LATE SHOW NEWS #159 July 1, 1997 by Aaron Barnhart Suffice it to say everyone got into the spirit of the "100 Greatest Late Night Eps of All Time" campaign: I received four times the usual amount of mail this week, and it's gonna take me another week just to sort through it all. (I wrote an essay naming some of my favorites in the Kansas City Star on Saturday and set up a phone poll asking for readers' faves; three dozen calls came in, pert near a ton for this t.v. writer.) So if you were meaning to weigh in with your favorite late-night episodes, there's time. I'm not looking for all-time "moments"; this isn't a Carson anniversary show. Rather, I'm looking for nights that stood out from all the other nights -- nights when just about everything that appeared on camera seemed funnier, warmer, more poignant than usual. Or, in the case of Andy Kaufman running "Fridays" into the ground, more chaotic than usual ... You can review the original TV Guide list at .. Congrats to Lisa McRee, the golden girl, for nabbing the Joan Lunden position at "Good Morning America." That makes Lisa the highest-profile alum of the "World News Now" family -- higher than Boyd Matson (now off chasing creatures for National Geographic and charging it to his Discover card) and higher than her former overnight co-anchor Aaron Brown (a regular sub and correspondent on "Nightline" and other ABC News shows). Not that anyone's keeping score, mind you ... In other ABC news, "Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher" gets a nice prime-time window beginning next Thursday, July 10, which happens to be the start of the Nielsen ratings sweep. "PI" will air live from 10 to 10:30 Eastern, then show a repeat at 10:30 and another, different repeat in the usual post-"Nightline" time period. The experiment will continue throughout the sweep, four consecutive Thursdays ... The guy who found the chunk of Evander Holyfield's ear in the ring at the MGM Grand Hotel will be appearing on "Late Show" tonight. And you thought Jay got all the good guests ... "Late Show" is claiming victory in the May ratings sweep now that complete demographic information -- the vaunted Nielsen "book" -- has arrived with data from the entire country. In viewers ages 18 to 34 Letterman won by the slimmest of margins, 1,470,000 viewers to Leno's 1,440,000. A press release also crowed about "Late Show"'s edge of nearly 2-to-1 in that same demographic over "Politically Incorrect"; in all adults ages 25-54, Dave's lead is not nearly so dramatic, but convincing nonetheless. "PI" press releases have been relying mostly on overnight data taken only from the nation's top 38 markets and pronouncing success over "Late Show" in that department ... Look for Dave interacting with cute kids, again, in trailers appearing at your local movie house ... Look for Jay on "Entertainment Tonight" Friday ... Keenen Ivory Wayans and Chris Spencer will launch their respective late shows on the same night, August 4. Keenen will tape at Hollywood Center Studios, Spencer's "Vibe" at CBS Television City in L.A. ... Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video is responsible for "This Is Not a Test," a new weekly comedy "show" available only on the Microsoft Network; the always rib-tickling Marc Maron is host. *** Tom Heald mentioned to me a few weeks back that one way to measure which late-night show is the funniest is to count the number of mentions they get in Entertainment Weekly's "Sound Bites" box found in the Television section of the magazine each week. So Tom has been adding up the quotes and here's the year-to-date tally, through EW's summer double issue. Unless indicated, funny lines were spoken by the show's host: 1. Late Night with Conan O'Brien (14 mentions) 2. Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher (10) 3. The Daily Show (6) 4. Late Show with David Letterman (5) 5. "Weekend Update With Norm MacDonald" on SNL (4) 6. