Late-night speak exhibits have been a tentpole of the American TV panorama for many years. A lot work goes into every broadcast, and it is tremendous attention-grabbing to study what truly goes on off-camera.
Listed below are 31 attention-grabbing behind-the-scenes info about late-night speak exhibits:
1.
Regardless of its identify, Jimmy Kimmel Reside hasn’t truly been stay since 2004. Per Vulture, the present stopped broadcasting stay after censors weren’t in a position to bleep actor Thomas Jane’s “fuck” in time.
2.
Chatting with Selection at Sundance in 2016, Chelsea Handler revealed that Justin Bieber was the worst celeb she ever interviewed on Chelsea These days. She mentioned, “He was attempting to flirt with me, and it was so uncomfortable. Like, that was his schtick. He’d come on and flirt with you.”
3.
Joan Rivers advised The Hollywood Reporter that she was rejected from The Tonight Present seven instances earlier than she was lastly introduced on as a “humorous woman author” (although, in contrast to lots of her male friends, she by no means received to carry out stand-up on the present). She labored alongside Johnny Carson for 18 years, till she was lastly supplied her personal present. She mentioned, “The primary individual I known as was Johnny, and he hung up on me — and by no means, ever spoke to me once more. After which denied that I known as him…I feel he actually felt as a result of I used to be a girl that I simply was his. That I would not depart him. I do know this sounds very warped…He did not like that as a girl, I went up towards him.”
In accordance with Time, Jay Leno upheld the ban throughout his tenure “out of respect for Johnny,” however Jimmy Fallon lastly broke it when she appeared on his premiere episode and was in a while as a visitor in 2014.
4.
Per CBS, in 2009, Conan O’Brien changed Jay Leno because the host of The Tonight Present, however lower than a yr later, Conan give up following NBC’s announcement that his present could be pushed to later within the evening to open up the prime-time spot for the brand new The Jay Leno Present. Conan received a $32 million settlement, however he was legally prohibited from occurring TV, doing interviews, or criticizing NBC for a while afterwards.
Conan advised 60 Minutes, “That first day that I awoke and was now not the host of The Tonight Present, I keep in mind the primary thought I had is, ‘I’m not shaving.’ And that was my small victory, you already know. ‘Okay, so I misplaced The Tonight Present, however I am going to present them. I am going to cease shaving.” …This yr has been, remains to be incomprehensible to me. The quantity of stuff that is occurred in my life within the final yr is…it is gonna take me a very long time to course of it.”
Since touring was allowed underneath his contract, he reunited together with his former employees and launched into the Legally Prohibited from Being Humorous on Tv Tour. He continued, “I went by some stuff. And I received very depressed at instances. It was like a wedding breaking apart all of a sudden, violently, rapidly. And I used to be simply attempting to determine what occurred. After we began placing this tour collectively, I began to really feel higher nearly instantly. After which there may be nearly no higher antidote to what I’ve simply been by than to do that each evening.”
5.
Conan obtained an outpouring of assist and sympathy from the general public following his The Tonight Present debacle. On a 2024 epsiode of his podcast Conan O’Brien Wants a Good friend, he revealed he additionally received a name from Robin Williams. He mentioned, “I used to be fortunate sufficient to have some nice interactions with Robin Williams earlier than he handed. One of the vital memorable examples to me is after I went by my entire Tonight Present debacle. Lastly, the present is completed, and I do not know if I’ve a profession anymore. What am I gonna do subsequent? I am mendacity on the ground in the lounge of my home, and my cellphone rings, and I decide it up, and it is Robin Williams. I do not even know the way he received my cellphone quantity. ‘How are you holding up, chief?’ And he mentioned, you already know, ‘You are gonna be effective, you are gonna be nice.'”
