Late night talk show guests: January 31-February 6

Posted by: Paul Little  •  January 31, 2011 @ 4:10pm

It's a brand new week and February's right around the corner! How are all my fellow late night talk show fans doing?

Once again, there's not too much to discuss in the late night game. Conan's ratings have been solid if not spectacular, keeping up with the cable competition of The Daily Show while a bit behind Leno and Letterman on network TV. TBS still seems happy, so as long as he keeps putting out good television every night, I'm happy, too. And speaking of good television, both Stewart and Colbert did some great work last week following President Obama's State of the Union speech (and especially Michelle Bachmann's Tea Party rebuttal).

Anyway, you come here for a list of the guests, and so I'll get to that. This week has quite a few must-sees, and here are the Top 5:

• Dr. Cornel West (Tuesday on Ferguson) - I love me some Cornel West. Smart, passionate, compelling, and caring, he's easy to like and hard not to listen to. I've seen him many times on Colbert and Real Time with Bill Maher, but a few weeks ago he was on with Craig and it seemed like the Scotsman was surprised with what he got. That's why he's back again so soon, and this time as the main guest, so expect a fascinating conversation.
• Nick Offerman (Tuesday on Conan) - Offerman is one of the funniest guys on television today. His character on Parks & Recreation is absolutely hysterical, and from my understanding, several of his traits are taken from Offerman himself. He's been overlooked for Supporting Actor awards these last couple seasons, but with P&R jumping out of the gate with a fury a couple weeks ago (both creatively and in the ratings), here's hoping he gets some recognition.
• Michael Steele (Tuesday on Stewart) - While Michael Steele was running the Republican National Committee, Stewart couldn't get him on the show. And after many references to how Steele looked "exactly like" the muppet being waited on by a careless Grover in many episodes of Sesame Street, The Daily Show began bringing out their own puppet version of Steele to partake in Q&A's with Stewart. I wonder what the real Steele thinks of this?
• Matthew Bomer (Monday on Kimmel) - USA Network's White Collar is a fun, interesting procedural which, like most other USA shows has a decent mythology story going forward, too. But one of the main reasons to love the show is Bomer, whose character Neil is stylish, intelligent, and just enough of a bad boy to be appealing to both genders. The real guy behind the character also seems like a pretty cool guy from his many interviews, and should be a good guest on Kimmel.
• Zach Braff (Wednesday on Strombo) - I'm unabashedly a Zach Braff fan. Scrubs is one of my favourite television shows of all time. Garden State is one of my favourite movies. I owe a lot of my musical discoveries over the last half a dozen years to suggestions originally made by Mr. Braff. Most recently, he starred as a less-than-ideal character in Canadian director Deborah Chow's The High Cost of Living.

The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)

• Mon 01/31: Justin Bieber, Pauley Perrette, Best Coast
• Tue 02/01: Matthew Perry, Chris Elliott, a Top Ten List presented by Mitt Romney, the National
• Wed 02/02: Kate Walsh, Jim Gaffigan, Boxer Rebellion
• Thu 02/03: Howard Stern, Naughty By Nature
• Fri 02/04: Martha Stewart, a Top Ten List presented by Justin Bieber, Robert Plant

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC)

• Mon 01/31: Adam Sandler, Larry the Cable Guy, Esperanza Spalding
• Tue 02/01: Helena Bonham Carter, Timothy Olyphant, One eskimO
• Wed 02/02: Matt LeBlanc, Jennifer Lawrence, Ryan Bingham
• Thu 02/03: Jeff Bridges, Dianna Agron, Bobby Long
• Fri 02/04: Hugh Laurie, Hailee Steinfeld, Finesse Mitchell

Conan (TBS, CTV)

• Mon 01/31: Amy Poehler, Tim Heidecker & Eric Wareheim, Randy Rogers Band
• Tue 02/01: Jennifer Aniston, Nick Offerman, Peter, Bjorn & John
• Wed 02/02: Kobe Bryant, Camilla Belle, Jamie Kilstein
• Thu 02/03: Lisa Kudrow, Mike O'Malley, Interpol

Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)

• Mon 01/31: Julianna Margulies, Matthew Bomer, the JaneDear Girls
• Tue 02/01: Jamie Foxx, Sarah Shahi
• Wed 02/02: David Arquette, Jonathan Winters, Tinie Tempah
• Thu 02/03: Kim Kardashian, Balthazar Getty
• Fri 02/04: TBA (Repeat)

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS)

• Mon 01/31: Rachael Ray
• Tue 02/01: Dr. Cornel West, George Clinton
• Wed 02/02: Jim Parsons, Kurt Metzger
• Thu 02/03: Matt LeBlanc, David Pogue
• Fri 02/04: Matt Lucas

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

• Mon 01/31: Bill Paxton, Adam Scott, Edie Brickell
• Tue 02/01: Ice Cube, Leighton Meester, Todd Rundgren
• Wed 02/02: Samuel L. Jackson, Larry the Cable Guy, Phantogram
• Thu 02/03: Dana Carvey, Minka Kelly, Ricky Martin
• Fri 02/04: Kate Walsh, Rob Brydon

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

• Mon 01/31: Bill Gates
• Tue 02/01: Michael Steele
• Wed 02/02: Matthew Perry
• Thu 02/03: Adm. Michael Mullen

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, CTV)

• Mon 01/31: Samer Shehata, Dr. Paul Offit
• Tue 02/01: Leslie Dach, Michael Lewis
• Wed 02/02: Sean Kelly
• Thu 02/03: Jane McGonigal

Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC)

• Mon 01/31: Lemmy Kilmister, Ryan Case, Delta Spirit
• Tue 02/01: Holt McCallany, Plan B, Interpol
• Wed 02/02: Rich Eisen, Meltdown Comedy, Screaming Females
• Thu 02/03: Nate Corddry, Troupe Vertigo, Off!
• Fri 02/04: T.J. Miller, J. Ralph, A Perfect Circle (Repeat)

Lopez Tonight (TBS)

• Mon 01/31: Jamie Foxx, Jake Johnson
• Tue 02/01: DeSean Jackson, the Thermals
• Wed 02/02: Mindy Kaling, Derek Fisher, Jasper Redd, Arturo Sandoval
• Thu 02/03: Billy Gardell, Rachel Bilson, OK Go

George Stroumboloupoulos Tonight (CBC)

• Mon 01/31: Annie Duke
• Tue 02/01: Zach Braff
• Wed 02/02: Stewart Townsend
• Thu 02/03: Vanilla Ice
• Fri 02/04: Mark Hertsgaard, Mystery Jets

Kevin Pollak's Chat Show (Online)

• Sat 02/05: Mythbusters' Adam Savage (Live from SF Sketchfest)

Tags: Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, George Stroumboloupoulos, 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...

Of all the places to find Vanilla Ice turn up...

Jan 31, 2011 5:15pm

Comments Posted ()