Part one in a series
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Jon Batiste (left) holding his five Grammys he won in 2022; Questlove (right) holding his Academy Award for directing the documentary, Summer of Soul. He also won a Grammy for it, in the Music Film category.
Two months ago, David Letterman marked the 40th anniversary of the Late Night with David Letterman premiere by debuting a brand-new version of his YouTube channel chock-full o’ classic clips.
There’s new spins on the old stuff, too. On Tuesday, we got to see Jimmy Kimmel, the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live who long aspired to become the next Letterman, sharing his favorite moments of Dave’s escapades in late-night television.
How far we’ve come since then.
How far have we come, exactly?
Not only do we have so many more options than in the 1980s, when we had to stay up late for NBC’s one-two punch of Johnny Carson and Letterman, but also, now we don’t even have to stay up at all! The Emmys finally acknowledged the shift in on demand viewing, in part, by allowing daytime talk shows to compete with late-night talkers this year in the Variety Talk Series category.
We’ve also seen how the musical sidekicks have taken center stage, with Stephen Colbert’s bandleader, Jon Batiste, and Jimmy Fallon’s bandleader, Questlove, both taking home Academy Awards and Grammys alike. Batiste won four Grammys — including the prestigious Album of the Year — for “We Are,” plus another Grammy and an Academy Award for the score to Disney/Pixar’s Soul. Questlove proved he was more than just a drummer for The Roots and great party DJ by winning the Oscar and Grammy for directing his first feature, the documentary Summer of Soul, about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.
Even more significant, perhaps, is how the late-night hosts themselves have taken it upon themselves to grow outside of their hourlong programming blocks. It’s almost as if their shows are merely means to an end now. To what end? Great question!
I mean, once even the Jimmys and their networks consider them interchangeable, what’s left? Yeah, yeah, April Fool’s, I got it. But still.
Let’s look at what they’re up to, exactly.
ABC
ABC President Craig Erwich told the Television Critics Association this winter that he’d love to keep Jimmy Kimmel Live on the air for a while (JKL just celebrated 19 years on the air). “He’s the longest-running late-night show host on the air,” Erwich said. “We will have a Jimmy for as many seasons as he wants to be on the air. His tribute to Bob Saget last night was a great example of just the unique talent that Jimmy is. It was both funny and heart-warming. I thought it was really a beautiful and very touching speech. We love Jimmy, not just as host, but as a producer. He was obviously behind Live in Front of a Studio Audience.”
Jimmy Kimmel’s two Emmys so far have come from that stunt, winning Outstanding Variety Special (Live) in 2019 and 2020 by re-enacting classic Norman Lear sitcom episodes with all-star casts on Live In Front of a Studio Audience. His production shingle, Kimmelot, also makes Crank Yankers for Comedy Central, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire for ABC, and produced an ESPN 30-for-30 doc on the New York Mets. And just today, ABC announced that one of JKL’s recurring segments finally will spin off as its own summer game show, Generation Gap, premiering July 7 at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific. Per ABC:
Kelly Ripa hosts the new comedy quiz game show from Emmy(R) Award-winning producers Jimmy Kimmel and Mark Burnett. “Generation Gap” pairs teams of grandparents and grandkids, challenging them to answer questions about pop culture from each other’s generations.
Here’s what the segment looks like within JKL.
CBS
In October 2021, Stephen Colbert signed a three-year first-look deal with CBS Studios, to develop and produce any and all TV or streaming content from Colbert’s Spartina Productions. But the biggest newsmakers for Colbert’s Late Show haven’t been Colbert. In the past month, in addition to celebrating Batiste’s Grammy haul, Colbert also said goodbye to his showrunner since 2016, Chris Licht, who was named the new president of CNN after Jeff Zucker’s ousting. Did Conan talk about this on his podcast yet? Anyhow…
The latest news out of Spartina involves putting pickleball on TV. Seriously.
CBS announced a two-hour primetime special, Pickled, to air later this year on CBS and Paramount+. Spartina is producing the celebrity pickleball tournament with Funny or Die.
“I love hosting The Late Show, but at the end of the day – and I’m specifically talking about the hours between 8 and 10 PM Eastern – I see Pickled as a chance to bring lots of different people together for something playful and unpredictable,” said Colbert. “And since the supply chain snarl has delayed delivery of my Margaritaville(TM) Frozen Drink Machine, I find myself with some free time. I’m honored to be a part of the Pickled family.”
Over the winter, Spartina also launched “The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert,” which contains the same audio dialogue as the TV show.
“CBS is proud to be the creative home for Stephen Colbert at both our Network and Studio,” said George Cheeks, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS. “His ambitions to build this new company and expand his producing repertoire coincide nicely with the growing content opportunities within ViacomCBS, and we’re excited to be his partner in the process.”
Colbert currently executive produces a talk-show for his former TV home, Comedy Central, in Tha God’s Honest Truth with Charlamagne Tha God, hosted by radio personality Lenard ‘Charlamagne’ McKelvey. Comedy Central announced a season-two renewal for Tha God’s Honest Truth in February, despite the honest truth of never hearing anyone really talking about the show. Colbert also is behind three animated series under the Paramount umbrella: Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out The News for Paramount+, and Fairview and Washingtonia for Comedy Central. Outside the umbrella, Colbert also served as EP on Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself for Hulu.
With great fanfare, Late Late Show with James Corden announced the return of his “Carpool Karaoke” segment this week, with Nicky Minaj as his first official celebrity sing-a-long passenger in two years.
