Late night talk show guests: May 10-16

So did any of you watch the 60 Minutes with Conan O'Brien last Sunday? There wasn't anything particularly revelatory in the interview, though it was nice to see that he could still find the levity in the situation and realize that while the whole Tonight Show/NBC push-out sucked for him, it wasn't the end of the world. (It would've been nice for him to mention how it definitely affected his moderately-paid staff, though it's very possible he did and it was cut from the interview.)

What else is new in the world of late night? Well, this week is Rolling Stones week on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where every musical guest (Green Day, Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow, and Phish) will be performing Stones covers in celebration of the re-release of Exile on Main St., hitting stores next week. It even includes a "screening" of the documentary Stones in Exile on Friday, though the fact the film is over 2 hours long means it'll likely just be a bunch of clips. The fact that I don't really like or care about the Rolling Stones makes me not put this in my "recommended" list for the week, but if you do happen to be a Stones fan, you probably aren't going to want to miss any of this week's Late Night shows.

Speaking of my recommendations, do any of you actually read/follow my suggestions for what not to miss every week? And if you do, do you bother with my explanations? I love being able to suggest all these great guests for you, our wonderful readers, but if you'd rather I just stick to the basic listings rather than my ongoing rambling, I can certainly do that. So chime in!

In the meantime, here are my picks for this week:

  • Will Forte (Tuesday on Letterman) – If you didn't know by now, I absolutely cannot wait for MacGruber, which hits theatres May 21st! Last month I did an interview with director Jorma Taccone, which only increased my anticipation for this movie. Forte, who co-wrote the movie along with starring in it, is one of the funniest (and most underrated) people on the planet, yet the only talk shows I've seen him on have been the 2 Late Nights (Conan's and Fallon's). He may have been on Letterman before, but I haven't seen it, so I'm looking forward to seeing his interaction with Dave.
  • Ryan Phillippe (Thursday on Kimmel) – And since we're talking about MacGruber, why not check out the crazy action-comedy's most unlikely co-star, Ryan Phillippe, on Jimmy Kimmel Live? Even before the movie comes out, he showed he can handle comedy by hosting SNL a couple weeks back. I've always liked him as a serious actor (if any of you haven't yet seen the film Stop-Loss, you definitely need to check it out), but it'll be fun to see him in such a ridiculous movie.
  • Robert Downey, Jr. (Thursday on Ferguson) – Sure, Downey's already made the rounds on most of the talk shows the last couple weeks, but now that Iron Man 2 has made a gagillion dollars, I'm excited to see him stop by The Late Late Show for what is sure to be an interesting and entertaining chat. I always love it when the smart, quick-on-their-feet personalities visit Craig, because they can match wits and put on some great television.
  • Jenna Fischer (Wednesday on Letterman)The Office may not even be the best comedy on NBC's Thursday night line-up anymore (in fact, I might even rank it 4th), but that doesn't mean the show isn't still pretty great. And Jenna Fischer is still as awesome and adorable as ever.
  • Bryan Cranston (Wednesday on Ferguson) – Have you seen our Breaking Bad feature yet? Do you watch the show? I actually don't myself (I watch more than 40 shows regularly throughout the year, so I can't get to everything!) but I do really like Bryan Cranston whenever he makes an appearance anywhere. While he's got 2 Emmys for his serious dramatic role in Breaking Bad, he's also a ridiculously funny guy with a background in improv.

The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)

  • Mon 05/10: Evangeline Lilly, Sam Rockwell, American Idol castoff Aaron Kelly, a performance by the Broadway cast of Million Dollar Quartet
  • Tue 05/11: Queen Latifah, Will Forte, MGMT
  • Wed 05/12: Michael Keaton, Jenna Fischer
  • Thu 05/13: Alec Baldwin, The National
  • Fri 05/14: Mike Myers, Tom Dreesen

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC)

  • Mon 05/10: Laura Bush, Donald Trump, Limp Bizkit
  • Tue 05/11: Amanda Seyfried, Guy Fieri, Luke Bryan
  • Wed 05/12: Betty White, Macy Gray
  • Thu 05/13: Garry Shandling, Ellie Kemper, Jakob Dylan
  • Fri 05/14: The Jonas Brothers

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS)

  • Mon 05/10: Russell Crowe, Wilco
  • Tue 05/11: Melina Kanakaredes, Tom Lennon, Jonsi
  • Wed 05/12: Bryan Cranston, Angela Kinsey
  • Thu 05/13: Robert Downey Jr., Dave Barry
  • Fri 05/14: Amanda Seyfried, Isabel Allende

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

  • Mon 05/10: Kristen Wiig, Green Day, Taj Mahal
  • Tue 05/11: Evangeline Lilly, Kenan Thompson, Keith Urban, Mike McCready
  • Wed 05/12: Queen Latifah, Sheryl Crow, Chuck Leavell
  • Thu 05/13: Sam Rockwell, Phish, Dr. John
  • Fri 05/14: A screening of Stones in Exile

Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)

  • Mon 05/10: Don Cheadle, Geoff Stults, Crash Kings
  • Tue 05/11: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the latest Dancing with the Stars castoff, Michael Bolton
  • Wed 05/12: Dr. Phil McGraw, Landon Donovan, B.o.B.
  • Thu 05/13: Ryan Phillippe, Beth Ostrosky Stern, Dirty Heads
  • Fri 05/14: Julie Bowen, Craig Robinson, Dr. Dog (Repeat)

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

  • Mon 05/10: Jack Rakove
  • Tue 05/11: Sebastian Junger
  • Wed 05/12: Michael Patrick King
  • Thu 05/13: Ian Bremmer

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, CTV)

  • Mon 05/10: Gov. Gary Johnson
  • Tue 05/11: Hampton Sides
  • Wed 05/12: Deepak Chopra
  • Thu 05/13: The Hold Steady

Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC)

  • Mon 05/10: Mark Duplass, Marina Orlova, Wild Light (Repeat)
  • Tue 05/11: Jared Harris
  • No dates yet, but other guests this week are Aubrey Plaza, Ellie Kemper, Diablo Cody, Phoenix, and Kate Nash

Lopez Tonight (TBS)

  • Mon 05/10: Taraji P. Henson, Bruno Tonioli, George Wallace (Repeat)
  • Tue 05/11: Jennifer Lopez, Ken Jeong, Ozomatli (Repeat)
  • Wed 05/12: Chris Rock, Oscar De La Hoya, Sugar Shane Mosley, Slash (Repeat)
  • Thu 05/13: Zoe Saldana, Columbus Short, William Shatner, Lowell Sanders, Lin Yu Chun (Repeat)

The Hour with George Stroumboloupoulos (CBC)

  • Mon 04/19: David Suzuki, Bruce Greenwood
  • Tue 04/20: Slash, Enrico Colantoni, Jamie Farr (Repeat Guests)
  • Wed 04/21: TBD (depends on NHL Playoffs)
  • Thu 04/22: TBD (depends on NHL Playoffs)
  • Fri 04/23: Cyprus Hill, Danny Bhoy, Bruce Greenwood (Repeat Guests)

Kevin Pollak's Chat Show (Online)

  • Sun 04/25 (3pm PST): Jason & Randy Sklar (hilarious comedy duo The Sklar Brothers)

Tags: David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Hour, 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 (1)

crimson says...

Paul, I know you're in love with Jenna Fischer!

May 12, 2010 1:00pm

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