Each of them had been into bike using, so Robin despatched him to a neighborhood bike store to select up a rental he’d arrange for him. Conan continued, “And I mentioned, ‘What?’ And he mentioned, ‘No, no, no, simply head on down there. Experience round, you may really feel higher.’ And I went down, and it was a Colnago, which is a really good bike. And he mentioned, ‘I advised him to color it in all these loopy Irish colours.’ I get down there, and it is the ugliest — I imply, it was simply greens and shamrocks and every part. And he was like, ‘You are going to like that bike, chief. Don’t fret about it.’ …I thanked [Robin] many, many instances. I simply could not imagine that he was fascinated about me.”
6.
John Oliver met his spouse, Kate Norley, whereas he was working because the Senior British Correspondent for The Day by day Present with Jon Stewart. In accordance with the Day by day Beast, whereas filming on the 2008 Republican Nationwide Conference, he received caught in a restricted space. A bunch of veterans — together with Kate, who’s a US Military fight medic — helped the comic and his crew conceal from safety. John and Kate then exchanged emails and have become mates. They received married in 2011.
7.
Equally, Conan O’Brien met his spouse, Liza Powel O’Brien, whereas filming a section for Late Evening. In accordance with Immediately, in 2000, he shot a sketch at Foote, Cone & Belding, the promoting company the place Liza labored as a senior copywriter. On The Mild Podcast, Conan mentioned, “We find yourself speaking within the foyer, and he or she mentioned every part a girl will not be alleged to say, main off with, ‘Yeah, I noticed my gynecologist just lately, and my gynecologist mentioned I want to start out having kids within the subsequent two to a few years, if I actually need them to be wholesome.’ And me, quite than be panicked, I am pondering, ‘Sure, you must have kids. Your kids must be my kids.'” They had been married two years later.
8.
In accordance with The Hollywood Reporter, when NBC was changing Final Name with Carson Daly with a brand new present, solely two celebs had been in critical consideration — Chrissy Tiegen, who in the end handed, and Lilly Singh, who had a large YouTube viewers. At first, Lilly was uncertain about taking the gig, however with the recommendation and encouragement of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Hasan Minhaj, she went on to host A Little Late.
9.
Per THR, since she needed to maintain doing YouTube and pursue different tasks, Lilly Singh negotiated in order that she might block-shoot all the first season. She advised Deadline, “We thought we had been so sensible, we would financial institution this evergreen content material, we will air it every time, it can at all times make sense. After which a literal international pandemic hit, and I used to be the one present that had a stay viewers. Actually on daily basis in season one, I’d get 1,000,000 tweets that say, ‘Why do you might have a stay viewers?’ and ‘Why are you not carrying a masks?’. I filmed these episodes again in 2019 when the one folks carrying masks had been robbers and Jim Carrey.”
10.
In accordance with Vulture, Jimmy Kimmel Reside deliberate to serve its studio viewers free alcohol. Nonetheless, that call was swiftly reversed after the premiere as a result of a girl vomited.
11.
The Tonight Present, the longest-running late-night present, debuted in 1954. It was initially hosted by Steve Allen. He advised Late Evening with David Letterman, “The present was an unlimited hit throughout its first yr by which, I repeat, it was a neighborhood program. It was a smash, and since it was a smash, the NBC folks mentioned, ‘We should put this effective program on the community.’ So I mentioned, ‘Wonderful. Who’s gonna cease you?’ And so they mentioned, ‘Nonetheless, we expect we must always make a couple of modifications.’ And I mentioned, ‘Adjustments in a success?’ And so they mentioned, ‘Sure.'”
He continued, “I mentioned, ‘What do you take into consideration?’ ‘Trigger you must at all times maintain your thoughts open. Now, the present was 90 minutes of rip-roaring comedy, proper? And that is why they needed to place it on the community. In order that they mentioned, ‘Nicely, we thought a pleasant climate report.'” He mentioned that, after a couple of weeks, “they lastly received embarrassed and stopped” together with the climate report.
12.