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (4) 7. The Late Late Show With Tom Snyder (2; one from substitute host Jon Stewart, one from guest Garry Marshall) 8. The Larry Sanders Show (2) 9. The Chris Rock Show (1) 10. David Spade on SNL (1) So far no mentions to date for any others, including "Mad TV" and "Later." *** Reader mail: I'll let Walt Lavergne get first crack at this new cable show that I've not had time to watch at length. Walt writes, "Have you seen the latest addition to late night talk, 'Oddville, MTV' (10:00PM ET)? Talk about weird! And I'm loving it!!! The host is a nerd, the sofa-sidekick is autistic or something (he just sits and stares into space) and the hostess is a lovely brunette with not much to say herself (just sit and look cute). The first guest is a star of some caliber. The following guests are people with "odd talents." Then there's a band of some caliber. Also in the mix are puppets and a guy in a gorilla suit that looks like something from Bananarama. Definitely odd. Definitely fun! I'm taping 'The Daily Show' and skipping the late local news!!" ... Several people wrote to express their displeasure with my use of profanity in last week's issue, and one woman in Oklahoma even left the list as a result (well, that and she thinks I don't suck up to Letterman enough for her tastes). I go back and forth on this. On the one hand, I write for a major daily newspaper now, and you just don't swear in print, not in a family paper at least. Plus, you know, what would the neighbors think? On the other hand, the reason I continue churning out LATE SHOW NEWS -- even when it's horribly late, like this week -- is that it's extremely satisfying, and I'm sure that being able to speak my mind freely, without editing, is one reason it remains satisfying. Sorry if I occasionally offend your sensibilities in the process, and as always I welcome contrary points of view. (By the way, isn't it funny that this should happen the week that Will Smith goes on the Letterman show, says "holy shit" on national television, and doesn't get bleeped?) Tom Heald's THIS NIGHT IN HISTORY Tu 7/1: In 1952, Daniel Edward Aykroyd is born with webbed toes. He can currently be found working on an ABC sitcom "Soul Man," the "House of Blues Radio Hour," hosting "PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal" on TV and radio, voicing a "Blues Brothers" cartoon for UPN, and once things get worked out with Jim Belushi, starring in the film sequel "Blues Brothers 2000." We 7/2: In 1947, comedy writer Larry David is born. Before co-creating "Seinfeld," David was a featured cast member on ABC's late night sketch comedy "Fridays," where he met fellow lunatic Michael Richards. Th 7/3: In 1995, HBO's late night comedy "Dream On" ends a six month run on FOX. Fr 7/4: In 1977, talk show spoof "Fernwood 2-Night" hosted by Barth Gimble (Martin Mull) debuts in syndication as the summer replacement for "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." Sa 7/5: In 1982, with "the sound of Donald Duck drowning," "NBC News Overnight" with Linda Ellerbee and Lloyd Dobyns debuts at 1:30 AM. Su 7/6 : In 1925, Merv Griffin is born. Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh! Mo 7/7: In 1927, Conductor/Composer Carl H. Severinsen is born. He's not a real doctor but he played one... and a trumpet on t.v. [Thanks to David Tanny, Steve Zukowski, Tim Brooks, Steve Marsh, and the lovely, the talented Linda Ellerbee. Special Thanks to Donz5. In February, this column was in error when we mentioned "we hear (Donz5) is a bobcat in the sack." What we meant to say is that "we hear Donz5 is like Bobcat Goldthwait in the sack." We regret any confusion this may have caused.] Fond memories of NBC's Overnbiight can be shared with Tom Heald at THE LINEUPS (with Sue Trowbridge) LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS Tu 7/1 Jason Priestley, Patricia Richardson, The Cicadas We 7/2 Tom Arnold, Mitch Labonati (see above), Blur Th 7/3 Tim