Late night guest line-ups: September 28-October 4

First and foremost, we've set up a domain name for you to more simply get to the late night listings every week: LateNightGuests.com. Hit up that domain name and you're immediately taken to the Late Night Guest Line-ups section of ShowbizMonkeys.com.

As for the shows and their guests this week, The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos returns on CBC up here in Canada, but only a few of the guests are listed on their website for this week. Things are also up in the air with The Tonight Show. Conan returns to hopefully tape a new show Monday after injuring his head during a stunt midway through Friday's taping (they ended up showing a repeat), but several slots seem unfilled for the week, including most of Thursday and Friday.

See below for my Top 5 picks, the complete listings (that are available), and of course last week's Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, which features musicians Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova in Part 1, and writer/director Jane Campion in Part 2.

  • Larry David (Friday on Letterman) - Larry David doesn't make many television appearances (besides his own amazing HBO show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, of course). A little while back he was on both The Tonight Show and The Daily Show in the same week, but besides that, I can't think of the last time I saw him on a talk show. Seeing as how he's one of the most brilliant comedy minds around today, seeing his crazy, neurotic self is always a good time.
  • Jenna Fischer (Friday on Leno) - I probably could've picked anyone from The Office making a TV appearance this week. Steve Carell is on Jay on Wednesday, while former Late Night with Conan O'Brien intern John Krasinski makes his first appearance on Conan's Tonight Show on Tuesday. But neither of those are as cute -- in every sense of the word -- as Jenna Fischer. She always has hilarious stories, and despite being in the spotlight for over 5 years now, still seems to be insanely down-to-earth (if you've ever read her MySpace blog, you'd already know this).
  • Patton Oswalt (Tuesday on Conan) - Patton Oswalt is a hilarious stand-up comedian and frequent Conan guest, who just so happens to be one of the best and funniest storytellers around. He has a new dark comedy out in limited release, The Fan, which is getting a lot of buzz from pretty much anyone who's seen it. Hopefully that will increase his fanbase, even though most people have heard him without even realizing it (he was the voice of Remy in Ratatouille).
  • Michael J. Fox (Monday on Strombo) - Michael J. Fox, who is one of the most fascinating and courageous people in show business, will be sitting down with George for the full hour (minus the news stories at the top of the show, I imagine), and who knows where the conversation will go. With George daring to go where most interviewers won't (especially in late night, but even amongst the "serious" newspeople), it should be insightful and open and probably pretty funny, too. It should be a great start to the 6th season of The Hour. (Americans with no access to CBC can catch the best clips from the show on the show's website or its YouTube channel.)
  • Richard Dawkins (Thursday on Colbert, Tuesday on Strombo) - It's always fun when Stephen Colbert gets to truly play up his character and his "crazy right-wing nut" version of Christianity and Catholicism. And the best time for this to happen is when prominent atheists, of which there is none more prominent than Dawkins, appear on his show. Even better is that the real Colbert is also a Sunday School-teaching Catholic himself, so you know there's a tiny bit of his real opinions peeking through amongst all that snark. The interview on The Hour should be much more interesting, but probably less entertaining.

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (NBC)

  • Mon 9/28: Drew Barrymore, jockey Joe Talamo, Paramore
  • Tue 9/29: Patton Oswalt, John Krasinski, Quinn Dahle
  • Wed 9/30: Kate Walsh, Brad Paisley
  • Thu 10/01: Michael Moore
  • Fri 10/02: Joshua Bell with Tiempo Libre

The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)

  • Mon 9/28: Felicity Huffman, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Avett Brothers
  • Tue 9/29: Kelsey Grammer, Alyson Hannigan, Miranda Lambert
  • Wed 9/30: Madonna, Harry Connick Jr.
  • Thu 10/01: Woody Harrelson, Kim Kardashian, Tom Russell
  • Fri 10/02: Larry David

The Jay Leno Show (NBC)

  • Mon 9/28: Bill Maher, Brad Paisley & Sheryl Crow
  • Tue 9/29: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Billy Crystal
  • Wed 9/30: Adam Carolla, Steve Carell, Vince Gill & Emmylou Harris
  • Thu 10/01: Chris Rock
  • Fri 10/02: Jenna Fischer

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

  • Mon 9/28: David Duchovny, Kimbo Slice, Dirty Projectors
  • Tue 9/29: Jude Law, Felicia Day, Sunny Day Real Estate
  • Wed 9/30: Dennis Hopper, Amy Brenneman, Owen Benjamin
  • Thu 10/01: Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Miranda Lambert
  • Fri 10/02: Drew Barrymore, Tim Schafer

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS)

  • Mon 9/28: Chris O'Donnell, Paula Poundstone
  • Tue 9/29: James Spader, Cobie Smulders, Laura Isobar
  • Wed 9/30: Jenna Elfman, Dom Irrera
  • Thu 10/01: Patricia Arquette, Dominic Cooper
  • Fri 10/02: Tim Gunn, Cathy Ladman, Lynyrd Skynyrd

Jimmy Kimmell Live (ABC)

  • Mon 9/28: Courteney Cox, Jessica Capshaw, Dancing with the Stars castoff Ashley Hamilton (Repeat)
  • Tue 9/29: Ricky Gervais, the latest Dancing with the Stars castoff, Alice in Chains
  • Wed 9/30: Rebecca Romijn, Joseph Fiennes, Alice in Chains
  • Thu 10/01: Hayden Panettiere, Matthew Rhys, Joss Stone
  • Fri 10/02: Woody Harrelson, Shinedown

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

  • Mon 9/28: Bruce Bueno De Mesquita
  • Tue 9/29: Ron Paul
  • Wed 9/30: Jon Krakauer
  • Thu 10/01: Joy Behar

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, CTV)

  • Mon 9/28: Sheryl WuDunn
  • Tue 9/29: Matt Latimer
  • Wed 9/30: Richard Dawkins
  • Thu 10/01: Dr. Francis Collins

Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC)

  • Mon 9/28: Jesse Metcalfe, Caleb Aero, Metric (Repeat)
  • Tue 9/29: Tucker Max, Naked Girls, Wild Light
  • Wed 9/30: Chris Pratt, Ted Ligety, the Like
  • Thu 10/01: Jennifer Morrison, Zane Lamprey, Arctic Monkeys
  • Fri 10/02: Emmanuelle Chriqui

The Hour with George Stroumboloupoulos (CBC)

  • Mon 9/28: Micheal J. Fox (full hour)
  • Tue 9/29: Richard Dawkins, Drew Barrymore
  • Wed 9/30: Michael Moore
  • Thu 10/01: Clive Owen

Kevin Pollak's Chat Show (Online)

  • Sun 10/04: Lisa Loeb (singer/songwriter)

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)

Original Comments Posted (3)

Ariana says...

Jenna Fischer is in no way, shape or form cuter than John Krasinski; are you crazy?

Sep 28, 2009 5:51pm

metal2000 says...

No, I'm not crazy! The way she still talks so fondly of cheap but extremely helpful household items, or about how much she loves Target, is adorable. And that's not even covering her external cute factor.

Krasinski's great and all -- tall and funny, I get it -- but cute? I don't think so! :P

Sep 28, 2009 11:57pm

sarahm says...

I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to go with Ariana on this one. John Krasinki is def. the cutest on The Office.

Sep 30, 2009 7:03pm

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