Late night guest line-ups: May 25-29

Posted by: Paul Little  •  May 25, 2009 @ 4:40am

There's been quite a break since I last posted the late night line-ups on ShowbizMonkeys.com, but I hope to keep this up regularly from now on. In the time since I last posted the nightly guests, there have been some changes to the late night landscape, with another big one coming next week.

Three months ago, Conan O'Brien ended his run as host of Late Night after 16 years, with Jimmy Fallon taking over the New York City 12:35am show. And after Jay Leno's final episode of The Tonight Show this Friday, Conan will step in to host the show beginning June 1st in a brand new studio at Universal Studios (look for a Tonight Show feature coming this week).

Carson Daly even tweaked things at Last Call, permanently using a pre-taped format that had previously only been used for "special" weeks, instantly making the show much more watchable.

So with all those changes in mind, here are the top 5 guests not to miss on this heavily-repeated week of late night television:

• Conan O'Brien (Friday on Leno) - In a very classy move, Jay Leno personally requested that his successor at The Tonight Show, Conan O'Brien, be his final guest after 17 years hosting the long-running late night institution. With Leno not leaving the network, but rather starting a new daily hourlong show in primetime this September, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the changing of the guard at The Tonight Show. Is Conan being upstaged by Leno still going on before him every night? Did Leno feel like he was being forced out in the first place? Both guys speak highly of each other, but you can tell there's a bit of tension everytime Conan's on Jay's couch. I'm curious what this Friday will be like.
• Aziz Ansari (Monday on Kimmell) - It may be a repeat from a few weeks ago, but Parks & Recreation's Aziz Ansari is hilarious, and if you didn't catch his appearance the first time, make sure to rectify that this week. You can probably guess that we love Aziz here at ShowbizMonkeys.com, having recently done a Q&A with him after naming him the 2008 recipient of our Genius Monkey Comedy Award, and after watching him as Tom on the first 6 episodes of Parks, hopefully everyone is jumping on his bandwagon.
• Jim Parsons (Monday on Letterman) - This is another repeat, but I caught this appearance last month and it was delightful. For those of you who watch The Big Bang Theory, you know Parsons' Sheldon character is a bit "off". Luckily, Parsons himself isn't quite so geeky or insane, but he still has a bit of awkward charm to him, and the fact that he seems not yet fully comfortable in the spotlight as a late night talk show guest allows the comedy in that awkardness be completely capitalized on.
• Larry King (Thursday on Strombo) - After an absolutely hilarious appearance on The Daily Show last week that had Jon Stewart in stiches for almost the entire interview, Larry King will be heading up north to chat with George Stroumboulopoulos about his new memoirs. The Hour is a tad more serious than The Daily Show, and the interview is sure to be much more in-depth and interesting, but I can also see King being game for an entertaining bit if the show's writers can come up with something good. A preview clip of the interview can be viewed below.
• Billy Crystal (Thursday on Leno) - Billy Crystal was Jay Leno's first ever guest when he took over The Tonight Show from Johnny Carson in 1992. So it's fitting that he'd appear during the final week of Jay hosting the show all these years later. I would imagine his appearance will be a nice walk down memory lane. And love him or hate him (and I know a lot of people that feel strongly one way or the other), this final week of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno will certainly be a nice look back at 17 years of the #1 late night show in America.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC)

• Mo 5/25: Mel Gibson, Lyle Lovett
• Tu 5/26: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dwight Yoakam
• We 5/27: Wanda Sykes, Sarah McLachlan
• Th 5/28: Billy Crystal, Prince
• Fr 5/29: Conan O'Brien, James Taylor

The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)

• Mo 5/25: Beyonce, Jim Parsons (Repeat)
• Tu 5/26: Russell Crowe, Joe Wong (Repeat)
• We 5/27: Jamie Foxx, Lauren Conrad, the Dead (Repeat)
• Th 5/28: Tom Hanks, the Killers (Repeat)
• Fr 5/29: Robin Williams, Wynton Marsalis (Repeat)

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

• Mo 5/25: Beastie Boys, the Amazing Kreskin, David Cook
• Tu 5/26: Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Baldwin, Keane
• We 5/27: Brooke Shields, Chris Hardwick, Kris Allen, The-Dream
• Th 5/28: Jack McBrayer, Janeane Garofalo, Rodney Atkins
• Fr 5/29: Justin Long, Tony Hawk

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS)

• Mo 5/25: Bob Saget, P.W. Singer
• Tu 5/26: Chris Isaak, Moon Bloodgood
• We 5/27: Madeleine Albright, Amy Smart (Repeat)
• Th 5/28: Michael Caine, Matt Baetz (Repeat)
• Fr 5/29: Simon Cowell, Erin McCarley (Repeat)

Jimmy Kimmell Live (ABC)

• Mo 5/25: Chris Pine, Aziz Ansari, Scott Weiland (Repeat)
• Tu 5/26: Jamie Foxx, Elizabeth Mitchell (Repeat)
• We 5/27: Matthew Fox, Benjamin McKenzie, Ciara (Repeat)
• Th 5/28: Channing Tatum, Elisha Cuthbert, Depeche Mode (Repeat)
• Fr 5/29: Hugh Jackman, John Cho, Flo Rida (Repeat)

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

• Tu 5/26: Larry King (Repeat)
• We 5/27: Newt Gingrich (Repeat)
• Th 5/28: Elizabeth Edwards (Repeat)

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, CTV)

• Tu 5/26: Green Day (Repeat)
• We 5/27: Meghan McCain (Repeat)
• Th 5/28: Walter Kirn (Repeat)

Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC)

• Mo 5/25: McG, Snoop Dogg, Joel Madden, Keane (Repeat)
• Tu 5/26: The Virgins
• We 5/27: Doves
• Th 5/28: Method Man & Redman featuring Erick Sermon
• Fr 5/29: Wale

The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos (CBC)

• Mo 5/25: James Lovelock, Daniel Negreanu
• Tu 5/26: Jeff Rubin, Bradley Cooper
• We 5/27: Norman Jewison
• Th 5/28: Larry King, Steve Earle

Tags: The Tonight Show, Late Night, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Jimmy Kimmell, Carson Daly, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien

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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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