Holaaaaaaaaa! On behalf of the entire staff here at IWS
World Media Entertainment I would like to congratulate our friend and colleague
Stephen Colbert on being named David Letterman’s replacement. I know he’ll do a
great job. This gives Stephen a chance to stop doing the “O’Reilly Shtick” and
just be himself. I’m sure he’ll be ultra-successful and The Late Show will be
must see TV.
Oh sure, Matt and I would have been better. I mean, we all
know that, right? Only one hour each night? Just like seven minutes to exchange
witty banter before the first break and then some skit or check in with a
correspondent? Easy! Then bring on a guest? Someone who might talk so we don’t
have to? OMG! Our dream! Then after the next break we do the Poet’s Corner or
Tammy or Ma Tibbles and then another break? Then another guest who does most of
the talking? Then after the final commercial break we bring on the musical
guest or a stand up and then say goodnight? We could do that without even
trying.
We could host The Late Show AND STILL do the radio show
every week. Shows like “Poets, Prose and Poseurs” which we’re doing this Sunday
at 12 Noon ET. No problem. Especially if we got the same size writing staff
that Letterman had. Hell, we could do it with half the staff. But, it was not to be. Of course, my repeatedly
referring to Les Moonves’ wife Julie Chen as his “mail order bride” probably
didn’t help much. Oops!
I did get a kick out of watching the reaction from people
online to the announcement though. I’m not unsympathetic to the people who were
hoping CBS would go in a non-white male direction for host. It would have been
a good idea to shake things up a bit and break the late night mold. But, it’s
entirely possible that all the people mentioned as great ideas to replace
Letterman have other things they want to do.
Tina Fey, Amy Poeler and Kristen Wiig were mentioned by lots
of people. Did anyone really think they were going to just up and drop the TV
shows and movies they’re working on and go host a late night show? Did anyone
really think they would dump Loren Michaels and take over a show directly
competing against The Tonight Show? How fucking stupid are you if you thought
that?
A lot of people also hoped for Aisha Tyler. Really? She would
certainly be good at it. Everyone agrees. Sure she was a disaster on Talk Soup
and hasn’t gotten good reviews on “Who’s Line is it Anyway,” but those are very
different from late night show. Again though, she’s got “The Talk” and “Archer”
and a new show that is in development and her stand up and you thought she
would just up and drop all that to HOST A SHOW THAT YOU’RE NOT EVEN GONNA
WATCH???? Come on!
These late night shows are hard to find hosts for. You aren’t
gonna get someone like Luis C.K, Amy Schumer, Hannibal Buress or any comedian
who is hot and doing a lot of stuff right now cause they won’t want to throw it
all away just to host a show. You need someone who isn’t in demand and doesn’t
really have any buzz or a lot of options. That’s why I thought Jerry Seinfeld
might be the perfect replacement Matt-Man and I would be the perfect choice.
But, it just didn’t work out. Oh well.
