Steve Allen on Later with Bob Costas, September 27, 1989

The great Steve Allen discusses his classic shows and shares his thoughts on Jack, Johnny, and Dave.

[@RandyFelts2121]

In the early 60's I was like 10 to 12 years old. Stayed up late ever week day night watching Steve Allen. Lot more fun than homework. :} Now I'm 67 nothing on tv worth watching. Go to sleep earlier now.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Yup...me too!...Remember how Steve would suddenly blurt "Schmock-schmock", for no particular reason? And one time, he had some dude in a huge bird costume, seated in a cage, that was lowered over the audience seating area--He then shouted out "Feed the Schmock Bird!!...and the audience had been each given a head of lettuce, to throw at the Schmock Bird inside the cage!...Utter mayhem ensued...my 11 year old brain was totally blown away by these weird antics that Allen and his writers would come up with...his absurd wit has never been surpassed on television, although in the 1970s, Saturday Night Live did their best. Steve Allen was a true innovator!

[@oldcop18]

I was in high school (in my late 70s now) then & watched Steve’s show weekly. One of the funniest guys on TV.

[@RandyFelts2121]

Wow I turned around now I'm 72.

[@nick56677]

I was born 3 days before this interview. 35 had passed from Steve Allen's first show to this interview here. Now, we are almost 35 years since this interview was done.

[@HolmanHal]

Amazing information.

[@dimitrikorsakov2570]

Bob is the best interviewer I've ever seen. Smart and very well informed on the guests which allows him to ask great specific questions relevant to the guest's career and work as opposed to just general questions a less knowledgeable interviewer would have to ask. I sure wish he'd resurrect Later. It was one hell of a program. He could do it as a podcast these days.

[@ParkerAllen2]

I miss it, too, and couldn't agree more.

[@moeskido]

Costas did excellent work on this series. He did his homework, used his 22 minutes intelligently, and asked pertinent, articulate questions of guests who had great stories to tell. I should've taped this program regularly instead of only seeing it when I could sleep in the next day. My loss.

[@dongiller]

I taped many of them but have uploaded just a few. Will put up more.

[@moeskido]

@@dongiller Many thanks. I had a VCR during most of the years this show aired, but my apartment was too small to avoid being awakened by it. :)

[@dongiller]

You’ve not seen my place. No excuse! :)

[@moeskido]

@@dongiller I envy anyone who can work a day job on no sleep! ;)

[@KBTime]

Costas would usually over-tape, then whittle down to the best 22 minutes. Not to take anything away from him or the excellent "Later" show, but I point this out because I wonder if NBC saved the full interviews? That would be amazing. Give us podcasts of just the audio!

[@bernardschmidt5192]

Steve Allen will always be THE late night entertainer! None could ever come close to his show. The BEST! GOD bless him!!

[@richardcollins6684]

Steve Allen was incredibly gifted comedian. He was very funny!

[@rogerparis]

Steverino was my idol as a kid. He was the real deal.

[@dj33036]

In the sixties Steve was a Grand Marshall in the Rose Bowl Parade and as his convertible passed where I was standing on the sidelines I holler out Stevearino loud enough that he turned in my direction and waved to me. That made the whole parade for me.

[@edmundpower1250]

Steve was a brilliant musician, presenter, comedian and everyone should check out the fantastic work he did to write and produce the "meeting of minds" show wgere historic people from different eras meet and converse over dinner

[@magicpony9]

Good grief - it's nearly 35 years ago FROM THIS SHOW, WHICH I REMEMBER WATCHING. To think the same span of time applies from that to this...

[@geekay1349]

This is the wild west of television. gotta love it!

[@WSenator1]

Every time I see Steve Allen "laughing" (10:07), I crack up myself. I was a toddler when he did the original "Tonight" show, but otherwise I grew up watching him, and loving every second of it!

[@elliotmintzvideos]

there were a number of very talented people who followed. but steve allen was first. he was one of the most talented performers in the history of television.

[@dimitrikorsakov2570]

Also, hats off to you, Don. You're doing god's work here. Your channel is a treasure trove!

