LATE SHOW NEWS #225 November 10, 1998 by Aaron Barnhart To join or leave the LATE-SHOW-NEWS mailing list, see instructions at end of message. For the past two and a half years, A. Whitney Brown and Brian Unger have shared an office and top billing at Comedy Central's nightly rant 'n' rave, "The Daily Show." As two-thirds of the show's reporting triumvirate (with Beth Littleford), Brown and Unger effectively flattened every stupid little convention in TV news through their relentless, spot-on parodies. I once watched an Unger segment in which the intro was arguably the highlight, a rambling pile-on of folksy metaphors that would've made even Charles Kuralt laugh. One of Brown's first pieces involved a visit to a serene town in upstate New York, which he turned into a hilarious "expose" of a citizenry hiding a secret so horrible no one would tell him what it was. Unger, the former Connie Chung producer at CBS, and Brown, the political skewerer from "Saturday Night Live," brought their different sensibilities to the cable start-up and, with the aid of the show's angry young writers and head writer Lizz Winstead, created a political stew as thick and spicy as it was meaty. But now that chapter is closing. Brown has already announced that when anchor Craig Kilborn leaves "The Daily Show" Dec. 17 to go to CBS, he too will leave. And last week Unger joined in as well. Working week to week for the past several months, Unger finally made the call to leave when Brown and Kilborn exit. On Jan. 11, the show will return with a new host, a new title -- "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" -- and as is becoming increasingly evident, a whole new focus. Executive producer Madeleine Smithberg and Stewart have both been promising evolutionary change for the program. But with four of the principals from the inception of the show now gone, and with Stewart's personality not exactly congruing to "The Daily's" current political trajectory, the changes may be more abrupt than evolutionary. Even if none of us in the viewing audience can foresee the changes, Unger could. "Given the self-evident changes that will occur in January, this felt like a window through which I could escape while I could still feel good about what I've done here," Unger told LATE SHOW NEWS on Monday. "I feel like we had a really good niche parody here. I think you'll see that parody aspect lesson -- for good or for bad, who knows. Plus, Comedy Central said they wanted to go to a pool of correspondents. I thought it was a strong ensemble show. I think it'll be less of an ensemble in the future." Smithberg said "The Daily Show" will begin trying out as many as eight different on-air correspondents in the coming months (see LSN #224). But don't count of any of them to hunt down the kind of stories Unger did. Still on his plate: A human-interest story, reported from Canada, about a missing lawn gnome taken off a family's front lawn. ("It was kidnapped," revealed Unger. "The family is very, very upset.") And an exclusive with the stripper sued by one unlucky birthday boy who suffered neck injuries when, in the midst of her act, she dropped her enormous hooters onto his head. "To satisfy my own curiosity, she put the breasts on my head," Unger told me in his best Stone Phillips serioso. "What would a 'Dateline' story be without a test? Also, and this is an exclusive I can share with you, we learned that Tawny is planning to leave the business and get a breast reduction. "No one else had that, so I felt we should go with the story." Unger's future plans are uncertain -- he's got various projects cooking, including a sitcom with Winstead -- but he feels the Kuralt-on-crack feature that he made his specialty on "The Daily Show" is still an underappreciated and underutilized device. "I'm from Ohio, and there are a good dozen or so eccentric people in my hometown of 2500," said Unger. "Ask yourself who gets on TV and is that representative of who we are as a country? There are so many other people who don't get on TV and their stories are just as important. Everybody deserves to be on TV who wants to." That, of course, would include Brian Unger. Next week, my interview with Whitney. In the meantime, both men have their own Web presences: http://members.aol.com/awhitneyb/ http://members.aol.com/bungernyc/ *** Are you like me? Do you enjoy a good chuckle? A good joke? Well, here, read this one