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last call

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A Little Late with Lilly Singh to Replace Last Call with Carson Daly at NBC

March 16, 2019
Uncategorized
a little late, carson daly, last call, late night, lilly singh, nbc

A Little Late with Lilly Singh to Replace Last Call with Carson Daly at NBC

We were curious with what NBC was going to do after announcing the end of Last Call with Carson Daly. Given that it airs at 1:30AM after the block of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers, we kind of thought they would just end that slot together.

Yet, a pleasant surprise came today when they announced that international YouTube star Lilly Singh would take over that slot with her own late night show. This marks a few pretty significant firsts as Singh is the first female-POC to host in late night on a broadcast network. Singh also enters as one of the first YouTube stars to have her own talk show on traditional linear TV (the other being Grace Helbig with the very short-lived The Grace Helbig Show on E!).

We’re curious what Singh will do in the parameters of traditional late night talk show and, more importantly, what NBC will let her do with a slim half-hour slot, especially since 1:30AM is so late (though, we have a feeling that pushing the content online the following day will be a major component to this show).

We’ll just have to wait and see when A Little Late with Lilly Singh debuts in September.

HBO and Netflix Wise Up By Dropping Live/Same Day Ratings and Notifying of Expiring Titles, Respectively

December 23, 2014
Uncategorized
hbo, last call, live plus 7, netflix, nielsen, ratings

Every day, TV/movies and the Internet come closer and closer to becoming one. There are signs of this shift everywhere.

Most recently, HBO has announced that it will only use Nielsen’s Live Plus 7 measure which encompasses the rating for a TV show right when it airs all the way to 7 days after (via Variety). The amount of people that watch their favorite HBO shows like Veep and Silicon Valley on their DVR or on HBOGO grows everyday. 

Online streaming giant Netflix is also stepping up its game, which, already, is changing the dynamic of how Hollywood works with the likes of Amazon, Hulu, etc.. Titles of TV series and films that aren’t original Netflix productions often have a finite time to be streamed on Netflix. Notifications of what and when those shows and movies would disappear were scarce, but with a “Last Call” section of a newsletter that Netflix sends out. they’ll be doing away with that problem altogether (via The AV Club). If, for some reason, The Office was to no longer be available to stream via Netflix, you’d know a month ahead of time. 

Soon, there will likely be no separation between your favorite comedy web series and comedy TV series.

Mike Birbiglia Met James Van Der Beek Under Unfortunate Circumstances

March 5, 2014
Uncategorized
carson daly, dawson's creek, fargo, james van der beek, last call, late night with seth meyers, mike birbiglia

While on Late Night with Seth Meyers last night, Mike Birbiglia recounted a time in his life where people used to tell him that he looked like James Van Der Beek. 

Birbiglia did not put this information to good use as you’ll see during his panel interview. Watch it here.

‘Last Call With Carson Daly’ Carries On With New Format Focusing on Interviews

November 24, 2013
Uncategorized
carson daly, last call, nbc

‘Last Call With Carson Daly’ Carries On With New Format Focusing on Interviews

Last Call with Carson Daly will remain on the air despite rumors, but much more stripped down from when the show first started. The show will now center around interviews, which have been the highlight of the show, many that feature great comedy folks like Marlo Meekins, Deon Cole, The Sklar Brothers, Key & Peele, Chris Elliott, and more.

Click the link to watch their interviews now. 

This Town is Big Enough for the Both of Us… and Even More

March 15, 2011
Uncategorized
alternative, arts festival, black dynamite, carson daly, coffee shops, comedy shows, culture, eddie pepitone, garage, glenn wool, improv, indie, jamie flam, jimmy dore, lab, last call, last comic standing, los angeles, matt mira, meltdown, nerdist podcast, politics, pop, south by southwest, theatre, ucb, upright citizens brigade

Much of what we feature and write about here at the Comedy Bureau often takes place in a out of the way bars, coffee shops, garages, or even someone’s living room, in a few cases, as those are the places where we go to find our particular taste in comedy (also, most of the shows are free, which is a great incentive).  Yet, I understand that might be an intimidating notion for some people to go to a show where there is no stage, where the couch that you’re sitting on is perhaps where someone sleeps or where “the magic happens”.   Perhaps, you might think that it’s just a bunch of no-talent open mic’ers doing their own show on their “own turf”.  Rest assured that is not the case as plenty of comics on “those” line-ups are regularly on TV, paid to perform on the road, and are a part of an ultra-competitive comedy scene.

Thanks to both Jamie Flam, the new manager of the Hollywood Improv Lab, and Chris Hardwick, Jonah Ray, Matt Mira, and everyone else over at the Nerdist podcast for slowly, but surely revamping the back room of Meltdown Comics in Hollywood into the Nerdist Theatre, this really unique and specific problem has been now solved.

Over the past month and in the month to come, there has been a nice streak of shows popping up at both venues.  First off, brilliant comedians Eddie Pepitone and Glenn Wool did their own special shows at the Improv Lab and while the back room of Meltdown Comics has had the fantastic Meltdown with Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani (recently profiled on Last Call with Carson Daly) for awhile, the Nerdist Podcast has taken to sponsoring several comedy events from a special screening of Black Dynamite, a comedy art show, and a special night of Pop and Politics with comedian Jimmy Dore.  

Not too long ago, the awareness of both rooms was largely peripheral as shows and events, especially the kind featured here at the Comedy Bureau, would take place sporadically.  Being at the Improv Lab and the back room of Meltdown was largely viewed by a number of people as sort of an abstract idea, almost as if it was weird to put on a show there.  Last year, I heard a show producer at the Improv say, “Wait, we’re not at the Lab, right?  If we are, we’re screwed.  No one’s going to come.”  At that time, approximately two years earlier, there would be, in a given week, only one or two shows at the Lab and maybe zero happening at Meltdown Comics.  In a city where a line-up at the South by Southwest Arts Festival is a typical Monday night, anyone from normal people who love to laugh and comedy fans didn’t think much of a show taking place at either venue.

Now, the legitimacy for the two institutions keeps growing as solid establishments for live comedy as many of their shows and line-ups are not unlike those of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre considered by many to be one of the most popular venues in LA.  Instead of the occasional stand up comedy showcase that used to rarely take place, the Improv Lab is now having variety shows, interview shows, sketch and improv shows, and one show where some of LA’s best do their first five minutes they’ve ever written. The Nerdist Theatre might even have a weekly open mic in the works hosted by their very own Matt Mira (details to come as the Comedy Bureau receives them) in the coming months.  According to the Comedy Bureau “standards and practices”, those are bona fide comedy theatre that need to be attended regularly, not only to keep their doors open, but also because where you can see, in this humble blog’s/site’s opinion, where live comedy is going.

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