[@oldcougar65]

One of Steve Allen's funniest bits was "The Answer Man". Carson ripped it off for Karnak the Magnificent. I still remember one: Answer: Miss America. Question: What do we hope the Russians do when they drop the bomb.

[@hallmt]

That’s fantastic.

[@456zounds]

Another was: Answer: Walla Walla. Question: Whata kinda carpet you wanna have your apartamenta?

[@jennifersman7990]

Answer-Butterfield 8-5000 Question-How many hamburgers did Butterfield eat?

[@garyrasberryjr.552]

@@jennifersman7990 Answer - UCLA Question - What do you see when the smog clears?

[@garyrasberryjr.552]

@@jennifersman7990 One More Answer: Et tu, Brute Question: What did Caesar say when Brutus asked him how many slices of pizza he ate?

[@fletchermunson6225]

I love Allen, watched him as a kid. He was placed across from Jack Parr. So funny and smart.

[@curtpeterson7386]

I remember watching this episode of 'Later" when it first aired and forgetting how good both of these guys were at their respective game. Both men could easily move between genres-- Steve with his comedy, writing and sketch performing and Bob in the talk & sports interviews while never pandering or setting his guest up for a hit piece. I wish, somewhere, somehow, TV talk shows and interviews could go back to this style, even if for a day a week. It seems just like junior high school chattering in this day and age, sadly.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

I wish Bob could have asked Steve about some of his personal/family struggles, but I suppose that Steve wanted that to be "off-limits"....We know that his son became "Logic Isreal", the right-hand man to the leader of a religious cult based in Seattle, back in the late 60s and 70s...I wonder how Steve felt about that!....I also remember a very funny stunt that Steve and his crew would pull, with the help of his audience--there would be a large cage, lowered towards the audience, that featured a guy in a weird "Schmock Bird" suit!...and the audience was then encouraged to throw various vegetables at the Schmock Bird, as it was his feeding time!...People would be yelling out "Schmock! Schmock!...during this bizarre, yet hilarious stunt!...Steve Allen was a complex, erudite and well-spoken man...who also had a great sense of the absurd elements of our society. Sadly, he died in his early 70s, after having been in a rather minor car accident...he suffered a fatal heart attack just a few hours after the accident happened. I do not know if he knew he had a weak heart,or what.

[@winonafrog]

💯

[@bishopaz]

I grew up watching the Allen shows from 1968 to 1972. Would love to have the videos of them

[@GeorgiaOverdrive]

Carson also did 1 Hour and 45 but refused to do the 15 minutes, so NBC cut it back.

[@456zounds]

You're right, but I hadn't remembered the show was THAT long!!

[@gallery7596]

And this wasn't the only time Allen did Costa's show. Terrific guest.

[@dongiller]

He appeared again on February 14, 1990. I haven't digitized it yet but when I do, I'll put it up.

[@gallery7596]

@@dongiller Were you able to put up that second appearance by Allen, Don?

[@dongiller]

Gall ery not yet.

[@gallery7596]

@@dongiller Okay. I just asked because someone's doing a video about Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show and Allen talked about it during his second appearance on "Later."

[@dongiller]

Gall ery Great.

[@geekay1349]

where it all began

[@johnvolkman7208]

Steve was The Best!

[@raypeters4525]

STEVE ALLEN, THE TRUE TV HISTORICAL FIGURE ! CREDIT ALSO TO BERLE, BENNY, BURNS, SALES, DAGMAR !!

[@spuzzlightyeartoo]

You don't have any tape of the Steve Allen show, do you?

[@brainsareus]

there is not too much left, as videotape did not exist yet. what's left is on a different medium.

[@frankprovasek5394]

The Steve Allen version was broadcast live in black and white Videotape did not exist, these are kinescopes, basically aiming a movie camera at a TV screen. Allen did a similar show from Hollywood 1962-64 for Westinghouse Broadcasting , videotaped for syndication to local stations nationwide, The "live look" of videotape makes this closely resemble the live Allen Tonight shows kzbin.info/www/bejne/bWW0aYGYa7WWqdk

[@garyrasberryjr.552]

@@frankprovasek5394 There are a few videotape shows of his prime time "Steve Allen Plymouth Show" (including one in color featuring Frankie Laine and William Bendix from 1959). Most of his Tonight Show stuff is gone save for snippets. There was a kinescope copy of one of his pre-network late night shows from what is now WNBC (sponsored by Knickerbocker Beer and featuring a young Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme before they became a couple). There is also a kinescope of the show that predated Steve called "Broadway Open House" from 1950-51.

