Late night guest line-ups: October 5-11

Posted by: Paul Little  •  October 5, 2009 @ 8:21pm

Well it was a crazy week in the world of late night television! Conan O'Brien came back on Monday from his head injury, and showed everyone the cringe-inducing accident from Friday's Tonight Show taping. Outside of that one harrowing scene, though, it was mostly jokes throughout the week about the accident.

Less joke-filled was David Letterman's admission on Thursday night's show of having multiple sexual affairs with staff members of The Late Show over the years, opening up to his audience the same day he testified against an alleged blackmailing from a 48 Hours producer who knew of the affairs and supposedly demanded $2 million from Letterman to keep quiet. Some say it shouldn't matter what Letterman did with whom in his private time, especially given that these affairs apparently took place prior to the birth of his son, Harry, or his marriage. Others point out that he'd been with his now-wife for 20 years, so married or not, he was a cheater. Still others point out the perception that a boss sleeping with female subordinates creates all sorts of questions about possible sexual harassment, or at the very least, unfair favouritism.

This week should be interesting, with Letterman airing new episodes on the heels of his public admission last week. How will the audience react -- notably women? Will he get more viewers and attention because of the huge amount of press, or less because of people unhappy with his choices? Only time will tell.

• Christopher Cross (Monday on Fallon) – You may have read about Channel101 on this site before, in our Lonely Island-related interviews and articles. Well, besides helping to launch the SNL stars' careers, the website (co-founded by Community creator Dan Harmon) was also home to the brilliant series of shorts called Yacht Rock. Through these hilarious re-imaginings of how classic smooth songs of the late 70s and early 80s came to be (think the music of the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Michael McDonald, early Kenny Loggins, and Christopher Cross), an entirely new generation was introduced to "yacht rock". And on Monday night, Jimmy Fallon is calling for Yacht Rock parties nationwide, as Christopher Cross comes on the show to perform with the Roots and everyone puts on their sailing hats and drinks champagne to enjoy the smoothest smooth music ever created.
• Jason Bateman (Wednesday on Conan) – Bateman is one of the funniest guys around, hands down. Put him with Conan, and you're guaranteed to have a good time. (Also, there's always talk of an Arrested Development movie, but apparently creator Mitch Herwitz is actually officially working on the script now. It's going to happen, people!)
• Ben Harper & Jack Black (Thursday on Leno) – That's right. Comedian and sometimes-singer Jack Black is teaming up with extremely talented but oft-serious singer/songwriter Ben Harper for a performance. I know Leno said his new show would try to have on interesting groupings for musical guests, but this choice is inspired. Should be interesting television.
• Steve Yzerman (Wednesday on Strombo) – Okay, so this is a choice that most won't care about. But growing up as a Canadian, I idolized hockey players, and none more than Steve Yzerman. He started his career as a purely skilled offensive player, was named the youngest captain in Detroit Red Wings history, later on became one of the best defensive forwards in the game, won 3 Stanley Cups with the Wings, helped lead Canada to a gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics (with a busted-up knee no less!), and retired 6th all-time in NHL scoring and as the NHL's longest-serving captain. Oh, and he's known as one of the nicest guys in hockey. Now he's putting together the Canadian hockey team that will compete on home soil in the 2010 Olympics. (Americans with no access to CBC can catch the best clips from the show on the show's website or its YouTube channel.)
• Chevy Chase (Wednesday on Fallon) – Have you been watching Community? If not, what are you waiting for? The cast is great, the writing is clever, and Chevy Chase has made his triumphant return to television. For a guy who's been known in the past as being hard to work with (or more to the point, a "jerk"), he seems to have great on-screen chemistry with several members of the cast, including star Joel McHale and newcomer Donald Glover. I haven't seen him on a talk show in years, so it should be interesting to see him chat it up with a fellow SNL alum.

