I mean... it's just on so late! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at hosts who left us saying, “You know what? Let’s go to bed early tonight.”
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00:00 I know this looks bad.
00:02 Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:04 And today we're looking at hosts who left us saying,
00:06 "You know what? Let's go to bed early tonight."
00:08 We're not saying that all these hosts are untalented,
00:10 but leaving them in charge of the late shift was a miscalculation.
00:13 You know something?
00:15 It just isn't funny.
00:17 Number 10. Alec Baldwin.
00:21 Up late with Alec Baldwin.
00:23 Having hosted SNL more times than anyone else,
00:25 Alec Baldwin holds a significant place in late night history.
00:28 People make a big deal about the record.
00:30 I don't really care about that. It's not a competition.
00:32 Because if it was, I've won.
00:35 Rather than utilize this knack for sketch comedy, though,
00:37 Up Late was a political discussion series
00:39 that found Baldwin at his most self-serious and pretentious.
00:42 I was an early supporter of de Blasio's,
00:44 but the question remains,
00:46 what can any mayor do about inequality on Wall Street's home turf?
00:50 The Daily Beast called the first episode a snooze,
00:52 with Baldwin generating more attention with his off-screen behavior.
00:55 Contrasting his composed on-screen persona,
00:58 the actor got into multiple scuffles with the press,
01:00 one incident containing a homophobic slur.
01:02 Come on!
01:04 Although Baldwin planned to do Up Late for a year,
01:06 MSNBC put the show on hiatus before canceling it after five episodes.
01:10 He didn't have much better luck in primetime five years later,
01:12 with the Alec Baldwin show airing eight of its ten episodes.
01:15 Number 9. Pat Sajak.
01:17 The Pat Sajak Show.
01:19 Before CBS found their late night savior in David Letterman,
01:22 they spun the wheel and landed on Pat Sajak.
01:24 You know, a lot of people would crack under the pressure of a night like this.
01:27 I mean, the eyes of millions,
01:29 and we have the media, you know, looking in and watching every move I make.
01:32 But I'm different. I cracked this afternoon.
01:34 No doubt that Sajak is a treasure of daytime TV,
01:37 but game shows and late night talk shows are two different beasts.
01:40 Sajak wasn't built for the latter,
01:42 lacking the sharp timing of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show
01:44 and the hip factor that Arsenio Hall brought to his emerging series.
01:47 Competition aside, the show's feelings largely boiled down to Sajak,
01:51 who seemed to coast his way through episodes.
01:53 I'm not nearly that good. Thank you, though.
01:56 It's not like Sajak had to try that hard,
01:58 as his contract guaranteed $60,000 per week for two years,
02:02 even if the show got canceled prematurely.
02:04 That said, CBS cut their losses just before hitting the 300th episode.
02:08 Guys, have a great weekend. See you next week. Bye-bye.
02:10 Number 8. ALF.
02:12 ALF's hit talk show.
02:13 We'd like to think that a talk show hosted by the Tanner family's aliens
02:16 started as a joke around the TV Land offices.
02:19 When TV Land approached me, well, let's be honest,
02:22 they begged me to do this show, all right?
02:25 That joke slowly snowballed into a reality,
02:27 and before anyone could pull the plug,
02:29 ALF was already behind a desk with Ed McMahon as his sidekick.
02:32 While ALF worked as a sitcom star in the '80s,
02:35 his one-liners didn't translate well into his 2004 late-night show.
02:39 Full House had nothing to do with poker.
02:43 There is a certain novelty to the show's very existence,
02:45 although listening to a puppet crack bad jokes
02:48 with whatever celebrity guests they could find
02:50 got old almost immediately.
02:52 As for the hit part of the title,
02:53 that all depends on whether or not you consider seven episodes a success.
02:57 ALF might, but we don't.
02:59 Number 7. Lilly Singh.
03:11 A Little Late with Lilly Singh.
03:12 Starting as a YouTuber, Lilly Singh became the first openly bisexual woman of color
03:16 to host an American late-night show.
03:18 I am so excited. I am so happy to be here.
