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Posts tagged as the war for late night

war for late night 2014

What Moving 'The Tonight Show' Will Mean for New York's Comedy Scene

by | March 21st, 2013

As we reported yesterday, it seems Jimmy Fallon is set to take over for Jay Leno on The Tonight Show next year, and even more interestingly, move the show back to its birthplace of New York City. The show has been based in LA since 1972, when Johnny Carson felt that moving to the Hollywood would bring more big-name guests to the show, as well as a more laidback lifestyle for himself. It's a huge shift for one of America's most iconic TV shows, and the ripples will be felt throughout the industry.

Most obviously, this move is symbolic, an affirmation that comedy falls under New York's purview. But practically [...]

Conan

The Ballad Of Mean Conan: Conan Can't Stop Premieres At SXSW

by | March 11th, 2011

Over the course of the epic Late Night debacle, we got a glimpse of an angrier, more cynical Conan O'Brien than we'd ever suspected could live inside that jovial exterior and those puppet-string hips. Luckily for us, the trajectory of Conan's rage was recorded for posterity in Rodman Flender's Conan Can't Stop documentary, debuting at South by Southwest on Sunday. Filmed over the course of his 32-stop Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour, be prepared to see Conan snap at his wife, serenade Jack McBrayer with little ditty called "You Stupid Hick," and yes, compare himself only half-jokingly to Anne Frank. "I certainly won’t go through [...]

Team Coco

Inside the Collapse of Conan's Tonight Show

by | October 28th, 2010

Vanity Fair has an excerpt from New York Times media reporter and author of The Late Shift Bill Carter's upcoming book on the Leno/Conan Tonight Show debacle, The War for Late Night. It's an incredible inside look at exactly what happened during the tumultuous battle for the show, and based on this excerpt, the book is going to be essential reading. Here's Conan deciding to write his "People of the World" letter:

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