Last Call with Carson Daly is an American
late nightLate night television in the United States is the block of television programming airing after 11:00 pm and usually through 2:00 am. Traditionally, this type of programming airs after the late local news and is most notable for being the daypart used for a particular genre of programming that falls...
talk showA talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
that is broadcast on
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. The show is hosted by
Carson DalyCarson Jones Daly is an American television host. He is the host of NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, a late-night talk show that began airing on January 7, 2002. Before his role as host of that program, Daly was a VJ on MTV's TRL, and a DJ for the Southern California based radio station KROQ-FM...
, the half-hour show featuring celebrity interviews, documentary-style coverage of a topic, and musical performances.
Last Call airs weeknights at 1:35 a.m. Eastern / 12:35 a.m.
CentralIn North America, the Central Time Zone refers to national time zones which observe standard time by subtracting six hours from UTC , and daylight saving, or summer time by subtracting five hours...
, currently the latest of the major networks' late night talk shows. It also airs weeknights a second time on the cable channel
FuseFuse is an American national television network dedicated exclusively to music. It features original series and specials, exclusive interviews, live concerts and video blocks....
.
In 2003 and 2004,
Last Call was nominated for a Teen Choice Award for "Choice TV Show - Late Night".
2002–2006
Last Call premiered in 2002 as the successor to
LaterLater was a nightly half hour-long talk show that ran on NBC from 1988 until 2001. Later typically aired for half an hour at 1:30 a.m. following Late Night with David Letterman from 1988 to 1993, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2001...
.
Last Call initially aired Monday through Thursday until the cancellation of
Late Friday in the summer of 2002.
Last Call was originally taped in Studio 8H of the
GE BuildingThe GE Building is an Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the midtown Manhattan section of New York City. Known as the RCA Building until 1988, it is most famous for housing the headquarters of the television network NBC...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, which was also the home studio of
Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. However, this required the producers to work around the schedule of
Saturday Night Live. During this phase,
Last Call had no
house bandFor the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...
and no jokes or monologue, going straight to the first guest at the beginning of the show. The stage was black and empty, save for two low-slung chairs and a small table. Each week, a different unsigned band was brought in to do the music, in addition to any musical act at the end. Gradually, the set acquired more furnishings and decor, much of which was influenced by the occasional week-long trips to
Las VegasLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
.
Last Call was originally planned to broadcast in
high-definitionHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
when Studio 8H was retrofitted for
Saturday Night Live; however, instead, the show was relocated to
Los AngelesLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in September 2005, and continued to air in
standard-definitionSorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...
. After the move,
Last Call began to resemble its counterparts, with a more traditional set, permanent house band led by
Joe FirstmanJoe Firstman is an American adult alternative rock musician. Former musical director for Carson Daly's house band on Last Call with Carson Daly on NBC. His latest release was 2010's "Live at The Treehouse".-Early life:...
, short monologue and occasional comedy bits.
2007
Production of new
Last Call episodes was suspended for a month due to the
Writers Guild of America strikeThe 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
, but on December 4, 2007,
Last Call became the first late night talk show to resume production during the strike. On air, Daly explained that the only reason the show resumed production was that he was given the option to either return or have the show's 75 non-striking staff members fired. The shows were not scripted and did not include monologues. The
Writers Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
(WGA) was critical of Daly, accusing him of crossing picket lines and labeling him a scab. Daly is not a member of the WGA.
On November 27, 2007, he was accused by the WGA of soliciting jokes for his show through a telephone hotline.
On December 11, 2007, an organized group of WGA writers attended a taping of
Last Call. First, one heckled during an interview with
Jerry RiceJerry Lee Rice is a retired American football wide receiver. He is generally regarded as the greatest wide receiver of all time and one of the greatest players in National Football League history...
. After security removed the first writer, another spoke up disruptively, expressing sympathy with striking writers. A producer asked anyone planning to disrupt the show to leave or face prosecution; between five and twenty left.
2009
As the end of
Late Night with Conan O'BrienLate Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
was approaching, Daly made it public that he was interested in moving to the
Late Night time slot.
Jimmy FallonJames Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC...
was chosen to replace O'Brien, a choice that executive producer
Lorne MichaelsLorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...
had in mind dating back to the day that Fallon left
Saturday Night Live in 2004Saturday Night Live aired its twenty-ninth season during the 2003–04 television season on NBC. The twenty-ninth season began on October 4, 2003 and ended on May 15, 2004 with 20 episodes in all....
.