03:22 And by the looks of it, a lot of you are happy to be here, too.
03:25 While reviews from critics were solid,
03:27 the audience reception wasn't as glowing.
03:29 A Little Late possesses one of the lowest ratings among IMDb users.
03:32 Part of that might be due to review bombing,
03:34 but it can also be attributed to the lack of laughs.
03:36 But I just want to say that if you're on the fence about becoming a vegetarian,
03:40 I highly recommend it.
03:42 You're saving animals, you're saving the planet,
03:44 you're saving a lot of time at Thanksgiving.
03:47 Singh has been funny in other projects,
03:49 but she came off as uncomfortable here
03:51 with much of the humor feeling forced and repetitive.
03:53 Going from YouTube to TV,
03:55 Singh acknowledged that there was definitely a struggle
03:57 as she tried to mesh these two words together.
04:00 I was proud of you when you pulled over to help that driver
04:03 on the way to Niagara Falls when I was ten.
04:06 This resulted in an uneven show that didn't come off as groundbreaking as it should have.
04:10 Number 6. Greg Gutfeld.
04:12 Red Eye, The Greg Gutfeld Show, and Gutfeld.
04:15 Fox News is already kind of a joke,
04:17 so adding a late night comedy to this lineup isn't the worst idea.
04:21 We have the legendary actor Nicolas Cage, great having him here, big surprise.
04:25 Then again, Greg Gutfeld's attempts at political satire
04:28 can't compete with the mind-boggling reality of something like
04:31 "Tucko Carlson Tonight," which was supposed to be taken seriously, we think.
04:35 In any case, it's hard to differentiate Gutfeld's commentary
04:38 from the rest of Fox News' content.
04:40 I could go through the examples of the violent felons sprung from jail
04:43 thanks to bail reform, but there are so many of them
04:46 that it would take up the entire show and bleed literally into the next hour.
04:50 Being on a conservative network, Gutfeld is in a position
04:53 to offer a unique, edgy perspective that stands out from the rest of late night.
04:57 Instead, his humor comes off as lowbrow as a comments section without being that biting.
05:02 Fact is, this country has big problems.
05:05 Economy, crime, the border, Harry and Meghan.
05:08 What are we going to do with them?
05:11 If anything, Gutfeld's hot takes feel ice cold compared to Fox News' craziest shows,
05:16 which is the biggest offense.
05:18 Between hosting a successful Canadian daytime series
05:24 and becoming the Seaver family patriarch,
05:26 Alan Thicke experienced some growing pains as a late night personality.
05:29 Good evening. Same to you? Yes, hello, alright. Thank you.
05:33 Reflecting on his ill-fated attempt to challenge Johnny Carson, Thicke commented,
05:37 "They said it couldn't be done, and we proved it."
05:40 In a full delivery, Thicke did too good of a job by putting his audience to sleep.
05:44 Thank you for the dead bouquet.
05:46 Oh, you're welcome.
05:48 I'll put that in a dry glass.
05:52 The syndication series didn't have the clearest vision either,
05:55 but Thicke couldn't deny that he was part of the problem.
05:57 When it was cancelled after only a year, Thicke felt a mix of disappointment and relief.
06:01 While Thicke admitted that the show was a dog,
06:03 he appreciated that it brought him to the States,
06:05 leading to new opportunities he'd be prouder of.
06:08 I can't be unhappy about a show that led me to the show I'm now doing,
06:12 which is a wonderful success and has made my life terrific.
06:16 The 90s were an interesting decade for NBA superstars.
06:22 Michael Jordan met the Looney Tunes, Shaquille O'Neal became a rapping genie,
06:26 and Magic Johnson joined the late night war.
06:28 Michael Jordan, I know you're watching. You gotta send me some new shoes.
06:31 Weirdly enough, the last one sounds the most ridiculous.
06:34 As lively as Johnson was on the court, he didn't make for the most charismatic host.
06:38 The Magic Hour is remembered less for its host and more for guest Howard Stern,
06:42 who wasn't above taking cheap shots at Johnson.