that came in the e-mail to me the other day: "When John Glenn splashes down, everybody put on an ape" -- Actually, before I finish that extremely clever and oh so satisfying joke, let me just thank the hundreds and hundreds of clueless ninnies who forwarded it to me. I especially want to thank those who used the miracle of e-mail to forward that joke simultaneously to hundreds and hundreds of their friends, colleagues, and people only distantly related to their sphere of reality -- namely, the author of LATE SHOW NEWS -- via the Cc: field. As a public service to the Internet community, perhaps I should take this moment to remind those of you who are new to e-mail, or as they are known in some circles, "the 'newbies,'" of a few guidelines that will make this whole "Internet" "thing" more pleasurable, or at least less annoying, for the rest of us: (1) You are NOT obligated to perpetuate spam. If you received a joke via mass e-mail, assume that everyone else on the planet has already received it. (Handy rule of thumb: If Tom Snyder tells the joke on his show, assume that it has already circled the globe at least six times.) Suppress the urge to, as the Glenn spam irresponsibly suggests, "Pass it on." (2) Provided you are too stubborn to obey (1) above, or words like "obligated" and "perpetuate" are just too *big* for you, at least have the good sense to use the Bcc: field when spamming. Unlike the Cc: field, names entered in Bcc: don't show up on the final e-mail, saving us all a bit of time in the download-glance-trash sequence of reading your spam. (3) Never, EVER send jokes to the author of LATE SHOW NEWS -- except, of course, as part of an unsubscribe request. *** "Politically Incorrect" confirmed what yours truly guessed in last week's issue: Frances Fisher's shirt said "BOXER" on it -- as in the U.S. senator from California, re-elected last week -- and that's why ABC blocked out the lettering. Here's a longer account from a show spokesman: "No one really noticed what it said until after the show had started. ABC Broadcast Standards and ABC Legal talked to us during the first commercial break. Initially they were concerned with the equal time law. They determined that it wasn't a factor since it is the candidate's appearance that triggers that law. However, Broadcast Standards does not feel it is appropriate to air a show on ABC that supports a candidate in that way ... "ABC has applied for a waiver from equal time for 'PI.' This process with the FCC has been going on for quite some time. Unfortunately it has precluded us from having on any guests that are candidates for any elected office. We're still hoping that we get the waiver for future election years -- even though we're not a 'news' show. It is interesting to note that the FCC gave the Jerry Springer show a waiver a few years back." *** "ABC News Nightline" will air a four-part report on the devastation in Central America beginning Tuesday. Ted Koppel will anchor the broadcast from Honduras, the epicenter of Hurricane Mitch's fury ... If something struck you as funny about Jay Leno's "live" interview of John Glenn on Wednesday, maybe that's because it wasn't live. Leno interviewed the orbiting senator and two of his space shuttle crewmates earlier in the day, then during the broadcast re-read his questions off cue cards as Glenn's prerecorded answers were played back. The wiseacre of the shuttle threesome turned out to be commander Curt Brown. Among his observations: "You can see the pyramids from space and sometimes rivers and big airports and actually, Jay, every time we fly by California we see your chin" ... Not-so-useful fact: Jesse "The Mind" Ventura, who one assumes is a heartbeat away from a booking on the Letterman show, has never made an appearance in late night in the nearly five years I've been doing LATE SHOW NEWS. A search of the LSN archives revealed that the only person with that surname to surface in the lineups is animator Pat Ventura in a 1995 "Space Ghost" ... Looks like J.J. Sedelmeier, the animator for Robert Smigel's "Saturday Night Live" sketches, is getting a higher profile: I notice ESPN has employed the studio for its "Happy Action Fun Time" spots to promote NCAA basketball ... Seattle-area readers take note: Ken Finkleman's laugh-enhanced satire on TV news, "The Newsroom," is airing weeknights at 11 on PBS station KCTS ... The Washington Post reported that "World