Talk Show Hosts
How did Steve Allen influence the talk show format?
Steve Allen opened it up and started doing things that were very much like what we did with Letterman. He took cameras out in the streets, he was doing crazy stunts, he was jumping into vats of liquids and other crazy things like that. He was really the pioneer. When Letterman started his show, I know he watched a lot of Steve Allen tapes, and a lot of Ernie Kovac's tapes and things like that. But Steve Allen brought a certain looseness to the form.
How did Jack Paar influence the talk show format?
How did Johnny Carson influence the talk show format?
Johnny Carson had the ability to create an intimacy with his guests that was incredible. It was truly what his talent was, obviously aside from being funny and being a great communicator and a great broadcaster. He really knew how to make a conversation with the biggest stars in the world to feel as if you were talking to a friend on the street corner.
How did David Letterman influence the talk show format?
The difference between a Letterman and a Carson. Letterman really did a reinvention and reinvented attitude and reinvented style. He was the first to really start doing live remote pieces in the field. We'd have a camera at a photo shop, an instant photo shop, and we'd be looking at people's pictures live on tape. Letterman kind of reinvented that whole form more radically than anybody has since.
How did Tom Snyder influence the talk show format?
The two things that they had to offer was extreme intimacy i.e. it was one-on-one, and also the interview time. He was doing interviews that were 30 minutes long, so a lot of people who had a lot to say never really liked doing the shows that had five or ten minute segments. So people who had real things to say and messages to get across preferred that show.
What was the influence of Tom Snyder's The Tomorrow Show?
There was a show called The Tomorrow Show, which I also worked on, with Tom Snyder. And it was, originally, a show that was on at one o'clock in the morning. Originally, before Johnny Carson renegotiated his big last big deal at NBC, he used to do a ninety minute show. The Tonight Show was originally a ninety minute show, ranging from eleven thirty to one. The network realized that at one o'clock they still have the stations, so why don't we just put something in expansive. So, they hired a local newscaster, and at the time, that was Tom Snyder. And they put him in just an easy chair, they had a black velour backdrop which was just painted; and it was cheap. He just interviewed interesting people, and he used to interview a lot of weirdo's, and a lot of off-beat. And then it became a TV programme that stars wanted to do.
What makes a great late-night talk show host?
Probably the most important thing on any of these shows is having a star with a very, very definable point of view, because everything stems from that point of view. The way the set looks on a show, the way music is booked on a show, the type of music that's on a show, the tone of the comedy, and the chairs that they're sitting on are other noteworthy factors. On a good show, everything is a reflection of the likes and dislikes and the point of view of the star. They're star driven shows.