Per the Washington Submit, after Johnny Carson’s retirement in 1992, an “epic late-night warfare” started when Jay Leno took over The Tonight Present — a task David Letterman had anticipated was his. Many individuals thought the “throne” rightfully belonged to Letterman, however Leno had a “secret deal” with NBC. Per Individuals, in The Story of Late Evening, Rick Ludwin, the then–vice chairman of NBC, mentioned, “Jay Leno had simply signed a brand new deal that assured Jay The Tonight Present, every time Johnny [Carson] stepped down.”
He additionally mentioned that coping with Letterman had turn into “bothersome and draining” as a result of he was “unnecessarily impolite” to NBC employees. This conduct was a contributing consider his remaining choice to decide on Leno. Letterman additionally had a status for mocking NBC execs on air, and he even as soon as smashed a crystal decanter that the president of NBC had gifted him. Nonetheless, in keeping with Jason Zinoman, who wrote the biography Letterman: The Final Large of Late Evening, Carson would’ve most popular Letterman to Leno.
After his retirement, Carson visited Late Evening and requested Letterman, “How pissed off are you?” Then, The Tonight Present and Late Evening started a scores warfare. Whereas viewers most popular Leno, critics most popular Letterman. Carson visited Late Evening a second time, however he by no means appeared on The Tonight Present. A yr later, Letterman left Late Evening and began internet hosting Late Present with David Letterman on CBS. Leno handed The Tonight Present over to Jimmy Fallon in 2014, and Letterman ended Late Present in 2015.
In 2019, Leno cleared the air on Watch What Occurs Reside with Andy Cohen. He mentioned, “The concept that we hate one another is — the media makes a giant factor about it. I’m an enormous fan…I would watch him and go, ‘Oh man, how do you place these sentences collectively?’ And he’d watch me and go, ‘How will you be so assured on stage?’ So I feel we type of took from one another somewhat bit.”
13.
When Jimmy Fallon took over The Tonight Present, manufacturing returned to 30 Rock in NYC. On the similar time, Seth Meyers took over Late Evening, which means each exhibits would shoot in the identical constructing. In accordance with the New York Occasions, NBC was involved about sound bleed as a result of Jimmy’s studio is instantly above Seth’s. So, to resolve the difficulty, The Tonight Present movies at 5 p.m., and Late Evening movies at 6:30 p.m.
14.
Earlier than their filmed interview segments, visitors typically do a pre-interview. On Late Evening with Seth Meyers, Jerry Seinfeld defined, “This is how a chat present works. It seems like he and I are chatting, proper? ‘Oh, I see you went on trip. I heard you went on trip.’ Nicely, the place did he hear that? His producer advised him, ‘Jerry has a joke about his trip.’ It is all completely phony. After which I do the ‘my trip’ bit concerning the plumbing in Cabo San Lucas, and, ‘It was a nightmare! Oh my God, yeah. Fortunately, the nachos…’ And that is nice, and that is effective whenever you’re a brand new younger comedian otherwise you’re an actor or actress with nothing.”
15.
Friends are sometimes booked months prematurely. Haleigh Raff, who’s answerable for the Late Evening with Seth Meyers expertise division, advised Backstage, “My staff meets day by day to debate who’s on the town, what motion pictures are popping out, what exhibits are approaching. Proper now [mid-February], I am reserving June. We take into consideration an A-list star and go right into a second visitor that is a sports activities star or an actor, after which we go into the third visitor that could be a standup, writer, or musical act.”
Nonetheless, the host’s preferences are additionally taken into consideration. She continued, ” what your host likes and what works with them. We observed that Seth actually enjoys speaking to authors, so we made that a part of the present. The SNL expertise works properly as a result of it is like household. He has a good time. What are Seth’s favourite exhibits? The flicks he likes? We now have to play to the nation but additionally to what he is involved in as a result of it performs very robust.”
16.
Publicist Steve Honig advised Us Weekly that, earlier than certainly one of his purchasers seems on a chat present, he asks “for a basic sense of what questions are going to be requested” to allow them to have “a possibility to place thought into their solutions.” He additionally mentioned that whether or not sure delicate subjects shall be mentioned is “often labored out prematurely.” He added, “[Producers’] willingness to not ask sure questions is often based mostly on how a lot they need the visitor to [appear].”
