The Tonight Show . The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon debuted during NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics in Russia on February 17, 2014, while Late Night with Seth Meyers debuted one week later. 2014 and 2015 saw a realignment to CBS's late night lineup: in April 2014, Craig Ferguson announced that he would leave The Late Late Show at
12614-546: Was basketball player and later entrepreneur Magic Johnson , whose syndicated The Magic Hour was a major flop and effectively ended any future efforts from anyone else at a syndicated late-night talk show at that point in time. ABC finally re-entered the late-night first-run comedy fray, after an absence of 15 years, in 1997 by placing Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher (which had aired on Comedy Central from 1993 to 1996) into its lineup after Nightline . Unlike traditional late-night talk shows, Politically Incorrect
12733-702: Was eventually chosen, leading to Letterman leaving the network to launch a direct competitor late-night talk show, the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS in 1993. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno debuted in 1992. Letterman was replaced by newcomer Conan O'Brien as host of Late Night . Arsenio Hall's show lost numerous affiliates after Letterman's debut and his show was canceled one year later. Fox returned to late-night television in September 1993 with The Chevy Chase Show . However, due to sagging ratings, disastrous reviews and Chase's embitterment at not being allowed to do
12852-405: Was ever successful in drawing more viewers than Carson did on Tonight , not even ABC's short-lived revival of Paar's show in 1973 using the name Jack Paar Tonite (though Paar blamed erratic scheduling and his own unwillingness to succeed at the expense of Cavett, his friend and former writer). Much like Paar, Carson became tired of fulfilling the workload of 525 minutes a week, so The Tonight Show
12971-486: Was famous for only playing Gibson guitars. Cavett briefly interviewed the band but the shy Clapton did not have much to say. To honor Noël Coward on the occasion of his knighthood, Cavett interviewed Coward and his close friends, the Lunts. Tammy Grimes and Brian Bedford, who were appearing on Broadway in a revival of Coward's classic play Private Lives , performed a medley of Coward's most popular songs. At one point during
13090-511: Was first announced a year prior. It was reported that CBS was reconsidering the future of the Late Late Show franchise in favor of lower-cost formats; in November 2023, the network officially announced that it would premiere a Taylor Tomlinson -hosted revival of @midnight —a comedy panel show previously aired by corporate sibling Comedy Central from 2013 through 2017—as a replacement in 2024. Its development and premiere had been delayed due to
13209-526: Was incensed that Rivers did not consult him beforehand and never spoke to her again. Brenner also left Tonight in 1986, although he did so amicably, to launch a syndicated 30-minute late-night talk show called Nightlife , which was canceled after one season. Garry Shandling , who had been a frequent guest host in the early 1980s, served as permanent guest host, alternating with Jay Leno , from 1986 to 1987, when he left to focus on his cable show , leaving Leno to be Carson's sole guest host. In June 1987,
13328-425: Was never aired and a rerun was shown in its place. On the following night's program, Cavett discussed the previous night's event in depth. He has said that he is often approached by people wanting to discuss the incident, mistakenly convinced that they saw it on television. He would usually ask if the person was in the studio audience, which was the only way to witness it since the episode was never broadcast. During
13447-486: Was not popular, leading to many NBC affiliates dropping the show. The show returned to the original format that year and was renamed Tonight Starring Jack Paar . The even greater success of the show during Paar's hosting resulted in many NBC affiliates deciding to clear the show. He was noted for his conversational style, relatively high-brow interview guests, feuds with other media personalities (his animosity toward print journalists Ed Sullivan and Walter Winchell marked
13566-470: Was often more eclectic and would sometimes include the intellectuals and cultural and artistic figures that Carson had long since abandoned) with a cigarette in hand. Carson's new contract in 1980 allowed him to cut the length of his show from 90 minutes to 60 minutes, and for a short time, Tomorrow was moved to an earlier timeslot, to fill the time gap left by Carson's move. NBC felt that Snyder's more conversational style would not bring in enough viewership in
13685-538: Was shortened to 90 minutes and again to 60 minutes in 1980 with 15 weeks of vacation a year. Because of a lack of competition, Carson was free to take time off (by 1980, he was only hosting three new shows a week) and have guest hosts on the show on a weekly basis, and for weeks at a time when Carson was on vacation, including Joey Bishop (a former competitor of his), Joan Rivers , David Letterman , Bob Newhart , Don Rickles , David Brenner and Jerry Lewis . In his final years, Carson produced new shows only three nights
13804-439: Was succeeded by Craig Kilborn ; at this time, The Late Late Show switched to a more conventional (albeit lower-budget) format in line with Late Show and its competitors. Kilborn had previously served as host of The Daily Show , a late-night satirical news program on Comedy Central , and upon Kilborn's departure, Jon Stewart replaced him on that program. Perhaps one of the most unusual late-night hosts to come out of this boom
13923-478: Was taped on February 20, 2009. Saturday Night Live alum Jimmy Fallon took over as host of Late Night on March 2, 2009. The popularity of late-night shows in the United States has been cited as a key factor in Americans not getting a requisite seven to eight hours of sleep per night. Since 2015, late-night talk shows have competed for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Talk Series ; prior to then,
14042-505: Was that the show aired with the phrase cut the first night but intact for the second night. Late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show , originating in the United States . It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It is characterized by spontaneous conversation , and for an effect of immediacy and intimacy as if
14161-463: Was watching Alice Cooper's segment and was so disgusted by it that he called the station's master control room and ordered the station to take it off the air. A rerun of Rawhide was hastily substituted; both WKRC and Cincinnati newspapers received numerous nasty phone calls in protest, which included several bomb threats against the station. The story became front-page news in Cincinnati newspapers for
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