Late night guest line-ups: September 21-27

Posted by: Paul Little  •  September 21, 2009 @ 9:05am

First of all, I hope you all checked out Kevin Pollak's Chat Show last night (or at least the embedded Rob Corddry interview in last week's listings). If you haven't yet, you're seriously missing out on some funny an interesting conversation.

Last week was also, of course, the first week of the new Jay Leno Show. In many ways, things weren't that different from the old Tonight Show with Jay Leno, though the flow of the segments was quite different (and a bit all over the place, actually), while it was a nice to see Leno make use of some younger comedians in a variety of taped segments. As for its popularity, it'll probably take a few more weeks (once all the regular 10pm shows debut for the season) before we see ratings indicative of its likely regular viewership, but so far, NBC is probably pretty happy with its choice to give up 5 hours of prime time to a talk show.

As for this week's late night schedule, there are a LOT of great guests hitting the couches on your TV screen this week, so it was tough to narrow down a Top 5. I still did it, of course, but don't forget to check the full list to see if there are any others you might not want to miss.

• President Barack Obama (Monday on Letterman) - It's not often that a sitting president appears on late night television. But Obama is known for keeping himself (and the administration's agenda) in the spotlight and out in the open, and the late night crowd is generally different from the Sunday morning news show crowd, so it's a good opportunity for him to push his health care plan. Obama appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno earlier this year, so I suppose it's fair that he gives CBS a bit of a bump, too.
• Rebecca Romijn (Tuesday on Conan) - Romijn's appearances on Conan's old Late Night show were some of the best moments of late night television over the last 15 years. He was always known for having a bit of a crush on her, and when she announced she was marrying John Stamos back in the day, his reaction was hilarious. Even more hilarious was when, with Romijn teaching him a drinking game, he was able to snag a kiss from the supermodel. The aftermath was gut-wrenchingly funny. This will be her first appearance on The Tonight Show, and even though he's toned things down since his marriage, I'm sure there will be some funny flirting going on.
• Hugh Laurie (Friday on Leno) - Hugh Laurie is one of the most talented actors around. Everyone in North America knows him from his great role on House, but I know him more for his great comedy work in Britain before he made the jump to drama in the U.S. His great comedy chops make him a great late night talk show guest, and no matter what show he's on, he's always solid.
• Dulé Hill (Monday on Ferguson) - You may know Dulé Hill from The West Wing. Somehow, I managed to never watch that multi-Emmy-winning show (I know, how could I miss it?), so my introduction to Hill was as a winner on the former Bravo show Celebrity Poker Showdown (which he won). But now, I know him as the straight man to James Roday's fake psychic detective on the great USA comedy Psych (which was named #3 show on our 08/09 Best TV list). From all I've seen, he seems to be a pretty hilarious guy, which should mean that he and Craig will have a lot of fun on The Late, Late Show.
• Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (Thursday on Stewart) - Jon Stewart and his Daily Show crew continually and consistently ripped Blagojevich a new one after it was announced the former Illinois governor faced significant corruption charges and other controversies -- and then tried to parade himself around town. It should be interesting how Stewart will treat Blagojevich, but if previous interviews are any indication, Stewart won't pull any punches -- and the interview will probably be too long to air, so you'll have to catch the full thing on the Daily Show (or if you're in Canada, the Comedy Network) website.

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (NBC)

• Mon 9/21: Ricky Gervais, "Chicken" Charlie Boghosian, Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Tue 9/22: Rebecca Romijn, Lisa Lampanelli, Monsters of Folk
• Wed 9/23: Martin Short, Tim Gunn, Wynonna
• Thu 9/24: Joel McHale, India.Arie
• Fri 9/25: Teri Hatcher, Seth MacFarlane, Rodrigo y Gabriela

The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)

• Mon 9/21: President Barack Obama
• Tue 9/22: Former President Bill Clinton, LeBron James
• Wed 9/23: Simon Baker, Mary J. Blige
• Thu 9/24: Craig Ferguson, Snow Patrol, a Top Ten List presented by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key
• Fri 9/25: Bruce Willis, LL Cool J

The Jay Leno Show (NBC)

• Mon 9/21: Jennifer Garner, Rep. Barney Frank
• Tue 9/22: Pee Wee Herman, Amy Poehler
• Wed 9/23: Vince Vaughn, Al Michaels, Bob Costas
• Thu 9/24: Rush Limbaugh, Smokey Robinson with Joss Stone
• Fri 9/25: Hugh Laurie, LeBron James

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

• Mon 9/21: Clive Owen, Joanna Garcia, Living Colour
• Tue 9/22: Seth Meyers, Chris Paul
• Wed 9/23: Amy Poehler, Dan Fogler, Parkour athletes
• Thu 9/24: Megan Fox, Anthony Anderson, Phoenix
• Fri 9/25: Julianna Margulies, Kevin Smith

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS)

• Mon 9/21: Marg Helgenberger, Dule Hill, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
• Tue 9/22: Reba McEntire, Dave Annable
• Wed 9/23: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ken Tucker, Arctic Monkeys
• Thu 9/24: Jason Schwartzman, Angela Kinsey
• Fri 9/25: Ted Danson, Christopher Miller & Phil Lord

Jimmy Kimmell Live (ABC)

• Mon 9/21: Robin Williams, Bobcat Goldthwait, Matt & Kim (Repeat)
• Tue 9/22: David Duchovny, Carmelo Anthony, Kid Cudi
• Wed 9/23: Courteney Cox, Jessica Capshaw, the first Dancing with the Stars castoff
• Thu 9/24: Rob Lowe, Lisa Lampanelli, pizza throwers Chris Green, Sam Niemeier and Ryan Larose
• Fri 9/25: LeBron James (with his high school basketball teammates Dru Joyce, Romeo Travis, Sian Cotton and Willie McGee), Esther Dean

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

• Mon 9/21: Former President Bill Clinton (Repeat)
• Tue 9/22: Vali Nasr
• Wed 9/23: Tom Ridge
• Thu 9/24: Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, CTV)

• Mon 9/21: The Flaming Lips (Repeat)
• Tue 9/22: Shai Agassi
• Wed 9/23: A.J. Jacobs
• Thu 9/24: Ken Burns

Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC)

• Mon 9/21: Alison Brie, Brian Deegan, Franz Ferdinand (Repeat)
• Tue 9/22: Stan Lee, Mat Kerney
• Wed 9/23: Ryan Friendlinghaus, Amazing Baby
• Thu 9/24: Mike Henry, Paolo Nutini
• Fri 9/25: Mekhi Phifer, Ladyhawke

Kevin Pollak's Chat Show (Online)

• Sun 9/27: Kevin Nealon (Weeds, Saturday Night Live)

Tags: The Tonight Show, Late Night, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Jimmy Kimmell, 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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