Aug162004

Hey Craig, Would Lizz Blow You Now?

Filed Under Late Night

Late night underwent a sudden shift last week when Craig Kilborn announced he was leaving The Late Late Show. I’ve never been a big fan of the man… the smugness always wore on me. He did seem perfect for the first incarnation of the Daily Show which was more news parody than news satire. He was a modern Ron Burgundy, your local news anchor transported to basic cable.

But I never really saw the point of having him host The Late Late Show. Talk shows at their core are about the person behnd the desk. There never seemed to be much to Kilborn other than some good hair and a desire for a good time. He just never did much for me (or anybody else, if ratings are to be believed). I never really saw him moving on to 11:30 and I imagine CBS didn’t either.

Of course now there’s lots o’ handicapping about who’s taking the spot. The Post puts forth the inspired notion of Amy Sedaris. As a huge fan of Strangers With Candy, I can’t even fathom what an Amy Sedaris talk show would be. She’s an incredible interesting person, but her appearances on Letterman, though charming, play so wacky I have a hard time seeing CBS brass embracing the idea. I’d love to see it if they did.

The Daily News throws out five contenders… some more crazy than the next. Chris Rock? Please. The guy’s been there and done that with talk shows. And he’s bigger than 12:30 AM. If he wanted to do it, he would have gone to Fox a long time ago. Vince Vaughn is a very interesting idea. But I most like the suggestion of Sarah Silverman. She’s incredibly engaging and funny and deserves a bigger forum. I don’t know if her style of comedy would play anywhere but HBO. But again, I’d love to see CBS give it a shot.

With Conan’s contract up at the end of the year, there seems like there could be room for a lot of new late night chatfests. Whoever’s the number two choice for The Late Late Show will likely get Conan’s spot if he bolts for someplace like Fox (or rather bolts for an earlier time, like 11PM). The whole field is completely unpredictable, particularly when you remember that despite all these mechanations, Jay Leno will still probably have the highest late night ratings. Kinda sad, huh?

UPDATE: The headline above is a reference to this infamous Esquire article. (Sorry to overexplain, just want everyone in on the joke.)

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