Late Night Saga Reviews: The Story of Late Night (2021)

I review the CNN/HBO Max series "The Story of Late Night" which chronicles late night television from Steve Allen's Tonight Show through all of today's modern shows.
Paar/Killgallen "Worst of Enemies" by epaddon:
• Dorothy Kilgallen vs. ...
Behind the Desk podcasts can be found on KZbin, here's Episode 1:
• Behind the Desk: The S...
Deadly Roulette by Kevin MacLeod incompetech.com/
Promoted by MrSnooze • Film Noir Background M...
License: CC BY 3.0 goo.gl/Yibru5

[@stratofariusbr]

I got so angry when they framed James Corden getting his own late night show as an unexpected thing because he wasn't American, AS IF HE DIDN'T REPLACE CRAIG FERGUSON!

[@TTzara]

I'd consider taking another look at other late night shows that don't adhere to the Tonight Show format (not that I'm particularly a fan of any of them). As I know you know, the way Carson and his producers developed the Tonight Show format became the standard because of the show's iconic legacy. When other talk show hosts stray from the formula, it's still in conversation with that standard monologue-guest-guest etc. Thanks as always for the great informative series.

[@TTzara]

I also recommend Kovacsland the book for more about the fascinating Ernie Kovacs, and the book I'm Dying Up Here for more on Letterman-Leno before they competed for the Tonight Show (I don't recommend the Showtime series)

[@fanboyfilms2915]

Thanks for the kudos! Well even Carson admits it was the Allen/Paar formula before it was his. But he did become the face of it. Like Google is to Yahoo or Facebook is to MySpace, so is Carson to Allen/Paar.

[@fanboyfilms2915]

I'll add the books to my list!

[@cesarmadero05]

Jimmy Kimmel had The Man Show with Adam Carolla before getting to ABC; there's a comedian called Kurtis Conner that made a video about The Man Show.

[@fanboyfilms2915]

And before The Man Show I knew Adam Corolla from Loveline and Jimmy Kimmel from Win Ben Stein's Money.

[@KungEMuller]

While this is a good review, I must give you this bit of information. Ernie Kovacs was not Steve Allen's co-host. He was his guest host. Steve's co-host/sidekick was Gene Rayburn, and you have shown some clips from the Match Game show with Gene Rayburn during your recent video on your other channel. In addition to that, Johnny liked a lot of comedians like David Letterman, and he wanted them to fill in for him almost all the time. Actually, Johnny really wanted Dave to replace him. I mean, Dave was able to get a guest hosting spot after just 3 spots, and that led to him hosting his morning show, and then Late Night and then The Late Show. Also, you gotta remember that Johnny's production company produced Late Night with David Letterman, and Johnny didn't want Dave to do a monologue or his comedy bits or anything like that. So, you should make a note of that when you make another Late Night Saga video. Oh, and here's another fact that you have forgotten about. Bill Maher was on Comedy Central before he went on ABC and HBO, and The Daily Show was only created because of that. In addition to that, The Daily Show was created by two women. A late night talk show that was created by two women! You definitely need to talk about that.

[@fanboyfilms2915]

Thanks for the info. I was trying to think of a better term for Kovacs than "co-host" because they didn't host together, but they shared hosting duties different night of the week. It would also be great to cover Kovacs' show on DuMont if any footage can be found. I know Gene Rayburn from Match Game (and Weird Al's CNR video lol) but I didn't know he was with Allen, and I don't think it was mentioned in this doc.

[@fanboyfilms2915]

I didn't know the Daily Show had that much history before Kilborn, like I said I never really considered covering it but maybe it should go on the list.

[@KungEMuller]

@@fanboyfilms2915 My pleasure. You know, a couple of episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Steve Allen (or Tonight Starring Steve Allen) exist on KZbin. You should watch those so that you can get a better idea of Gene's friendship with Steve Allen. Also, you gotta keep this in mind. The Daily Show started airing in 1996, but Doug Herzog knew that Bill Maher wasn't going to be on ABC forever. So, he got Lizz Winstead (from Jon Stewart's old MTV/syndicated late night talk show) and Madeleine Smithberg (from Late Night with David Letterman) to produce what would become The Daily Show, and he was a huge fan of Craig Kilborn's when he saw him on ESPN. So, that's how Craig Kilborn became the inaugural anchor/host of The Daily Show.

[@jamesmiller5331]

I disagree with you. I think you did better on the Joan Rivers vs Carson deal. As a pertains to people that didn't know anything about the situation prior, I think yours did a better job. Just my opinion

[@fanboyfilms2915]

Thanks for the compliment!

[@jamesmiller5331]

@FanboyFilms2 looking forward to the late-night Wars part 1!