By KATIE KLIMACEK
Opinion Editor
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As a child one of the most exciting things to do was to stay up late and watch tv. The best shows to watch at night, at least when I was a kid, were Saturday Night Live and re-runs of the best late night show, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Watching Carson come out from behind the curtain and deliver his opening monologue, interact with his hype-man Ed McMahon and make fun, witty banter with his guest for the evening was beyond entertaining. Carson was the last truly great late night host in originality and style.
It feels like today that late night shows all follow the same scripted format, leaving audiences wanting more but walking away with less.
Late night talk shows are really the best. They are the one show where you can find out what is going on in the news today, but with a humorous tone, preview some of the newest comedians, and find out what your favorite celebrities are up to all in one convenient place.
But despite those being the reasons as to why I like late night, it is also the reason as to why I, along with others, are beginning to drift away from this once timeless set up.
No matter who it is, whether its Kimmel, O’Brien, Fallon, or Letterman, all of these hosts deliver practically an identical show to one another. Each show begins with the opening monologue, which usually is a highlight of all the big headlines from the day. What were once witty and original one-liners, the monologues are now nothing more than an overdone, set-up dad joke.
Most of the time, if you are not the first host to make the joke, its old news and no one wants to hear it any more. Honestly how many times do we have to hear a quip about “Adele Dazzem”?
Jimmy Fallon has partially broken the mold a bit with the types of games that he does with his guest, but it still has this scripted quality to it.
It wasn’t until recently that the mold was finally broken and given a fresh coat of paint. Last fall comedian Pete Holmes was given his own late night show by executives at TBS and his mentor Conan O’Brien. Simply called The Pete Holmes Show, the comedian’s take on late night was brilliant.
Instead of the typical, boring monologue, Holmes came out on stage and present five to seven minutes of stand-up as his opening bit. It was genius and made sense to have a comedian present material pertaining to a specific topic or issue, such as Daylight Savings or Hiding your Emotions.
Holmes presented a different set up. He went off script frequently and often brought attention to it. His interviews followed a natural path, similar to how people normally talk, often straying away from his question cards and just “talking” with the guest. Leaving the audience with a more whole interview, then if he were to stay on point. Mostly staying away from big time names like Brad Pitt Kesha, Holmes interviewed mostly comedians and friends of his from the business.
Holmes had bits, just like any other talk show, but they had a lovable quality to them, something that David Letterman has never really seemed to acquire in his 30 years of talk shows.
Even though Holmes had so many likable qualities about him and his show, it was not enough to keep the ratings up, and the network decided to terminate The Pete Holmes’s Show.
It feels like that whenever that type of show, late night talk show, doesn’t fit the usual cookie cutter format, and tries to stray away from its predecessors, it fails. Unless you look at Craig Ferguson’s the Late Late Night Show.
Ferguson was a complete 180 from Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. From a gay robot skeleton named Geoff as his hype-man, a horse named Secretariat running around the stage, throwing candy at the audience, and not having a scripted questions for guest, Ferguson’s show was really something out of left field, but he too can only host for so long.
After 10 years of hosting, Ferguson announced his retirement last spring.
Despite both Holmes’s and Fergusons’ overall likability and wittiness on their shows, they just haven’t seemed to be able to keep up with the more well-known late night shows. Maybe it’s because of the cookie cutter format that The Tonight Show, Late Show with David Letterman, and Jimmy Kimmel Live have all been such success with audiences and the ratings.
I am still hopeful that TBS will realize that The Pete Holmes Show really was a gem, a diamond in the rough type of show, and bring it back some day.
Maybe TV will realize that middle-aged men aren’t always the go to for late night shows, and find someone else to take over the late night industry, perhaps a female. Who knows, until then we will just have to settle for the same old talk show.
