Entertainment for Insomniacs
Created | Updated Jul 22, 2004
Egon- watching late night television so you don't have to.
One of the many things I love about American televsion, along with The West Wing, and most of the best sitcoms of the last fifteen years, is the tradition of house bands on chat shows.
Now, classic British chat show Parkinson does have an orchestra, but they are more of a faceless classical ensemble than a friendly house band. The ill-fated BBC Three show Johnny Vaughan Tonight did feature a house band, led by Sunderland lass and Kenickie lead singer Lauren Laverne, but the show is now no more, largely because it was crap.
The two US examples I admire are the two shows we get most on Freeview digital over hear in the UK- The Late Show with Letterman (ITV2) and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Ftn).
The purpose of these bandleaders is beyond purely providing music, which any bunch of session musicians could do. They are also sidekicks, a part of the attraction.
Letterman's house band, The CBS Orchestra1, led by bald, sunglass-wearing Canadian pianist Paul Schaeffer. Schaeffer's music introducing different sections of the show are quirky, fitting the title of pre-interview segments into jazzy tunes which don't really match the lyrics. He is also used as a straight man for Letterman to involve in the set ups of gags, and the show really would be poorer without him, or someone filling the role as well. Schaeffer and the CBS Orchestra also sometimes have guests sitting in with them - Rod Stewart, for example, has provided guest vocals in the past.
Leno's band, The Tonight Show Band2 is led by terminally-laid back guitarist Kevin Eubanks. Eubanks' funky ensemble seem to take the job of music more seriously than Schaeffer and co - the Tonight Show's female vocalist has a more powerful and tuneful voice than Schaeffer's weak whine, and the tunes are more fleshed out than Schaeffer's jingles. Eubanks does also, like Schaeffer, act as a stooge for Leno to bounce gags off, and if Leno makes a particularly poor gag, or one which goes down badly, Eubanks will always point it out.
In British television, I mentioned that Johny Vaughan's ill-fated show had a band led by the excellent Lauren Laverne, who was in fact the only good thing about the show. Friday Night with Jonathan Ross also teeters into the territory of a house band, utilising three gay vocalists and a gay pianist, under the name Four Poufs and a Piano. But no one member of the band really has any chemistry with Ross, who tends to dominate his show, while Lenoa and Letterman are prepared to give their bands, and their guests, space to be a genuine part of the show, the self-centered Ross is much less accommodating.
I always wonder at the inability of British television to grasp the nightly chatshow format - camp Irish comic Graham Norton did host a nightly show for a couple of months on Channel Four before it was cancelled, Vaughan's show lasted a few months and was thrice weekly, as was the legendary Wogan show of the late 80s and early 90s. The best nightly chat show was in the early years of Channel 5, when Scottish comedian Jack Docherty hosted The Jack Docherty show. And, when he was on holiday, Graham Norton hosted Not the Jack Docherty Show. In fact, Not The Jack Docherty Show once beat The Jack Docherty Show to a British Comedy Award. When Norton appeared on The Tonight Show some months ago, he related that tale and Leno responded 'That's why I don't have guest hosts'.
The nightly chat show, as practised by Leno and Letterman, is an artform - they both open with a monologue and their own quirky features. The monologue is just really a stand-up routine about the days news, up to the first break. Then on to the features, Letterman's including the legendary 'Top Ten', which is always linked to the day's news. For example, recently we've seen 'The Top Ten Things Heard At The I, Robot Premiere', and 'The Top Ten Ways To Tell Dick Cheney Will Be Dropped From The Presidential Ticket'. He also has dumb games such as 'Will It Float' and throwing things of roofs and fixed audience quizzes.
My favourite Leno segment is Tuesday Night (Monday in the US) when we see 'Headlines', which is basically just ten minutes of Leno pointing out misprinted, inaccurate or easily misconstrued newspaper stories. The British comedy quiz The News Quiz, and magazine Private Eye have the same feature but it never ceases to be amusing.
After the segments it's onto chat with people who're generally promoting something. Chats can be interesting but can also cause one to turn off or fall asleep. However, the chances of hearing a genuinely funny anecdote or gaining an insight into someone's life are high enough to justify watching. Leno had a fascinating interview with tennis player Maria Sharapova last week.
Both shows then close with music by a band with a current album out. And this is five nights a week. And it somehow doesn't get boring.
You know, I'm sure I was going to go somewhere with all this and have some great conclusion, but I haven't. So I'll just say 'Watch The Tonight Show, weeknights at 12.50 on Ftn and The Late Show, weeknights at 1.30 on ITV2.'
Next Week: Teleshopping, and Pages from Ceefax
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