Robbins, science teacher Lee Marek, Sarah Silverman Fr 7/4 Martin Short, Manny the Hippie, acrobats Fang Fang & Nana Mo 7/7 Rosie O'Donnell, Heather Matarazzo, Cracker (R 6/7/96) Tu 7/8 Bruce Willis, Christine Todd Whitman, Jimmy Buffett (R 6/25/96) We 7/9 David Duchovny, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Sponge (R 7/19/96) Th 7/10 Bill Murray, MaliVai Washington, The Wallflowers (R 7/12/96) Fr 7/11 Helen Hunt, Dave Matthews Band (R 5/17/96) Mo 7/14 Don Rickles, Brendan Fraser, En Vogue THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO, NBC Tu 7/1 Chris Farley, Shannen Doherty, The Presidents of the United States of America (R 1/10/97) We 7/2 Dana Carvey, Amber Valletta, The Pendragons (R 11/22/96) Th 7/3 Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Barry Manilow (R 5/6/97) Fr 7/4 Sinbad, Martha Stewart, Chicago (R 5/9/97) Mo 7/7 French Stewart, Tim Duncan, Joan Embery and animals Tu 7/8 Mara Wilson We 7/9 Martin Short, Linda Fiorentino Th 7/10 Jodie Foster, INXS LATE LATE SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER, CBS Tu 7/1 - Th 7/3 TBA Fr 7/4 Suzanne Somers, Art Donovan (R 2/19/97) LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, NBC Tu 7/1 Justine Bateman, David Bowie (R 4/10/97) We 7/2 Rob Schneider, Steven Weber, Radish (R 4/24/97) Th 7/3 Lisa Kudrow, Erik Estrada, Silverchair (R 5/1/97) Fr 7/4 Julianna Marguiles, Dr. David Wright, Courtland Mead (R 4/25/97) Mo 7/7 Sherry Stringfield, Kenny Rogers, Michael Novacek (R 11/27/96) Tu 7/8 Kim Coles, Gina Gershon, Alison Kraus & Union Station LATER, NBC Tu 7/1 Suli McCullough with Keenen Ivory Wayans (R 4/10/97) We 7/2 Chris "Kid'' Reid with Shawn & Marlon Wayans (R 4/3/97) Th 7/3 Chris "Kid'' Reid with Lisa Leslie (R 4/1/97) CHARLIE ROSE, PBS Tu 7/1 Jon Bon Jovi, Sen. John Kerrey, Novell Software CEO Eric Schmidt We 7/2 Summer Movies roundtable; Michael Lewis Th 7/3 TBA Fr 7/4 TBA Mo 7/7 Kurt Masur, Rep. Dick Gephardt Tu 7/8 Bill Bradley We 7/9 Joe Paterno, Richard Haass Th 7/10 Joel Silver, Richard Donner POLITICALLY INCORRECT WITH BILL MAHER, ABC Tu 7/1 Carrot Top, Deepak Chopra, Nancy Friday, Naomi Judd (R 4/21/97) We 7/2 Holly McClure, Jane Seymour, Kevin Smith, Michael McKeon (R 4/29/97) Th 7/3 Christa Millar, Andrew Sullivan, Scott Thompson, Floyd Brown (R 5/8/97) Fr 7/4 Meat Loaf, Norm MacDonald, Linda Bowles, Alison Stewart (R 1/28/97) SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST, Cartoon Network Fr 7/4 Dr. Robert Bakker, Les Claypool, Jill Cunniff, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Diken, Pat DiNizio, Vinnie Dombrowski, Ben Folds, Bobcat Goldthwait, Juliana Hatfield, Ice, Wes Johnson, Larry Lalonde, Mark McEwen, Method Man, Rodney Trevon Oliver, Reverend Norbert St. Louis, Matt Talbott, Tower, Jimmie Walker, Mike Watt (R) HOWARD STERN, E! We 7/2 Sophie B. Hawkins, Pt. 1, Stut. John at the MP Ball Th 7/3 Sophie B. Hawkins, Pt. 2, Kato Kaelin, Pt. 1 Fr 7/4 Cheryl Strips, Kato Kaelin, Pt. 2 Sa 7/5 Dani's Playboy Eval., Pt. 1, Dani's Playboy Eval., Pt. 2 Mo 7/7 Hillbilly Girls, Pt. 1, K. K.'s Dial-A-Date, Pt. 1 Tu 7/8 Hillbilly Girls, Pt. 2, K. K.'s Dial-A-Date, Pt. 2 HARALD SCHMIDT, SAT.1 Di 1/7 Volker Lechtenbrink, Natja Brunckhorst Mi 2/7 Christian Ziege, Joerg Draeger, Michael Mittermeier Do 3/7 Roberto Blanco, Jens Lehmann Fr 4/7 Playmates 1996, Harald Juhnke Also on late nights: NIGHTLINE, ABC CHARLES GRODIN, CNBC CARSON'S COMEDY CLASSICS, Family Channel MAD TV, Fox SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, NBC (this season) and Comedy Central (classics) THE RUPAUL SHOW, VH1 LOVELINE, MTV ODDVILLE MTV, MTV WORLD NEWS NOW, ABC UP TO THE MINUTE, CBS Entire contents Copyright 1997 by Aaron Barnhart. All rights reserved. Distributed by e-mail and BBS to over 10,000 readers weekly. Late Show News is made possible with the generous assistance of ECHO, New York City's premiere online service. Send news for and comments about this newsletter to aaron@tvbarn.com