Corden has “Carpool Karaoke” to thank for eight of his 11 Emmys.
With his producer Ben Winston (who produced this year’s Grammys, too), they’ve won an Emmy for hosting/producing the Tony Awards, and Fulwell 73 also has spun off Late Late Show segments Drop The Mic for TBS since 2017, and a separate edition of Carpool Karaoke for Apple TV+.
Their work got the attention of Kim Kardashian, who asked them to EP The Kardashians, which hits Hulu next week.
And just this week, Paramount+ also announced an order for LA Hairdressers, an unscripted series from Fulwell 73 in association with Endeavor Content, following two legendary L.A. establishments.
NBC
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon recently announced yet another spin of the revolving door for its showrunner, with Chris Miller joining in May from The Drew Barrymore Show. But this time around, the change in EPs is due to Fallon’s expanding primetime and cable projects, as current showrunner Jamie Granet-Bederman will be focusing on those instead.
And Fallon has plenty on his plate.
Considering just how many games he plays with his celebrity guests, you’re less likely to think they’re avoiding awkward interviews to have fun, and more inclined to believe they think they just might be able to spin off even more segments. After all, they’ve had great success with spin offs, dating back to the 2015 debut of Lip Sync Battle on what was then called SPIKE-TV.
SEE HOW MUCH HAS CHANGED IN JUST SEVEN YEARS IN TV LAND! (wait, what’s TV Land, a young reader asks me?)
Let us now pause for the best moment in Lip Sync Battle history: Tom Holland v. Zendaya. Where the v stands for victory. We all win in this clip.
Fallon was an EP on Lip Sync Battle, which originated on his Late Night, but the show’s creators were Stephen Merchant and John Krasinski.
Fallon and his team would learn from this. His production shingle, Electric Hot Dog, has been busy, especially since making a 2021 deal with NBCUniversal. That deal has brought forth Clash of the Cover Bands on E!, The Kids Tonight Show on Peacock, the stand-up special Love Joy by Joyelle Nicole Johnson, and new to primetime, That’s My Jam. The game show features celebrity teams competing in musical-themed challenges, including segments originally seen on The Tonight Show such as “Mixtape Medley Showdown,” “Slay It, Don’t Spray It,” and “Wheel of Musical Impressions.” NBC announced a season-two renewal in February.
Just last week, The Tonight Show hosted Nana Week to celebrate talented grandmothers, and oh yeah, also promote Jimmy’s new book for kids.
“We continue to be in awe of all things Jimmy,” said Susan Rovner, Chairman, Entertainment Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, last May. “Who else could run The Tonight Show, executive produce and host brand new formats, and adapt his own bestselling books? Jimmy does them all with his signature style. We are privileged to call him a longtime member of our broadcast family.”
Seth Meyers has a contract with NBC to continue hosting Late Night through 2025, but he’s also got plenty of other work to keep him and his producing partner Michael Shoemaker busy.
There’s my favorite spin-off of all, The Amber Ruffin Show, where two of Meyers’ Late Night writers (Ruffin and Jenny Hagel) make merry in the Late Night studio most Fridays for their own weekly take on the news for Peacock.
But Sethmaker Shoemeyers Productions was having fun on the side (outside of the usual 30 Rock atmosphere) with their animated series, The Awesomes, which ran new episodes on Hulu from 2013-15.
They also helped former SNL writer Michael O’Brien find a space on NBC and later Peacock with A.P. Bio, and did the same for Paula Pell and John Lutz with Mapleworth Murders on Quibi. Quibi!
Of course, you might say, and I don’t dare you to say it, because you’ll be right, perhaps Meyers pulled off his greatest spin-off trick by getting his SNL cohorts Fred Armisen and Bill Hader to do multiple seasons of Documentary Now! for IFC.
Meyers also has found time to write and release his own Netflix stand-up special, Lobby Baby, in 2019.
WarnerMedia (Warner Bros. Discovery)
Conan O’Brien may no longer be roaming the TBS airwaves Mondays-Thursdays, but Team Coco is still chugging along, growing its own podcast ranks, while also producing and releasing stand-up comedy specials for HBO Max. And O’Brien himself remains at work not only on his own podcast, but on his forthcoming weekly variety series for HBO Max.
Team Coco podcasts
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend; May I Elaborate? with JB Smoove and Miles Grose; Parks and Recollection with Rob Lowe and Alan Yang; Scam Goddess with Laci Mosely; Why Won’t You Date Me? with Nicole Byer; Literally! with Rob Lowe; The Juice with Solomon Georgio; Good Game Nice Try with Aaron Bleyaert and Sonja Reid; The Three Questions with Andy Richter; Inside Conan with Mike Sweeney and Jessie Gaskell; SMARTR; Frontier Tween; A Total Switch Show (Audible Exclusive); Self Center (Audible Exclusive)
Team Coco stand-up specials for HBO Max
Rose Matafeo: Horndog
Beth Stelling: Girl Daddy
Moses Storm: Trash White
James Veitch: Straight to VHS (since pulled)
Forthcoming special from Chris Redd, plus two multi-act specials hosted by Conan O’Brien featuring Naomi Ekperigin, Solomon Georgio, Ismo and Tommy Johnagin.
It looks like the future of late-night TV is anywhere and everywhere but on TV late at night. Not that that’s a terrible thing. Or is it? You tell me! Leave a comment below.
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