Hey, remember when talk show hosts were suave, sophisticated jerks? Oh, I do. Letterman kind of started the trend with his behavior on his show, but it was elevated to an art form with a host that only I seem to enjoy immensely – Craig Kilborn.Of course, I was first exposed to Craiggers during his three-year stint as a Sportscenter anchor, from 1993 to 1996. It was at this point that he made his mark with his snark and smooth, smooth personality. There are still some of his This Is Sportscenter commercials floating around on YouTube, and they are still hilarious to me.
However, the reason why I'm writing this post is because of his work on The Daily Show. I recently stumbled across some random episodes of his on a long-lost CDR I had, and I realize I had forgotten what a silly, funny and random man he could be. Yes, he always had a bit of a smug air about him, but in reflection it was a kind of 1990s and early 2000s perversion of the attitude from the 1970s that would later be made popular by Anchorman.
The standout bit from Kilborn's time on The Daily Show was Five Questions, which was in every interview segment, and Kilborn transported it over to The Late Late Show with him. Random celebrities getting asked random quiz questions was always entertaining to me, especially on the rare occasions when they got all five right – or wrong. The Daily Show under Kilborn definitely had more of a bent toward entertainment news and celebrity gossip, and it was far less focused on politics.
Likewise, The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder reflected the sensibilities of its host at the time. It had a bit of a monologue, yes, but no skits really, and it had long interview segments instead. When Kilborn took over, he brought Five Questions with him, along with other bits like the Unnecessary Zoom. I found this to be the punchiest, zippiest verson of The Late Late Show, and although Craig Ferguson is good, I consider him closer to Snyder then Kilby.
Unfortunately for me and everyone else, Kilborn has kind of fallen off the face of the Earth since leaving his post on CBS. This site says that he was in Minnesota and had a beard, which is cool. He also had a nifty little part in Old School, as the sleazy boyfriend of Ellen Pompeo. “Okay. Good talk. I'll see you out there.”
The picture of Craig is from this site.
I can't explain why, but I used to love the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. There was something about his particular sense of humour that made it a fun show to watch, and watch much different than anything else on late night television at the time.
ReplyDeleteFirst Kilborn, now Conan. *single tear*
I totally agree with you Ian. The dude was just odd and quirky. I think that's why a guy like Letterman had him as his B-show for several years, and I thought he was just hitting his stride when he decided to leave.
ReplyDeleteConan was always more popular, but Conan was always his own thing too. Also, Conan's interviewing skills are weak, so I would always switch over to Kilborn for his guest, even though the guest wasn't anything special a lot of the time.
Same here Steve - I liked Conan's monlogue and bits, but his interviews were (and still are) a little lackluster. I always enjoyed Kilborn's 5 Questions - that was one of the reasons I tuned in!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Conan is only as good as the person he's interviewing. If it is Tom Hanks or Shatner or someone else silly, he's great. If it's some reality show person, forget it. I think the best interviewer is Jimmy Kimmel, who has managed to get interesting segments out of Paris Hilton and Lauren Conrad, of all people.
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