06:44 I'm not even sure this is television.
06:46 The only thing more awkward than Johnson's interactions with guests
06:49 was his rapport with short-lived sidekick Craig Shoemaker.
06:52 Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel were offered the sidekick gig,
06:55 but they dodged a bullet.
06:56 Johnson managed to perform one magic trick,
06:58 disappearing from the airways in barely three months.
07:01 We'll be right back after this.
07:03 Number 3. Joe Buck.
07:05 Joe Buck Live.
07:06 At least the Magic Hour got three months.
07:08 HBO gave Joe Buck the boot after three episodes.
07:11 I got on TMZ, my favorite website,
07:14 and saw one of those ambush camera crews following you through some airport
07:20 at some point in this country, at some point in your life,
07:23 asking you ridiculous questions, poking the bear,
07:26 just trying to make you make a mistake.
07:28 Like Johnson, Buck came from a sports background.
07:31 Buck also learned what it's like to be overshadowed by somebody
07:34 from the Howard Stern Show.
07:35 In this case, guest Artie Lang cast an infamous shadow over Joe Buck Live,
07:39 making crude comments about the host and Jessica Simpson.
07:42 Jason, when we talk about fame,
07:43 and we talk about being plucked out of nowhere...
07:45 Good segue.
07:46 Thanks.
07:47 You're a regular Bob Costas.
07:50 Although Buck didn't put these words in Lang's mouth,
07:52 it became evident that the play-by-play announcer
07:54 wasn't cut out for the talk show biz.
07:56 Before the pilot even ended, he already lost all control.
07:59 It wasn't long until HBO told Buck that they were moving away from talk shows.
08:03 Put your feet down, for God's sake.
08:05 Listen, I'm trying to get comfortable.
08:06 Somebody should look natural on this show.
08:08 Buck knew, however, that if HBO liked his show, it would have continued.
08:12 Number two, Chevy Chase, the Chevy Chase Show.
08:15 After trying to contend with Carson in the '80s,
08:18 Fox got back into the late-night ring to see if they could rival Leno and Letterman,
08:21 and there was just one host for the job, Dolly Parton.
08:24 But since she wasn't interested, they went with Chevy Chase.
08:27 If I knew you were gonna be this enthusiastic, I would have rehearsed.
08:30 Fox had high expectations, renaming the Aquarius Theater the Chevy Chase Theater.
08:34 Chase might have been a scene-stealer on SNL,
08:36 but the audience for his first talk show was more amusing than its host.
08:39 We'll just pretend that I'm dancing in them.
08:42 With dated gags and an anxious presence,
08:44 you wouldn't guess that Chase was a comedy legend based on his performance here.
08:47 Chase was already coming off a few misfires,
08:50 and with his show getting axed after six weeks,
08:52 he never quite regained his A-list status.
08:54 I love all of you.
08:56 Good night.
08:57 Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
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09:12 #1. Russell Brand
09:15 Brand X with Russell Brand
09:17 Before we address the elephant in the room, we should probably ask,
09:20 was Russell Brand ever funny?
09:22 I wanna talk to you about the news,
09:24 the bit of news I most want to talk to you about is this bit here.
09:28 And forgetting Sarah Marshall, sure,
09:30 but it quickly became clear that a little of his over-the-top ramblings can go a long way.
09:34 Nowhere was this more apparent than when his talk show provided an open mic.
09:38 Most of the show's bits haven't aged well,
09:40 most notably one entitled "Totally Unacceptable Opinion."
09:43 You shut the f*** up.
09:45 You calm down for a second.
09:47 Ironically, if somebody said that Brand X deserved a third season,
09:50 most would probably find that opinion totally unacceptable,
09:53 especially given the recent allegations against Brand.
09:56 Controversy aside, "Brand Obnoxious" would have been a more appropriate title.
10:00 I'd love to go to another dimension.
10:02 Which late night host made you tune out?
10:04 Let us know in the comments.
10:06 Now I need to start out by pointing out that Russell Brand and I are friends.
10:11 Did you enjoy this video?
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