I agree that Ferguson was great at (most) of the sit downs. I haven't
found a suitable replacement.
On Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 9:06 PM 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV, <
tvornottv@googlegroups.com> wrote:
> Well, I'll have to take your word on the musical acts since I generally
> give them about five seconds before muting. The two I saw when I saw the
> show live were pretty insufferable, though.
>
> Also, I was downright gobsmacked when Sanders got two segments on
> Tuesday's show. I wouldn't mind substantive panels on important topics, but
> A) Colbert tried that when he started the show, and they just didn't work
> (and the audience didn't care), and B) as smart, fast, and funny as Colbert
> can be, I don't know that he's equipped to do those kind of interviews.
> Dave did all the time, and has continued to show his interest in public
> matters (even when hiding behind his "I'm just a dumb guy from Indiana"
> routine). Colbert's interview with newsmakers and reporters generally have
> all the depth of one of Trevor Noah's interviews, which is almost to say
> "none at all."
>
> I like Colbert and wish he were capable of doing what Ferguson did in just
> having conversations with people, but he's shown little facility for that.
> (It's happened occasionally, and has been very welcome when it did, but
> most of the time, the panel is right off the blue cards.)
>
> A very good combination for me would be combining the first half of
> Colbert's show with the second half of Ferguson's (even if Craig seemed to
> start bringing the guests out about 45 minutes into the show).
>
> --Dave Sikula
>
> On Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 7:11:24 AM UTC-7, PGage wrote:
>>
>> I don’t disagree with this as much as I once would have thought I might.
>> Totally agree that most of the scripted comedy bits are horrible (but then,
>> that was true on The Colbert Report also). And they do seem to know it -
>> Colbert himself periodically comments, somewhat self-consciously, when they
>> double-dip on the Monologue (doing stand-up jokes in Act 2 instead of
>> something at the desk). This is a complete reversal from the Dave years - I
>> used to wish Dave would just start the show with him talking off the cuff
>> from his desk (in fact, often I would not have minded if that was the
>> entire show).
>>
>> The main points I would say in Colbert’s defense are that his interviews
>> with non-actors/singers are more often (though far from usually) pretty
>> good. Last night was a good illustration - Whalberg is terminally
>> unlikable, and Colbert could not do anything to help. Sanders, who it is
>> almost impossible not to have an interesting interview with, was great.
>>
>> I think I like his musicial guests a little better than you do. Or at
>> least the occasional guest that I like, I really, really like, and that
>> seems to make me more generally positive. For example, Regina Spektor’s
>> performance a few weeks ago I thought was really transcendent, and was
>> great enough to hold me though a month of duds. Ditto Janelle Monae, who
>> may have been ho hum on interview, but I thought killed her performance on
>> the show.
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 15, 2018 at 2:40 AM 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV <
>> tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Unsurprisingly to those who know my musical tastes, I was not as taken
>>> with Ms. Minaj as you, but I attribute that to the generally poor quality
>>> of Colbert's panels.
>>>
>>> Something just seems off with the whole show. The monologues are
>>> generally good (and does any other show billboard the main topic of the
>>> monologue like Colbert's does?), but the cold opens (especially the ones
>>> that feature Brian Stack, which is almost all of them) are almost uniformly
>>> dreadful, the scripted pieces (the big furry hat, confessions, the awful,
>>> awful greeting cards bits) are truly terrible, and the panels are fast,
>>> superficial, and too heavily (to me) reliant on the pre-interviews ("Can
>>> you teach me some Australianisms?"). The nadir is, of course, the music.
>>> Batiste's band is actually good -- in the studio --- but one would never
>>> know that from what one hears on the air, and the booked musicians come in
>>> one flavor: too loud and terrible.
>>>
>>> In spite of all of this, I watch the show -- or at least have it on --
>>> but it's a long way down from even those too-frequent nights when Dave was
>>> phoning it in.
>>>
>>> --Dave Sikula
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tuesday, August 14, 2018 at 7:06:18 AM UTC-7, PGage wrote:
>>>>
>>>> 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
>>>>
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>>
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>>
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