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May 26, 2012

I miss Craig Kilborn

by Bob Sassone, posted Sep 27th 2006 11:42AM

Vince Vaughn, Craig KilbornAnd before all of you Craig Ferguson fans yell and scream and throw tomatoes at your computer screen, let me add, I really like Ferguson! His opening monologue is 10 of the best minutes on TV every night.

Having said that, I still miss former Late, Late Show host Craig Kilborn. You know why? I didn't really realize until he was gone that he was doing something truly different on late night television. Sure, he was the irreverent wiseass, but the show also had a clear old school, retro, Rat Pack-ish vibe too. You sensed that in the guests he had (Merv Griffin was a favorite and he even went to parties at his home), the suits he wore, some of the segue music they played, and the references that he made. Even the set was like something out of a 50s or 60s movie.

And his regular bits! The news segment he did at the start of the show was consistently funny (better than SNL's Weekend Update has been in 10 years), and I really, really miss "Five Questions." And I miss Family Guy writer Alec Sulkin's appearances as the chain-smoking guy who came on and said that everything "sucked." And I miss Craig's faux-newspaper interviews backstage, "A Moment For Us," and his Dance, Dance, Dance!

You even sensed that his guests (like Vince Vaughn, another favorite) were doing something a little bit more when they were on, something more than just "I'm here to plug my new movie, TV show, or album."

I think Kilborn, like Letterman does, really made the show his own. He really jumped into it with all his Kilby-ness (Kilbornity?), and you either went for the ride and dug it when he looked out the fake window with the binoculers and had the conceited voiceover that congratulated him on his open and told him to walk over to his desk to get ready for the first guest, or you didn't. I did. I really, really did. And I miss this show a lot. Conan is pretty annoying in the same time slot over on NBC (the guy still doesn't know how to interview after all these years, and all his tics and mugging...ugh), and while Ferguson is good, he's not "have to stay up late and watch it" good.

Craig, if you're reading this, come back to television. Seriously.

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pmoshay

i miss him so much i have a google news alert to tell me about blog posts like this one. his news segment classic was the "...if from the if these walls could talk catagory..." then cuts to swinging wrecking balls crashing into a building ... and hearing wailing yeeeooowhow... !" i like ferguson, he's very original, and CK could get tiresome with all his models booked to flirt with... but he had lots of cool old school ENTERTAINERS on that you would NEVER see anywhere on TV these days... kind of like the OLD Letterman show having the likes of Brother Theodore on.

October 03 2006 at 3:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Adam Lorber

What up?, Yambo, and 5 questions were great. I miss Kilby too. Fergie does have a pretty funny monologue, and his interviews are great, but there was something about Kilby. I grew up watching him on SC, then on Daily Show, and then to CBS. His bits in movies are fine, but he doesn't seem to be making a career of it. I think it's time he comes back to TV where he belongs.

September 28 2006 at 12:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bernice

100% - Kilby was the best, and I miss him dearly too. And Yambo? 5 Questions? GGOD TIMES - craiggers come back!

September 28 2006 at 10:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
purpleslog

I thought "what up" was the most consistantly funny thing on TV.

September 27 2006 at 11:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MosquitoControl

I can cut and paste! =)

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I loved Kilborn on the Daily Show, but not his own show.

The Daily Show knew he was a goofy white guy that thought he was cool, and played to that a lot. It was very tongue-in-cheek, mocking that he was really a tool but thought he was god's gift to the world. The tone was perfect, and it was hysterical.

Somehow that got lost when he moved to his own show. Rather than it feeling like he was mocking himself for thinking he was cool, it just came across like he thought he was cool. The tongue-in-cheek aspect left.

I only watched his show a few times during the first year and never went back.
I've never seen Craig Ferguson.
And I haven't paid much attention to The Daily Show since he left, as I actually thought he was better than Stewart.

September 27 2006 at 6:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jim

Kilborn is nothing more than a game show host who caught a lucky break.

I have to admit, though, I really enjoyed the bits with the writer who thought everything "sucked."

September 27 2006 at 4:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Neil

what were the segments called with himself and 3 others discussing events?


I think it was called What Up. With mike gibbons, Goldie and a guest. The best one was when Danny DeVito said he wears a towel when he goes to a sauna because he doesn't want to sit in somebody else's "ass puddle"

September 27 2006 at 4:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Natrino

Didn't Kilborn also have movie poster reviews, where he reviewed the movie based on the poster, and what were the segments called with himself and 3 others discussing events?

September 27 2006 at 3:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Monty Montgomery

My wife and I were talking about this recently when we saw him playing the same characters in bit parts of The Shaggy Dog remake and Benchwarmers. He had a great thing going with Daily but had to go do late night. Then had a great thing going there but had to run off to do typecasted bit parts. He was great on the tube.

September 27 2006 at 2:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
r.r.r.

I miss craigers too. Not that I can't appreciate Ferguson, but Kilborn was funnier. I love the Morrisey episodes too. Kilborn worshiped Morrisey! Along with when Kilborn use to shamelessly promote Old School and how all those guys were hysterical together. Never again though. *tear*

September 27 2006 at 2:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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