Late night television

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Late night television is the block of television programming usually airing after 11:30 pm. A regular feature of this programming is a particular genre of talk show more colloquially known as "Late Night".

Popular shows of the late night talk show genre include The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Late Show from Ireland, The Late Show with David Letterman, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Famous former hosts include Johnny Carson of The Tonight Show, Gay Byrne from The Late Late Show, Arsenio Hall of The Arsenio Hall Show, Tom Snyder of Tomorrow, Steve Allen, the father of the late night talk show, Merv Griffin and Dick Cavett, early competitors with Carson, and Jack Paar, the man who followed Steve Allen as host of the Tonight Show and who is responsible for setting the standards for the genre.

These shows often follow the same canonical format:

a stand-up comedy segment, called the monologue in which the host makes jokes about current events,
a musical interlude called the walkover, wherein the host walks over to the desk where he interviews guests,
several skits, sketches, or other comedy bits,
interviews with one or two celebrity guests,
a guest musical or comedy act.

Most shows in this genre have an in-house band that plays musical interludes. Popular late night band leaders in the U.S. include Paul Shaffer, leader of The CBS Orchestra on The Late Show with David Letterman; Kevin Eubanks, leader of the Tonight Show Band; and Max Weinberg, leader of the Max Weinberg Seven on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Usually the band leader is a major part of the show, and the band leader and host often exchange playful banter during the monologue and comedy segments; the band leader has thus taken over the part of being the host's sidekick, which in the past was played by Ed McMahon and Andy Richter, among others. Of the current late night talk show band leaders who play this role, Paul Shaffer is well-known for being a straight man to David Letterman. However, on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Max Weinberg rarely speaks during the show, and his interactions with O'Brien are often short and awkward--a recurring gag on the show.

Often, the show's announcer is also a major part of the show. Famous announcers include Ed McMahon from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Edd Hall from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Don Pardo from Saturday Night Live.

Not all late night talk shows air late at night; for example, The Ellen DeGeneres Show follows the format of a late night talk show, but airs in the daytime. Similar shows included The Rosie O'Donnell Show and The Wayne Brady Show.

There are also some daytime talk shows that air in late night, such as The Jerry Springer Show (because of the program's adult content). Most of the time however, daytime talk shows air in late night involuntarily because of low ratings in their original daytime slots, no room on their station's schedule in an appropriate timeslot, or to fill time otherwise taken up by infomercials or sitcom reruns.

Late night television

See also