17.
On Watch What Occurs Reside with Andy Cohen, Jimmy Fallon revealed that his most awkward interview was the one he had together with his very first Late Evening visitor — Robert De Niro. Jimmy mentioned, “In actual life, he would not even speak a lot…He got here on, and he was Robert De Niro — simply one-word solutions and nodding. Like, ‘Yep. Yep. Nope.'”
18.
Broadway Open Home, which premiered on NBC in 1950, is extensively thought to be the primary late-night present. In accordance with Slate, the present was devised as a means for Anchor Hocking, a glassware firm, to strengthen its ties with beer breweries and maintain them packaging their merchandise in glass. The corporate needed to sponsor a nightly present on NBC and provide “native cut-in bulletins plugging the beers in keeping with the suitable distribution.” The ensuing present was a “low-budget revue” that aired from 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. each weeknight. Initially, it was alleged to be hosted by prop comedian Don “Creesh” Hornsby, however after his premature loss of life from polio solely per week earlier than the present’s premiere, he was changed by Jerry Lester and Morey Amsterdam on alternating nights (although Morey was changed by visitor hosts a couple of months later).
19.
The primary late-night speak present was truly The Faye Emerson Present, hosted by actor Faye Emerson. It premiered in CBS’s East Coast markets in 1949 then went nationwide the next yr. The 15-minute present aired at 10:45 p.m. Maureen Mauk, the writer of Politics Is All people’s Enterprise: Resurrecting Faye Emerson, America’s Forgotten First Woman of Tv, advised Deadline that, on the time, Faye’s present was thought-about radical as a result of she lined politics in addition to celeb visitors.
The writer mentioned, “Then the very subsequent day could be clowns. They might do a quite simple present concerning the circus and have some founders from the circus are available in. She had one with Doris Lilly and Arthur Little, Jr. about tips on how to marry a millionaire, some well-known boxers, after which she would deliver on the representatives from the ladies’s Air Pressure and the ladies’s Military Brigade. She had a extremely nice mixture of loads of several types of folks.”
20.
Not like many at the moment airing late-night exhibits, All people’s Reside with John Mulaney is definitely broadcast stay. John advised CBS Sunday Morning, ” It is a enjoyable feeling to know that, hopefully, lots of people are watching. And it is stay globally with no delay, and you possibly can actually injury your profession.”
21.
Throughout an onstage interview on the 2012 Montclair Movie Competition, Jon Stewart mentioned that Hugh Grant was his worst The Day by day Present visitor due to his fixed complaining. He mentioned, “He is giving everybody shit the entire time, and he is a giant ache within the ass.” Jon additionally mentioned that Hugh complained concerning the clip his publicist selected to advertise the film Did You Hear Concerning the Morgans?, calling it “a horrible clip.” The host felt he ought to “make a greater fucking film” and mentioned he’d “by no means” have the actor again on his present.
In response, Hugh tweeted, “Seems my internal crab received the higher of me with TV producer in 09. Unforgivable. J Stewart right to provide me kicking.”
22.
Quite a lot of Jimmy Kimmel’s members of the family work for Jimmy Kimmel Reside. In accordance with NPR, his brother is a director, his cousin is a author, and his late Uncle Frank was a safety guard who sometimes appeared on the present till his loss of life in 2011. Jimmy additionally employed his childhood greatest good friend and his childhood greatest good friend’s dad as members of the home band.
23.
Per Paste Journal, after two months off air in assist of the 2007-2008 WGA strike, Late Evening with Conan O’Brien resumed manufacturing with out its writers. Nonetheless, rather than scripted segments, Conan goofed round to fill the airtime. His “unwritten model of late evening” included giving a tour of his workplace, going over to MSNBC to annoy Brian Williams, tossing snacks to the viewers, ziplining, and bringing on a physics professor from MIT to assist him beat his marriage ceremony ring-spinning excessive rating.