In February 2009, network executive Rick Ludwin told
TV WeekTV Week is a weekly television magazine in Australia, first published as a Melbourne-only publication in December 1957 , and bearing a strong affiliation to television station GTV.The publication is still publishing weekly...
that the company was currently "going through the budgetary process with all of our shows. There are new budgetary realities. … It’s tough. We want to keep [Carson] going as long as we can make the budget work." Soon after that interview, NBC announced plans for
Last Call to go on a one week "tour" of California, with taped segments of up-and-coming musical acts at various clubs, such as The Roxy, The Viper Room, and
Hotel CafeThe Hotel Café is a live music venue located off an alley on the Cahuenga Boulevard strip in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that has become known for helping to establish the careers of new singer-songwriters in the 2000s...
. As the show's 1000th episode approached in April, NBC's summary of the show made it clear that the change in format would continue:
- Currently in its eighth season, NBC's "Last Call with Carson Daly" utilizes a new style by introducing a documentary style format. Host Carson Daly gets out of the studio and takes the show on location each night. Recent highlights include Daly’s motorcycle trip across the historic Route 66, a visit to comedian Tom Green's house in the Hollywood Hills, and a scene at the Whiskey Bar with the Grammy Award-winning band Kings of Leon.
With the change, the usual late-night talk show trappings of a house band, studio audience, and comedy were abandoned. In May, NBC announced that Last Call had been renewed for a ninth season, which debuted on September 21, 2009.
2010
On January 8, 2010, it was reported by multiple media outlets that
The Jay Leno ShowThe Jay Leno Show is an American comedy show created by and starring Jay Leno, that aired from September 14, 2009 to February 9, 2010 on NBC following the May 29, 2009 conclusion of Leno's first tenure as host of The Tonight Show...
was moving to 11:35 p.m.,
The Tonight ShowThe Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
to 12:05 a.m.,
Late Night with Jimmy FallonLate Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman....
to 1:05, which would result in
Last Call losing its timeslot (as NBC did not include plans to move
Poker After DarkPoker After Dark was an hour-long poker television program on NBC. The show made its debut on January 1, 2007, and was cancelled as another victim of the "Black Friday" criminal case due to the show's sponsorship by Full Tilt Poker, one of that case's defendants. on September 23, 2011 For its first...
, the show that currently follows
Last Call in some markets, to a later slot). NBC confirmed the move, along with the possible end of
Last Call. NBC has repeatedly emphasized that its focus is retaining the lineup of Leno,
Tonight and Fallon. NBC chairman Jeff Gaspin told
ABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
he expected Daly to stay with the network "in some fashion", but did not elaborate.
On January 9, after the lineup changes were first rumored in the press, Daly made an unannounced stop on
Jimmy Kimmel LiveJimmy Kimmel Live! is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and broadcast on ABC.The nightly hour-long show made its debut on January 26, 2003, following Super Bowl XXXVII. Jimmy Kimmel Live! is produced by Jackhole Productions in association with ABC Studios...
, appearing from the crowd during an audience Q&A session with Kimmel. Daly jokingly asked, "What will happen to my show?" Referencing the contestant elimination process on the show
SurvivorSurvivor is an American version of the Survivor reality television game show, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson originally created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons. The series premiered on May 31, 2000 on CBS...
, Kimmel responded, "As long as you have your
immunity idolSurvivor is an American version of the Survivor reality television game show, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson originally created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons. The series premiered on May 31, 2000 on CBS...
, I think you're safe." Daly then asked, "Can I have your show?" Kimmel responded, "No."
After O'Brien's decision to leave NBC and Leno's return to
The Tonight Show, Daly remained at his spot and received a 4% surge in ratings.
On August 19, 2010,
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and Daly confirmed that
Last Call with Carson Daly would be renewed for its 10th season on air. Daly commented on the recent decision by saying,
“I really feel that ‘Last Call’ has hit its stride. It took 10 years, but it feels brand new and great.”
2011
In the May sweeps, "Last Call" received a 5% increase in viewership compared to the previous year. In the same month, next day encores of the series began to air as part of
FuseFuse is an American national television network dedicated exclusively to music. It features original series and specials, exclusive interviews, live concerts and video blocks....
's early primetime schedule.
Oddly, despite the program being produced in a
16:916:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
frame since at least 2008,
Last Call was still presented in a 4:3
letterboxLetterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes above and below it; these mattes are part of the image...
mode until September 19, 2011, when it became the last program (outside of the network's outside-controlled Saturday morning
QuboQubo is a multi-platform children's television specialty channel endeavor operated as a joint venture between ION Media Networks, NBCUniversal, Nelvana, Scholastic Corporation, and Classic Media...
block) on NBC's schedule to make the full conversion to high definition broadcast. This also made it the last of the major late night talk programs on broadcast and cable to make the switch.
External links