GMA this morning had a brief clip of the ongoing saga of the writers strike and the impact it will have on the late night comedians in the next couple weeks. So far Leno and Letterman have said they will air a few new shows without the writers saying they will write the material as best they can.
Conan O’Brian has put up a vid on youtube about the strike. It’s actually quite funny because he is sport’in a beard saying it’s a "strike-beard"
These guys are going to have to write some of their own material it looks like and I was wondering who the dope thinks will fair the worst? I mean they are all comedians and you’d think they should be able to write their own stuff now and then…Personally, I think Leno is going to have a tough time…If I were him, on my first night I’d walk onto stage with a huge bag of Dorritios and go from there
AFAIK, comedians spend weeks preparing enough material for an hour of standup and then they’ll repeat that for weeks on end at different venues. I can’t believe that one man can write enough original material for an hour every night.
My guess (if they go back to new shows) is that they’ll start having more guests with impromptu interviews and maybe some previously recorded clips/gags from previous shows.
ETA: Leno will tank more than the other guys (Letterman and Conan). I don’t think Jimmy Kimmel or that other guy (after Letterman) have a chance.
Oh, just the opposite. Craig Ferguson improvises his monologues already, so he won’t be affected nearly as much as the others. The other guys are going to be curtailing their openings. Regardless, he and Letterman are likely going to be the only ones who have the benefit of writers since they’re able to strike a seperate deal, and NBC can’t for Leno and O’Brian.
And, gun to my head, if I was forced to choose who has more stand up talent - Leno or Letterman - it would be Leno.
Is that other guy Craig Ferguson? If so, he used to be a fairly accomplished stand-up comedian before he moved to the US (he performed under the name Bing Hitler). I reckon he could manage his own material.
If I was Leno, I would just check out a book of knock-knock jokes from a school library, pull up a stool on stage and fire away. There is a radio show here in Boston that recently played a clip of a stand-up comedian that was so God awful terrible that he had me doubled over in laughter. That would be a good effect to shoot for.
I think this is a really interesting topic. If I had to guess, which I guess I do, I’d pick Leno to fare the best since he’s the only one with real stage skill. He made his living as a stand up long enough that his crowd control and sense of timing will probably be the best, even if his material is weaker. Letterman will fall somewhere in the middle and Conan will struggle the hardest since he’s really just a writer and might struggle to go free form like a seasoned stand up could.
Letterman should be by far the worst- my guess is he’ll pull out a generic Paris Hilton sex joke from five years ago, then when it bombs he’ll twist his neck and make a face, say “Buttafuoco” a couple of times, then cut to Paul laughing like an imbecile. Then next dated joke, next face, next word he thinks is funny sounding, etc.
I’d imagine many people assume the late-night hosts write their own jokes anyway. It will be interesting.
My money for the worst would be Letterman. I think he’s great but AFAIK he has the least writing experience.
The monologue shouldn’t be too bad. I’d think that all of them would sort of have the pattern down; read a news story, think of a smart comment about it, repeat. Throw in some running gags, you’ve got a monologue.
I don’t know about David Letterman, but Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien are WGA members, so they can’t even write their own material.
Both Jay and Conan are planning to come back with new shows on January 2, with or without anything written down. Both guys have been continuing to pay their staffs (close to 200 people, all together) during the strike.
Other than winging their ways through improv monologues, I don’t think the lack of writing will really hurt much - I’m assuming the interviews aren’t scripted and the WGA strike doesn’t affect musical acts.
But yes, I’d expect Letterman to rapidly dissolve into an hour of throwing pencils at the cameras, Oprah! Uma! … Oprah! Uma! and asinine yuks from the bandleader.
Leno relies heavily on his monologue, and he might need to shorten it severely in favor of interviews. But he’s a good interviewer, so the audience will forgive that.
Letterman is an exceptional storyteller, and a great ranter. As long as he has something to grouse about, he’ll be entertaining. He’s not a great interviewer, so relying on longer interview segments is less of an option. He’ll probably come back with writers.
Conan is just a funny person. He’ll be the best at “look how much I suck without writers.” His audience will give him tons of latitude, and he’ll probably manage without writers more gracefully than anyone else. Anyone except…
Craig Ferguson. He already models his monologue on Regis–telling personal stories and interacting with the audience. He needs writers least of anyone.
Jimmy Kimmel needs writers, but he can rely on other staffers to find funny pop culture events to replay and comment on. That’s much of what he does anyway, and the jokes are usually afterthoughts. He’s a good enough interviewer, and the bar is pretty low for his show anyway. I like Jimmy Kimmel, but his show is an entirely different animal than the rest.
Well, they won’t all be fine. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are just screwed until this thing is over. No way around it.
IMHO Conan should go back to doing children’s birthday parties, he’s the most unfunny person to ever host a nation comedy show I’ve ever seen. I’d give the edge to Leno over Letterman. Ferguson, although I don’t watch him much, is likely to pull it off, but if Letterman can’t hold the audience, Ferguson has a problem.
A lot of this depends on who they can get as guests, there’s going to be a lot of pressure on the most popular celebs from both sides of this issue. I suspect they’re going to follow the money in the end.
You may not remember, but Letterman did his show without writers during the strike of 1988. “It this anything?” is derived from the “Hal Gurney’s Network Time Killers” they did during the strike.
Dave would do more of those “ordinary people” stunts. And going in to the crowd to talk to the audience. He tells the least amount of jokes of anyone.
You’ve never seen Carson Daly then. I guess it doesn’t count as a comedy show (and neither does Conan for that matter) since it’s mostly interviews. But Carson seems to be attempting humor and failing miserably, even Jennifer Tilly who’ll basically giggle at anything looked at him like he had 3 heads when he was trying to be funny. No, not Conan, Carson Daly is the most unfunny, untalented person to ever host a national show.
No, because as has been pointed out, he’s a member of the WGA and thus won’t be able to rely on his writing to help him through. He’ll have to rely on his ability as an improvisational performer, which Cluricaun rates as low.
a daily show requires a lot of material.,something new everyday. the standup experience of Leno and Letterman is too long ago to have relevance. Kimmel is the best interviewer. he asks questions that the others would not. He steps a little farther over the polite line to ask what came to your mind at the same time. Conan has so many bits that are visual that he may get away with it for a while.
I hope they fail and demonstrate how important the writers are. I read Kimmel is practically bankrupt from paying his writers and staff while they are out.
