Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Best Ever?
I posted a couple of months ago about the death of Johnny Carson. He'll always be the King of Talk Show hosts, if for no other reason than he defined the format. Yeah, Steve Allen did some really groundbreaking stuff on Tonight before Carson got the show, but Johnny turned it into what it is now.
So I'm watching Letterman tonight, and they're tossing things off the side of the Ed Sullivan Theater (that's actually more Steve Allen than Johnny Carson). They're preparing to throw a 14 umbrellas over the side when Kenny the stagehand remarks, "It's really cool, it's like The Sound of Music or somethin'...." My guess is that Kenny confused his Julie Andrews movies, meaning to reference Mary Poppins, but what the hell, Dave goes with it. They drop the umbrellas over the side of the building and they float softly to the street below. In the background, Paul Schaffer is playing the theme to The Sound of Music. Brilliant!
If Carson was the King of Talk Show hosts, then who is the greatest second banana in Talk Show history? Ed McMahon did a lot to define the role working with Carson, but I used to think the best was Andy Richter, Conan's sidekick in the early days of that show. I remember watching that first week of Conan (Barenaked Ladies were on and they played Brian Wilson pre-dating Slappy is Jebus by a couple of years). I remember liking the show, enjoying Conan's obviously trepidation, but thinking Andy Richter was the real star. Andy was great making fun of Conan and himself. These were two guys who had never done real TV before and they looked like two guys who were scared out of their wits, but having the time of their lives. In short, they looked like the rest of us would probably look if we got our own national TV show.
They grew together, turning into an excellent comedy team, Andy being intregal to desk pieces in a way that Ed McMahon never was. Frankly I thought he was the best second banana in Talk Show history. I still respect his work with Conan, but after a couple of poor sit-coms, I'm afraid Mr. Richter is going to end up like Shelly Long after Cheers, the punchline to a joke about leaving a show to soon.
So watching Letterman tonight and hearing Paul Schaffer effortlessly weave unexpected musical comedy into a comedy piece, I started to realize how difficult a job he does and how well he does it every night. He's not just the musical director for Late Night, he's also the second banana. The job he does musically has always been brilliant, but with experience as a cast member of SNL, he's able to add a comic sense that no other talk show bandleader has ever been able to accomplish. So he's really doing two jobs when looked at through the Johnny Carson talk show prism, but he's blended them into one. He gets to make smart-ass comments and be a smart-ass musically.
Listen to the music in the show. Except into and out of commercial breaks, Schaffer always has a reason for playing a song. Whether playing a guest to the desk or playing music following the Top 10 list, there's a reason he chose a particular song. It may just be a theme from a movie the guest was in, but usually it's a little deeper than that. One of my favorites was when he played on actor Leslie Nielsen with Groovin' by The Lovin' Spoonful. This is a little obscure, but the song contains the line "That would be exstasy - You and me endlessly..." Apparently when the song was popular, the line was misheard by many as "That would be exstasy - You and me and Leslie...." Kevin Eubanks is a fine musician, but you don't get that kind of high quality comedy out of him.
Schaffer's best musical joke, in my opinion, was after a Top 10 List about the so called "Sperm Doctor", a doctor at a fertility clinic who was impregnating patients with his own sperm. After the List, Paul played the Sam & Dave soul classic Hold On, I'm Comin'. Absolute genius, and just one of the many reasons that Paul Schaffer is the best second banana in talk show history.
William B. Williams and "Hey Now!" Hank Kingsley excepted.......
BOJ
So I'm watching Letterman tonight, and they're tossing things off the side of the Ed Sullivan Theater (that's actually more Steve Allen than Johnny Carson). They're preparing to throw a 14 umbrellas over the side when Kenny the stagehand remarks, "It's really cool, it's like The Sound of Music or somethin'...." My guess is that Kenny confused his Julie Andrews movies, meaning to reference Mary Poppins, but what the hell, Dave goes with it. They drop the umbrellas over the side of the building and they float softly to the street below. In the background, Paul Schaffer is playing the theme to The Sound of Music. Brilliant!
If Carson was the King of Talk Show hosts, then who is the greatest second banana in Talk Show history? Ed McMahon did a lot to define the role working with Carson, but I used to think the best was Andy Richter, Conan's sidekick in the early days of that show. I remember watching that first week of Conan (Barenaked Ladies were on and they played Brian Wilson pre-dating Slappy is Jebus by a couple of years). I remember liking the show, enjoying Conan's obviously trepidation, but thinking Andy Richter was the real star. Andy was great making fun of Conan and himself. These were two guys who had never done real TV before and they looked like two guys who were scared out of their wits, but having the time of their lives. In short, they looked like the rest of us would probably look if we got our own national TV show.
They grew together, turning into an excellent comedy team, Andy being intregal to desk pieces in a way that Ed McMahon never was. Frankly I thought he was the best second banana in Talk Show history. I still respect his work with Conan, but after a couple of poor sit-coms, I'm afraid Mr. Richter is going to end up like Shelly Long after Cheers, the punchline to a joke about leaving a show to soon.
So watching Letterman tonight and hearing Paul Schaffer effortlessly weave unexpected musical comedy into a comedy piece, I started to realize how difficult a job he does and how well he does it every night. He's not just the musical director for Late Night, he's also the second banana. The job he does musically has always been brilliant, but with experience as a cast member of SNL, he's able to add a comic sense that no other talk show bandleader has ever been able to accomplish. So he's really doing two jobs when looked at through the Johnny Carson talk show prism, but he's blended them into one. He gets to make smart-ass comments and be a smart-ass musically.
Listen to the music in the show. Except into and out of commercial breaks, Schaffer always has a reason for playing a song. Whether playing a guest to the desk or playing music following the Top 10 list, there's a reason he chose a particular song. It may just be a theme from a movie the guest was in, but usually it's a little deeper than that. One of my favorites was when he played on actor Leslie Nielsen with Groovin' by The Lovin' Spoonful. This is a little obscure, but the song contains the line "That would be exstasy - You and me endlessly..." Apparently when the song was popular, the line was misheard by many as "That would be exstasy - You and me and Leslie...." Kevin Eubanks is a fine musician, but you don't get that kind of high quality comedy out of him.
Schaffer's best musical joke, in my opinion, was after a Top 10 List about the so called "Sperm Doctor", a doctor at a fertility clinic who was impregnating patients with his own sperm. After the List, Paul played the Sam & Dave soul classic Hold On, I'm Comin'. Absolute genius, and just one of the many reasons that Paul Schaffer is the best second banana in talk show history.
William B. Williams and "Hey Now!" Hank Kingsley excepted.......
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 10:08 PM 