He additionally reportedly paid his employees out of pocket in the course of the present’s hiatus. In a press release, he mentioned, “For the previous seven weeks of the writers strike, I’ve been and proceed to be an ardent supporter of the WGA and their trigger. My profession in tv began as a WGA member, and my subsequent profession as a performer has solely been attainable due to the creativity and integrity of my writing employees. Because the strike started, I’ve stayed off the air in assist of the placing writers whereas, on the similar time, doing every part I might to care for the 80 non-writing employees members on Late Evening.”
24.
In accordance with Immediately, Jon Stewart additionally continued The Day by day Present sans writers in the course of the 2007-2008 strike, however he quickly modified the present’s identify to A Day by day Present in solidarity. On air, he repeatedly referenced the strike. On the second episode, he mentioned, “We miss our writers terribly, and we hope they get again right here quickly.” Later, he joked, “This is the issue: With out the writers, any film reference that I make goes to be from the ’80s.”
25.
Jimmy Kimmel has a long-running faux feud with Matt Damon. Matt advised Parade, “The primary time I met Jimmy was after I went to do the prime-time present. For a yr he’d been saying, ‘My apologies to Matt Damon; we ran out of time.’ So he got here backstage, and I requested him what that was about. And he was like, ‘You need to know what occurred? I used to be doing a very lame present; I feel my visitors had been a ventriloquist and a man in a monkey go well with. We had been wrapping it up, and there was a smattering of applause within the viewers. I used to be having sort of a low second, and I simply mentioned, “My apologies to Matt Damon; we ran out of time.” My producer was proper off-camera, and he doubled over laughing. It was simply gallows humor. No person else received the joke. Nevertheless it made us snort, so we began doing it each evening. I don’t know why I mentioned you; it might have been anyone.'”
Matt continued, “At any charge, it became this factor. So when he did a prime-time factor I went on, and the joke was that he took so lengthy introducing me that by the point I received on, we had been out of time. So we received right into a faux struggle.”
26.
Jimmy Kimmel Reside and The Tonight Present Starring Jimmy Fallon movie on reverse coasts, however for April Idiot’s Day 2022, the hosts managed to swap locations and visitor host one another’s exhibits. In accordance with THR, to maintain the prank a shock, they solely knowledgeable a small variety of community execs, producers, and writers. Additionally they despatched one another’s employees treats (cookies from Kimmel and an ice cream truck from Fallon) from “the opposite Jimmy.”
27.
A shocking variety of well-known actors (particularly The Workplace solid members!) reduce their tooth on late-night exhibits. John Krasinski interned for Late Evening with Conan O’Brien in 2000. Showing on the present as a visitor 5 years later, he advised the host, “I had a blast. My job was truly simply to hang around backstage with you simply earlier than you went on, and also you’d run by some monologue jokes.”
28.
When Mindy Kaling was a sophomore in faculty, she additionally interned for Late Evening with Conan O’Brien. Showing as a visitor on Conan in 2012, she advised the host, “I used to be the worst intern that is ever labored in this system… I needed to work there, to not learn to photocopy issues, however to, like, watch you… So I would not do my issues that I used to be employed to do. I’d simply sort of, like, comply with you round.”
29.
In 1994, Angela Kinsey interned for bandleader Max Weinberg on Late Evening with Conan O’Brien. Studying from the journal she stored throughout her internship, she mentioned, “There are some critical meals perks at Conan. I get a free meal with the writers if I keep late, and I had my first bagel! It is principally bread that appears like a donut.”
30.
In her 20s, Ellie Kemper interned for Late Evening with Conan O’Brien. She additionally appeared in comedy sketches on the present. Whereas working there, she met her husband, Michael Koman, who was a author. She advised Self-importance Honest, “I used to be an previous intern, and he was a younger author. There was part of me that was like, ‘No time for love! I’ve to deal with my profession!'”
31.
And eventually, Saturday Evening Reside alum Vanessa Bayer was a Late Evening with Conan O’Brien intern as properly. On Conan, she mentioned, “I had the most effective time right here. It was so nice.”