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (NBC)

• Mon 10/05: Ellen Page, Kevin Nealon, Dierks Bentley
• Tue 10/06: Kristen Bell, Anvil
• Wed 10/07: Jason Bateman, Selena Gomez, Toby Keith
• Thu 10/08: Jimmie Johnson, The Backstreet Boys
• Fri 10/09: Zack Hample, Lady Antebellum

The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)

• Mon 10/05: Steve Martin, Lea Michelle
• Tue 10/06: Paul Shaffer, Eliza Dushku, KISS
• Wed 10/07: Vince Vaughn, Carey Mulligan, Rosanne Cash
• Thu 10/08: Kristin Davis, Barry Sonnenfeld
• Fri 10/09: Jon Hamm, Andy Kindler, Brett Dennen & Natalie Merchant

The Jay Leno Show (NBC)

• Mon 10/05: Jamie Foxx, Joe Torre
• Tue 10/06: Abigail Breslin, Cindy McCain
• Wed 10/07: Wanda Sykes, Kathleen Sebelius
• Thu 10/08: Gerard Butler, Ben Harper & Jack Black
• Fri 10/09: Terry Bradshaw

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

• Mon 10/05: Kristen Wiig, David Wells, Christopher Cross
• Tue 10/06: Lewis Black, They Might Be Giants
• Wed 10/07: Chevy Chase, Eliza Dushku, Lenny Kravitz
• Thu 10/08: Christopher Meloni, Eve, Alton Brown
• Fri 10/09: Martin Short, Jeff Lewis, Cory Chisel

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS)

• Mon 10/05: Michael Sheen, Viola Davis, Jack Ingram
• Tue 10/06: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The Avett Brothers
• Wed 10/07: Rachel Bilson, Jeff Dunham
• Thu 10/08: Jean Reno, Sophia Bush
• Fri 10/09: Gerard Butler, Phoenix

Jimmy Kimmell Live (ABC)

• Mon 10/05: David Alan Grier, 10-year-old vacuum cleaner expert Gregory Evans, Pink (Repeat)
• Tue 10/06: Patricia Heaton, the latest Dancing with the Stars castoff, Gossip
• Wed 10/07: Joel McHale, Richard Belzer, KISS
• Thu 10/08: Kelsey Grammer, Stana Katic, Motorhead
• Fri 10/09: Michael Moore, Malin Ackerman, The Backstreet Boys

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, CTV)

• Mon 10/05: Sarah Vowell
• Tue 10/06: Secretary Ray Mabus
• Wed 10/07: William Kamkwamba
• Thu 10/08: David Gregory

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, CTV)

• Mon 10/05: Arne Duncan
• Tue 10/06: Lara Logan, The Mountain Goats
• Wed 10/07: Alison Gopnik
• Thu 10/08: Colin Beavan

Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC)

• Mon 10/05: Seth Green, Kevin Lyman, Pete Yorn (Repeat)
• Tue 10/06: Thomas Jane
• Wed 10/07: Juliette Lewis
• Thu 10/08: Joss Stone
• Fri 10/09: Glenn Howerton

The Hour with George Stroumboloupoulos (CBC)

• Mon 10/05: Mitch Albom, Anthony Zuiker
• Tue 10/06: Kevin O'Leary, Nick Hornby
• Wed 10/07: Michael Buble, Steve Yzerman
• Thu 10/08: Marc & Craig Kielburger, David Cross
• Fri 10/09: Michael J. Fox

Kevin Pollak's Chat Show (Online)

• Sun 10/11: Brian Tyler (film composer)

Tags: The Tonight Show, Late Night, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Hour, Conan O'Brien, Kevin Pollak, talk shows

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Paul Little is the founder and Managing Editor of ShowbizMonkeys.com. When not interviewing his favourite musicians and comedians, he can also be found putting on and promoting music and comedy events with The Purple Room in Winnipeg, or co-producing the live comedy game shows Pants on Fire and The Great Patio Showdown. (@comedygeek)

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