More and more I find myself switching off TLLS episodes on my DVR after the Monologue/s, or maybe a third of the way through the first interview, especially if the first guest is just a celebrity. Last night’s show was an exception.
Nicki Minaj just killed it in her segment. Not just that I found her hilarious (though I did) - but she was able to deliver the persona and schtick that is her calling card in an organic and smart way. Most often on talk shows a celebrity guest with a well defined, sharp persona either tries to stay with their character and comes across as forced and hack, or they act kind of like sophisticated Jerry Lewis (the least likable form of Jerry Lewis) and try to convince us that they are nothing like their persona. Minaj delivered what I assume must have been pre-planned bits in a spontaneous and effective way, showing how her performing persona is an elaboration of who she is. I have never been a huge fan of her act, but she started to win me over last night. She is not the only one of course - I suppose we could make a list of the best reliable celebrity guests on late night talk shows (e.g. Steve Martin, Martin Short, Amy Sedaris, just to name three of my favorite from the Letterman era), but such a list is only meaningful in the context of how horrible most guests are. I liked Dave enough to suffer through all but the worst guests (three I always clicked off of: “Dr. Phil”, Martha Stewart, Donald Trump); I like Colbert enough, but not enough to stay with even half of his typical celebrity guests. Fortunately, more than most, he often has journalists and politicians and other substantive guests of note. -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
