Ongoing Late Night Show Thread

[Hemi-Cuda]

Well I'm relieved, the Late Show has far more of a Colbert Report influence than I thought it would. Short monologue, keeping the political bits, invested in bringing a diverse set of guests instead of boring celebrities. Colbert could bring a big shift into the world of late night network TV, everyone else has always stuck to the same stale formula

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Well I'm relieved, the Late Show has far more of a Colbert Report influence than I thought it would. Short monologue, keeping the political bits, invested in bringing a diverse set of guests instead of boring celebrities. Colbert could bring a big shift into the world of late night network TV, everyone else has always stuck to the same stale formula

Yeah, Fallon started out with a really fresh take on late night TV, but imo he's kind of made his own format stale by doing what every late night show strives for.......viral internet success.

I realize that with his type of games and interviews a lot of it had to be staged, but it was a lot more relaxed/organic a few years ago. Now a days I almost roll my eyes with some of the "unexpected" moments. It feels like he sits with guests for hours before the show and plans out every single moment and that happens in his games like they're acting in a sitcom.

[jayswin]

Which is fine I guess, that's his background, but it's not really for me to watch guests and hosts clearly looking to hit their perfect cues to make the "spontaneous" moment go viral.

[Ducay]

Big fan of the COlbert Report, but he will really need to adjust his interview style for general audiences and more mainstream guests. He's still quite sarcastic and cutting in his questions/jokes, and I can see it being quite offputting for a lot of people. I felt bad for Scarlett Jo for most of her interview, as I did for Jeb, most of the interview is Colbert making jokes with/at them. They spend a lot of time trying to understand and rebut his jokes made.

[troutman]

I liked Colbert and ScarJo lying on the blanket, asking the big questions. That is a good bit. Better than the one where he wears the big furry hat - the joke about playing guitar at the music shop is as old as Wayne's World.

[jayswin]

I've never been a fan of the way the Daily Show and Colbert Report edit interviews, and that seems to have followed to the Late Show. I don't know if it's a personal preference thing with them, or if the big guys (Letterman, Fallon, Kimmel) just have better editors.

But I find the edits to be very noticeable and choppy/awkward. Like places where you can tell 2 - 3 seconds went by (which is fine if done properly, all talk shows do that) except it went from loud audience laughter to dead quiet in that 3 seconds, which creates a really silly edit for such a big show, imo.

Maybe it's just me but even as the biggest Colbert/Stewart fan around, I've just always felt they're so great at interviewing in long form that their editing ends up doing a huge disservice to the interview making it feel way too rushed.

I appreciate the "go wherever for full interview" and I also respect that with the formats they've done you simply can't talk to a guy for 20 minutes and have most of it on the actual show, but as a casual viewer it's slightly annoying.

[jayswin]

I guess I'm a bit of a purist with talk shows, though, which in the new late night world of just trying to make bits go viral I'm probably a dinosaur and not someone they want to cater to, but I think Stephan is so comfortable at interviewing and getting great stuff out of guests that I'd almost prefer one guest per night, when it's someone who you know will put out a good interview.

[CofR]

Really great interview with Joe Biden last night... Colbert got a really great human moment from him, and it felt very genuine

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by jayswin

I've never been a fan of the way the Daily Show and Colbert Report edit interviews, and that seems to have followed to the Late Show. I don't know if it's a personal preference thing with them, or if the big guys (Letterman, Fallon, Kimmel) just have better editors.

But I find the edits to be very noticeable and choppy/awkward. Like places where you can tell 2 - 3 seconds went by (which is fine if done properly, all talk shows do that) except it went from loud audience laughter to dead quiet in that 3 seconds, which creates a really silly edit for such a big show, imo.

Maybe it's just me but even as the biggest Colbert/Stewart fan around, I've just always felt they're so great at interviewing in long form that their editing ends up doing a huge disservice to the interview making it feel way too rushed.

I appreciate the "go wherever for full interview" and I also respect that with the formats they've done you simply can't talk to a guy for 20 minutes and have most of it on the actual show, but as a casual viewer it's slightly annoying.

Do the other guys actually do much editing though? From what I've seen from Conan, Kimmel, Fallon, etc, is that they stick to a pretty safe interview formula and know how to fit it for time. Colbert and Stewart can do that too for the regular celebrity interviews, but when someone actually interesting comes on they just go for a natural conversation and ignore the time constraints. They put the best bits on the show and yes it can look a bit weird, but I appreciate them doing that and putting the full clip online rather than treating every interview the same

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Do the other guys actually do much editing though? From what I've seen from Conan, Kimmel, Fallon, etc, is that they stick to a pretty safe interview formula and know how to fit it for time. Colbert and Stewart can do that too for the regular celebrity interviews, but when someone actually interesting comes on they just go for a natural conversation and ignore the time constraints. They put the best bits on the show and yes it can look a bit weird, but I appreciate them doing that and putting the full clip online rather than treating every interview the same

Good point. I do know Conan typically does pretty long interviews, for example when people upload the actual in house interviews of older Norm Macdonald/Louis CK interviews they're typically 15 minutes, where as the show version is 7 - 9 mins.