News Now" was relocated to London for the duration of the management lockout of ABC's technical union. *** Tom Heald's THIS NIGHT IN HISTORY (almost) ALL SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE EDITION We 11/11: In 1989, Some sketches require only one joke, others require less. This night, Dana Carvey debuts "Lyle, the Effeminate Heterosexual." Th 11/12: In 1977, Ray Charles performs "I Can See Clearly Now." Fr 11/13: In 1982, with Dr. Ruth Westheimer making it okay for polite society to talk about sexual issues, Dr. Jack Badofsky (Tim Kazurinsky) rattles off a list of various types of orgasms, including the kind that hockey players have: "The Bobby Orr-gasm." Sa 11/14: In 1981, Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo wrestle for the right to introduce Billy Joel later in the show. Later, host Bernadette Peters overpowers Murphy so she can deliver the introduction. Su 11/15: In 1980, the dreaded Jean Doumanian era begins. Doumanian will produce 12 episodes before the madness ends. Mo 11/16: In 1985 Jon Lovitz debuts Tommy Flanagan, president and founder of Pathological Liars Anonymous, a character who will appear on each of the next 200 episodes ... Yeah, that's the ticket! Tu 11/17: In 1996, Aaron Barnhart e-mails Tom Heald, tells him why don't you turn this stuff you've been sending me into a weekly column? Unfortunately, Heald can't think of a good reason not to. A half hour later, the very first "This Night In History" column is finished. "This Night In History" has survived as long as it has courtesy of Sean Bradley, David Tanny, Frank Serpas III, Aaron Barnhart and Don Giller. For more information on the above items, please visit the "This Night In History" bookstore at http://come.to/latenightbooks *** THE LINEUPS with Sue Trowbridge (http://www.interbridge.com/) LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS Mo 11/9 George Michael, Hanson Tu 11/10 Luke Perry, Tom Wolfe We 11/11 Melanie Griffith, Walter Cronkite, Travis Tritt Th 11/12 Roma Downey, Kenneth Branagh, Goo Goo Dolls Fr 11/13 Cher, war veteran Col. Gail Halvorsen Mo 11/16 Kid scientists, Cameron Diaz Tu 11/17 Will Smith, Jack Hanna We 11/18 Jerry Springer Th 11/19 TBA Fr 11/20 Siskel & Ebert THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO, NBC Mo 11/9 Fran Drescher, Brandy, Richard Branson Tu 11/10 Pamela Anderson Lee, kid inventors, Monica We 11/11 Annette Bening, Kelsey Grammer Th 11/12 Matthew Perry, "mad" scientist David Willey, Meatloaf Fr 11/13 Jennifer Love Hewitt, 11-year-old snake expert Zack Wansley, Alan Jackson Mo 11/16 Arsenio Hall, Garth Brooks Tu 11/17 Garry Shandling, Stephanie Seymour We 11/18 Jimmy Carter, Charlize Theron, Nick Dipaolo Th 11/19 Dana Carvey, Jewel Fr 11/20 Michael J. Fox, Johnny Lang LATE LATE SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER, CBS Mo 11/9 Kansas City's own Buck O'Neil (Negro Leagues hall of famer) Tu 11/10 Marilu Henner We 11/11 Barry Sonnenfeld, Ed McMahon Th 11/12 Maureen O'Hara Fr 11/13 Jerry Springer, Jane Krakowski LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, NBC Mo 11/9 Frederique, Boyd Matson, Finley Quaye (R 3/6/98) Tu 11/10 Kate Mulgrew, Gomez We 11/11 Luke Perry, Ice Cube Th 11/12 Tom Everett Scott, mountain bike racer Missy Giove Fr 11/13 Al Green Mo 11/16 Minnie Driver, Richard Belzer, B.B. King (R 1/9/98) Tu 11/17 Alyssa Milano, R.E.M. We 11/18 Lisa Kudrow, Jerry Stiller, Dr. Drew Pinsky and Adam Carolla Th 11/19 Jennifer Love Hewitt, Marc Maron Fr 11/20 Jerry Springer, Charlize Theron, Everclear LATER, NBC Mo 11/9 Greg Kinnear interviews Lisa Loeb (R) Tu 11/10 Greg Kinnear interviews Tori Amos (R) We 11/11 Greg Kinnear interviews Crosby, Stills and Nash (R) Th 11/12 Greg Kinnear interviews James Brown (R) CHARLIE ROSE, PBS Please note that Charlie Rose listings are very tentative Mo 11/9 Frank Lloyd Wright Panel with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick; Andrew Sullivan; Phil Collins Tu 11/10 Robert McNeil, Leonard Slatkin, Jerry Weintraub We 11/11 Madeleine Albright Th 11/12 Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wolfe, Joni Mitchell Fr 11/13 Marcus Roberts, Garry Shandling, author David Grubin Mo 11/16 TBA Tu 11/17 TBA We 11/18 TBA Th 11/19 Authors Harry Evans, Judy Crichton Fr 11/20 Dennis Quaid, Lucent Technologies' Carelton Fiorina POLITICALLY INCORRECT WITH BILL MAHER, ABC Mo 11/9 Penn Jillette, Jerry Lewis, Dixie