Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween Talk Show Round-up

It's November 1. You probably woke up either with a hangover or surrounded by discarded Fun Size Snickers wrappers -- or both. But did you have time on Halloween to catch up on all the ways our favorite talk shows celebrated the holiday? If not, now's the time to sit back and enjoy some clips.

Picking on Jay Leno is so tiresome, but honestly, his "new Halloween products" sketch was not ready for prime time -- or even public access, for that matter. There were a couple of major malfunctions, including a Balloon Boy costume that didn't inflate. It's no surprise that the video clip on NBC.com only shows the first half of the segment.

In the Talk Show News household, it's not Halloween without David Letterman's annual trick or treat sketch. Even if the costumes are just so-so, the bit is always worth watching just for Dave's interactions with the kids, and to see which "treats" he's handing out. Best costume this year: the junior Joaquin Phoenix. It was also fun to see the kids boogieing in the background as musical guest Weezer played -- kudos to them for convincing Paul Shaffer and the gang to dress in Weezer Snuggies. The clips are available on the "Late Show Video" page.

The most elaborate Halloween celebrations are always on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "Live with Regis and Kelly." Kimmel, his band and Guillermo (sadly, Uncle Frank is ill and was absent this year) dressed as Muppets -- Jimmy, in a Big Bird outfit, welcomed guest Paris Hilton, who was clad as Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz." The vapid Paris is not one of my favorite guests, but it was funny to see her admit to Jimmy that she had no idea who Alex Trebek was (he was asking her which celebrities would be let in to her Halloween party without an invitation) and bragging that she's bowled a 600. As for musicians Slipknot, well, every day is Halloween for this band that always plays in costumes and masks. Watch the show here.

Meanwhile, Regis and Kelly win the Most Costume Changes prize -- in their Reality Bites special, they dressed up as Jon and Kate, "Bachelor" Jason and Melissa, Susan Boyle and Lady Gaga, "Biggest Loser" trainers Bob and Jillian, and more. Check it out here.

There are only so many hours in the day, so I wasn't able to watch everything -- did anyone out there catch Conan, Craig or Jimmy's Halloween antics?

4 comments :

  1. Steve K. said...

    Craig had Halloweeny two minute opening with the crocodile puppet, which was not all that Halloweeny and a new closing segment graphic, which was unexpectedly well done, considering shows history of lame (but funny) graphics. And a bit random Halloween talk with Lauren. Other than that - regular show.


    Conan had puppies dressed as Frankenstein's monsters, a remote with some dude at Universal's Horror Night party (which was ok) and world's largest pumpkin smashed by a monster truck (which wasn't as impressive as Conan made it out to be).

  2. Steve K. said...

    Oh, and LaBamba dressed as a french maid.

  3. Shane G. said...

    Fallon's show was ok. The set has been decorated all week long, and looked really good. The psychic guy at the end was pretty lame and fake. he did something where people from the audience, who he "talked to before the show" put there hands on tables and they moved..by themselves. there was a screw-up I caught, which would take too long to describe. jimmy said something along the lines of, "they're just pushing the tables!"

  4. Anonymous said...

    Dave's annual Halloween piece is great. I enjoy it a lot and its always fun to see what costumes will appear this time around and what he will be giving out as well.

    The costumes are pretty damn elaborate and Joaquin Phoenix making an appearance this year was very unexpected for me, since the infamous interview had left my short term memory already. The kid in that costume was dancing up a storm to Weezer. More so than the other kids.

    Santiago