OT - LA Times Magazine cover article

For subscribers to the LA Times, today's magazine cover article on Craig Ferguson includes, in its opening paragraphs, insights on Ferguson from DS Forums cousin Ben-- the only late-night TV expert quoted in the article.  If anyone is interested in the text of his quote, just say the word.

That's great news, Midnite!  Yes, I'd love to know what Ben said, please.

ProfStokes

 

From The Late, Late Comer by Marc D. Allan:  (not THAT Mark Allen   )

    "He's taking the monologue to a new level by having an underlying story theme," late-night historian Ben Alba says. "But at the same time, because he's able to be so spontaneous in that framework, it harks back to Steve Allen."
     Allen launched "Tonight" and the whole late-night talk show genre in 1954. He opened his first show with this joke: "In case you're just joining us, I want to give you the bad news first: This program is going to go on and on-- forever. It's a long show, goes on from 11:30 until 1 in the morning. We especially selected the Hudson Theatre for this show because it sleeps about 800 people."
     Late-night hosts have been massaging that format since, and never more so than in the era of 24/7 news proliferation. But for an outsider such as Ferguson, who mines his own reservoir of angst for raw material and gets just 45 minutes with the staff to hone an idea into a show-opening narrative, the stakes are higher: What if he's got nothing?
...

Ah, Ben just informed me that the article is online.  Duh, Midnite...

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-tm-ferguson51dec18,0,3449010.story