Carter, Mayor of Las Vegas Jan Jones Tu 11/10 Pauly Shore, Robert Goulet, Gennifer Flowers, Barbara De Angelis We 11/11 Elayne Boosler, Lance Burton, Ted Nugent, Rep. Jim Gibbons Th 11/12 David Cassidy, Louie Anderson, Eydie Gorme, Aaron Russo Fr 11/13 Howie Mandel, John Schneider, prostitution activist Veronica Monet, Charo Mo 11/16 Pat Sajak, Luke Perry, Rep. John Kasich SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST, Cartoon Network Fr 11/13 Jon Stewart (R) David Byrne, Donny Osmond (R) Fr 11/20 David Cross, Bob Odenkirk (R) Beck, David Lander (R) Fr 11/27 Emo Phillips, Moby Mark Weiner, Dr. Drew Pinsky (R) Fr 12/4 Jeff Foxworthy Garrett Morris, Mark McEwen (R) Beginning this weekend "SGC2C" moves to 11 p.m. Eastern. HOWARD STERN, E! shows are listed in the order of 11 p.m., 11:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. ET Mo 11/9 Chuck Zito Vs. Angry Black, John Mellencamp (R), Susan's Playboy Evaluation (R) Tu 11/10 "O" Contest, Wilt Chamberlain (R), Miss Nude Universe (R) We 11/11 Kurt Waldheim & Menage a Trois, Adam Ant (R), Ursula Sleeps with Celebrities (R) Th 11/12 Joan Rivers & Her New Book, Janine Lindemuller Fluffs Part 1 (R), Elephant Boy and Girls (R) Fr 11/13 Candy Ass (*** PICK TO CLICK ***), Janine Lindemuller Fluffs Part 2 (R), Elaina Beasty (R) Su 11/15 Farrah Fawcett Parts 1 and 2 (R) THE DAILY SHOW, Comedy Central Mo 11/9 John Fugelsang Tu 11/10 Travis Tritt We 11/11 Roma Downey Th 11/12 repeat TBD Mo 11/16 Ken Olin Tu 11/17 Kate Mulgrew We 11/18 Shannen Doherty Th 11/19 Jerry Springer THE CHRIS ROCK SHOW, HBO Fr 11/13 Magic Johnson and Method Man Fr 11/20 San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown Fr 11/27 The Beastie Boys SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, Comedy Central (repeats) Mo 11/9 11:00AM & Midnight - Kevin Bacon / INXS (1990-'91) Desert Storm press conference; Making Copies; The Dark Side with Nat X; 3:00PM - Robert Mitchum / Simply Red (1987-'88) featuring: The Sweeney Sisters Tu 11/10 11:00AM & Midnight - Roseanne Barr / Dee Lite (1990-'91) featuring: Pat in the office ; 3:00PM Candice Bergen / Cher (1987-'88) featuring: Pumping Up with Hanz & Franz Thanksgiving w/ the Mayflower Madame We 11/11 11:00AM & Midnight - Alec Baldwin / Whitney Houston (1990-'91) featuring: McLaughlin Group; The Sinead O'Connor Award Show; 3:00PM Danny DeVito / Brian Ferry (1987-'88) featuring: Church Chat; Siskel & Ebert X-rated movie review Thu 11/12 11:00AM & Midnight - Michael J. Fox / Black Crowes (1990-'91) featuring: Presidential Address on Desert Storm; Stuart Smalley; 3:00PM Angie Dickinson / David Gilmour / Buster Poindexter (1987-'88) featuring: Donohue; Cagney and Lacey Fr 11/13 11:00AM & Midnight - Jeremy Irons / Fishbone (1990-'91) featuring: Wayne's World; Making Copies; Silence of the Lambs spoof ; 3:00PM Paul Simon / Linda Ronstadt (1987-'88) Surprise birthday party for Jesus; The Sweeney Sisters; Master Thespian Sa 11/14 11:00AM Robin Williams / James Taylor (1987-'88) featuring: Pumping Up with Hanz & Franz; Robin Williams at age 60 Su 11/15 11:00AM Delta Burke / Chris Isaak (featuring: Wayne's World with Madonna) (1990-'91) Wayne's World on the top ten babes of all time; Ocean's Eleven outtakes Mo 11/16 11:00AM & Midnight - George Wendt / Elvis Costello (1990-'91) Dennis Miller's farewell show; The Carsenio Show; Da Bears ; 3:00PM Carl Weathers / Robbie Robertson (1987-'88) featuring: NFL Today; Bushwackers; Democratic Presidential Debate Also on late nights: NIGHTLINE and WORLD NEWS NOW, ABC LOVELINE, MTV THE HOWARD STERN RADIO SHOW, CBS and syndicated UP TO THE MINUTE, CBS DIE HARALD SCHMIDT SHOW, SAT.1 ======================================== AARON BARNHART IN THE KANSAS CITY STAR (a Knight-Ridder newspaper) The URL for recent TV stories is http://www.kcstar.com/fyi/fyi.htm Scroll to the bottom of the page. ======================================== Entire contents Copyright 1998 by Aaron Barnhart. 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Older issues are at the LATE SHOW NEWS Broadcast Museum: http://www.tvbarn.com/lsn-archive/ish/issues.html Guest lineups are updated throughout the week by Sue Trowbridge at http://www.interbridge.com/lineups.html LATE SHOW NEWS is made possible with the generous assistance of ECHO, New York City's premiere online service. http://www.echonyc.com Send news for and comments about this newsletter to barnhart@echonyc.com