I know that he definitely cuts a lot and in different places, too, so it's not like he's doing a 15 minute interview and using the first 9 mins. Fallon does this a lot, too. I think the biggest difference is Conan and Fallon both make a very concerted effort to readjust in interviews and leave the appropriate pause time before and after certain discussions to allow for seamless editing. They've been really well trained in this regard I've noticed.

Colbert and Stewart tend to just interview as if it's all going to air and then let the editors do what they can with the material. Which, I guess is probably a good thing, as it allows for a much better flow in the actual conversation.

So in the end, you have Conan and Fallon who have better on air flow and more natural "looking" interview, while Colbert and Stewart have a more natural interview, that leaves the editors with a struggle to make it flow "on air" for the viewer, but leads to more sincerity in the parts that do make it to air.

[Hemi-Cuda]

All I know is that I can't stand watching Fallon interview anyone, and Kimmel is pretty bad too. Conan can be alright, but he hams it up way too much and it seems like he's more interested in forcing everything to be funny rather than getting any interesting conversations going. Colbert and Stewart are IMO the only ones that can straddle the funny/interesting line to make the most entertaining interviews

[dammage79]

In terms of "interviews", was there really anyone better than Craig Ferguson? Colbert and Stewart come close 2nds.

[Eastern Girl]

I think my issue with Fallon interviewing people is that he's too much of an ass kisser. He laughs at everything they say. He goes on and on about how awesome the person is, or how they inspired him, etc. It's too much. You basically get 5 mins of him fellating the guest and it's tiresome. I think you can interview a guest, be entertaining and still get something great out of them.

[Bunk]

The Colbert Biden interview was a seminal moment for that show. He showed that a genuine and serious dialogue can be as engaging, if not more than trying to make every moment funny. Great television.

Really liking the new Colbert.

[Hemi-Cuda]

NSFW!

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by jayswin

I guess I'm a bit of a purist with talk shows, though, which in the new late night world of just trying to make bits go viral I'm probably a dinosaur and not someone they want to cater to, but I think Stephan is so comfortable at interviewing and getting great stuff out of guests that I'd almost prefer one guest per night, when it's someone who you know will put out a good interview.

The funny part about just trying to make bits go viral is that IMO it backfires after a while.

I started off watching Fallon, then he started to try too hard to make every skit or interview go viral.

I now stopped watched because usually the only good aspects of his show go viral, and I can watch that 2 minute clip on youtube the next day saving me 58 minutes of having to watch the rest of his show.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

The funny part about just trying to make bits go viral is that IMO it backfires after a while.

I started off watching Fallon, then he started to try too hard to make every skit or interview go viral.

I now stopped watched because usually the only good aspects of his show go viral, and I can watch that 2 minute clip on youtube the next day saving me 58 minutes of having to watch the rest of his show.

Same with Conan, the best parts of his show always end up on Youtube and the rest is just forgettable. I wish he treated his show on TBS like he treated his last 2 weeks on The Tonight Show, because that last stretch where he just didn't give a crap was brilliant

[sa226]

Originally Posted by dammage79

In terms of "interviews", was there really anyone better than Craig Ferguson? Colbert and Stewart come close 2nds.

Hard to argue. Now that he's gone, its not exactly relevant, but the way he could engage guests ranging from Mila Kunis or Alice Eve to Stephen Fry or Desmond Tutu and actually converse intelligently was pretty impressive.

Fallon would have had Desmond Tutu lipsyncing or something. (Though that would be pretty entertaining)

[Wormius]

I think expectations might be a bit much for late night show interviews. Guests don't want to be grilled and there is only a set time for the interviews. They just want to tell a quick story and hock their movie/music. For good interviews I would watch Charlie Rose instead, and a better avenue if I wanted to learn about an actor would just be James Lipton, although I don't know if it he is still doing the Actor's Studio thing.

Best thing about Craig Ferguson was that he was funny and irreverent and pretty much seemed like he couldn't care less about anything.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by dammage79

In terms of "interviews", was there really anyone better than Craig Ferguson?

He spoiled me on the late night talk show format. He just talked. It was great. Every conversation was organic, and it worked more often than not. Even when it failed, he'd find a way to save it and at least make it funny.