[@kevinvanmeter2264]

"Be that as it may....which probably isn't.."

[@robb7398]

Actually he looked a lot better in those clothes than in a suit.

[@kbchaffin53]

Steve was so popular on the Tonight Show they offered him a Sunday Night prime time show and he eventually left late night. That was a mistake (which he never admitted). He could have stayed on "Tonight" for ten or fifteen years...or 30 like Carson.

[@robb7398]

Yeah unfortunately Tonight was the pinnacle of Steve's TV career. It was a mistake to leave.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Steve had a huge ego, that likely got in the way of his career.@@robb7398

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Steve Allen has always struck me as being sort of sideways condescending when commenting on his early success with the late night talk show format...I also notice, that even Bob would not ask Steve how he felt about his son being a member of a religious cult--"The Love Israel Family"...which was based in Seattle, where I lived for most of my life. That cult was both funny and weird, just like Steve's sense of humor. Steve Allen died several years ago, a few hours after having been shook up in a fender-bender car accident. He was not very old maybe mid-70s. No matter how prideful we humans are, we cannot control our individual Fates.

[@HolmanHal]

Are you implying Steve didn't want to talk about his son's story? He wrote an entire book about it..."Beloved Son: A Story of the Jesus Cults" (1982). It was one of 50-plus books he wrote and this was a 22-minute interview. Sorry, but your comment makes no sense.

[@slothmode3590]

@@HolmanHalLET THE RECORD BE KNOWN

[@ralph5450]

I'll take Steve over Johnny any day. "SCHMOCK SCHMOCK!"

[@erichoward6310]

Funny....

[@shackdaddy7106]

I am a big fan of Steve Allen. He basically invented the talk show. But when he says he was responsible for 97% of it, I take that with a little grain of salt. Because Johnny Carson is what made the talk show the way it is now. he took what Steve did and built it up to a much higher level. And you do see a lot of Steve Allen’s influence on David Letterman’s late night shows than anything. Especially the on the street type of things which were great involving just average people and they were very funny. Regarding Elvis Presley, the way, Steve Allen handled his appearance on Allen’s show was disgraceful. He dressed Elvis up in a tuxedo and made him sing hound dog to a basset hound. Oh, that sounds really funny. But that was really humiliating for Elvis.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

I agree with the Elvis debacle...and Elvis was not happy about it!...Steve was a bit of an elitist, and being a musician of his era, did not like the advent of Rock and Roll..He had an ongoing skit, where he would stand behind a lectern, and pompously recite the super-banal lyrics of the latest Rock and Roll tunes...he was lampooning the shallowness of such music...of course, he was also exposing his ageism, and lack of relating to the emerging youth culture of those times....but, as an open-minded 12 year old kid, I appreciated where he was coming from.

[@basher20]

He does have the grace to admit that much of what they did wasn't so much invented as just kind of happened, since they had 8 hours a week to fill and had no time to write and rehearse that much material. Letterman was in the case of the morning show thrown into much the same predicament. IN Allen's case much of what happed was because no one knew how to do it since the format was new; in Letterman's case it was because none of the people on the staff had any background in talk shows and found themselves just throwing stuff against the wall to see if anything would stick. It's as much a case of convergent evolution as a direct copy.

[@SenorZorrozzz]

Boy, Steve sure was tall!

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Not super tall...he was six-two.

[@tested123]

steve allen is the funniest guy yet at the same time unfunny. its weird.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Yes...he often seems of two minds about his type of wit...and he a a stickler about speaking in an erudite matter...which I find irritating.

[@slothmode3590]

I know exactly what u mean

[@brainsareus]

11:28 obviously, we've always had morons who thought celebrities had no right to a political opinion.