Jay Leno: How fresh is the comedy?

A few days ago, Talk Show News reported on the stand-up routines Jay Leno was doing in preparation for his new 10 PM gig, including ones on such moldy topics as "jokes about why women love cats" and "why men must dominate the remote control." A new promo for "The Jay Leno Show," which aired today during a preseason football game, didn't do anything to convince me that he'll be bringing a significantly fresher approach to his prime time program. The ad features Jay sitting at the table with his writing staff, preparing bits for his "Headlines" segment. Here's a screen shot:



Note the fine print: "Application deadline is Monday, October 4, 1999." Has Leno spent his summer working his way through a backlog of unused clippings that date back to the Clinton Administration, or is this an old fave from the "Tonight" archives that has been dredged up for the commercial? In any case, you'd think someone at NBC would have at least whited out that line to make the joke look a little less musty.

COLBERT in space

Colbert is in space -- well, not Stephen Colbert the satirist, but C.O.L.B.E.R.T., the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, which was named after the Comedy Central star in April. After a week of false starts, the space shuttle carrying the treadmill and an international crew of astronauts blasted off on Friday.

Houston Press blogger Richard Connelly reported that at a preflight press conference, a NASA official, when asked if the space agency should do more "fun" stuff like the C.O.L.B.E.R.T., replied "You should answer that yourself. We're engineers. It's the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill." Ouch! Sounds like that guy's not an it-getter!

Connelly also revealed that astronaut Jose Hernandez is bringing an Oakland Raiders team flag to place aboard the space station. Talk Show News hopes word of the Silver and Black's crushing 45-7 preseason loss to the New Orleans Saints hasn't reached the astronaut yet, or Hernandez may be too depressed to fulfill his mission.

Here's Stephen addressing NASA, stating how proud he is that his "space treadmill" will "finally help slim down all those chubby astronauts":

Daytime Emmy Awards: Ladies of "The View" unseat Ellen

Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Sherri Shepherd and Barbara Walters broke Ellen DeGeneres' four-year winning streak as Best Talk Show Host at this year's Daytime Emmy Awards. None of the ladies were there in person to accept their collective honor.

Rachael Ray and Tyra Banks also received trophies in, respectively, the entertainment and informative talk show categories.

"The View" is currently on break and will air reruns until Sept. 8, when their new season begins. A variety of women will fill in for Hasselbeck, who is on maternity leave, including Meghan McCain and Kate Gosselin.

Craig Kilborn: The Onion pokes fun at him -- again!

One of the most popular entries on this blog is the one about Craig Kilborn, who seems to have done a disappearing act in the past few years. Talk Show News would love to know what happened to the guy -- Craiggers, if you ever self-Google, drop me a line! -- but lately, he seems to have become something of a human punchline for satirical web site The Onion.

A while ago, they published an article with the headline "Gin-Soaked Craig Kilborn Shows Up Broke, Homeless at SportsCenter Studio." To add insult to injury, it is currently the third link that shows up when you Google the former host. This week, The Onion took aim at him again with an item titled "Dan Patrick Assumed More People Would Be At Craig Kilborn's Birthday Party." "Following Craig Kilborn's 47th birthday party last Monday, former ESPN colleague Dan Patrick told reporters he was surprised at the celebration's low turnout, saying he was sure there would be more than six attendees at the event... Patrick said that he took his cue to go home when an intoxicated Kilborn asked if anyone could tell him 'just what the fuck it is I do for a living because I sure as shit don't know.'"

Judging from the number of people who hit this site while looking for info on Kilborn, a lot of folks are waiting for him to come back into the public eye.

Jay Leno: Big week of celebrity guests

The first week of guests for Jay Leno's new 10 PM show have been announced, and the former "Tonight Show" host is obviously out to prove that he can score big, big names. Here is the lineup:

Mo 9/14: Jerry Seinfeld, Jay-Z with Rihanna & Kanye West
Tu 9/15: Tom Cruise
We 9/16: Robin Williams, Miley Cyrus
Th 9/17: Halle Berry, Bruce Hornsby & Eric Clapton
Fr 9/18: Drew Barrymore

Cruise and Berry, as far as I can tell, don't have any new projects to plug -- his most recent flick, "Valkyrie," has been out on DVD since May, and her multiple personality drama "Frankie and Alice" doesn't have a release date yet -- so the fact that they're appearing on "Leno" means they must really want to do the host a solid.

Barrymore will be promoting her directorial debut, the roller derby comedy "Whip It," while Jay-Z, Cyrus and Hornsby will have brand new albums out. Seinfeld is making a highly-touted return to TV comedy on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" this fall, and is exec-producing a midseason reality series for NBC called "The Marriage Ref."

Late Night Ratings: The NYT sums it up in one sentence

"In Late-Night Battle, It’s All About Young and Old." Even when Conan is in reruns, younger people are still watching "Tonight," while the older demographic flocks to "Late Show with David Letterman."

Even though Dave had almost a million more viewers than Conan, O'Brien still beat him in "adults between 18 and 34 (598,000 to 336,000) and won easily in the category sought most avidly by many advertisers, viewers between 18 and 49, 1.280 million to 1.068 million."

In total viewers, the "Tonight" repeats were watched by 2.468 million viewers, while 3.407 million tuned in to see the fresh "Late Show"s.

Who do you love? Stewart, Colbert, Ferguson

If you read this blog, you are probably someone who has an above-average engagement with your favorite late night talk shows. But would you say you have an emotional connection to them? Do you love them?

Chances are you do, especially if your favorites are "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "The Colbert Report" and "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson." That's according to a new poll, as reported on by the New York Times' Bill Carter.

Comedy Central, home to Stewart and Colbert, wants to prove that an engaged viewer is a valuable viewer, and that they should be able to charge a premium for advertising on the popular half-hour comedy shows. "When asked if they out-and-out loved a show, 'The Daily Show' with Mr. Stewart hit 51 percent among those surveyed, with 'The Colbert Report' second at 39 percent," according to the Harris Poll. "Only one network star came close to generating that much love: CBS’s Craig Ferguson. Among his fans, 35 percent said they loved his show."

Even non-Stewart and Colbert viewers seem to think folks who watch the Comedy Central programs are pretty cool people:

Among the terms fans of people like Jay Leno, David Letterman and Conan O’Brien used to describe viewers of Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert were “enthusiastic,” “friendly,” “fun,” “more informed,” “more intelligent,” “trustworthy,” “warm,” and “witty.”

Beth Coleman, a vice president for advertising sales for MTV Entertainment Networks, the parent of Comedy Central, said "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" fans “wear these shows like a badge. It’s a cultlike phenomenon.”

Considering that both programs are on hiatus until Sept. 14, chances are these emotionally engaged viewers are going through withdrawal right now.