Pearl Jam Rocks The Tonight Show With “Got Some” From Upcoming Album Backspacer

by Albert Costill in Pearl Jam

Last night’s debut of the new Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien turned out to be a HUGE night for Pearl Jam fans - the band debuted a new song from their upcoming album Backspacer called “Got Some”. The single is rumored to be released in July with the album dropping September 22nd.

As an obvious Pearl Jam junkie, it’s easy to understand for me why they were chosen with this honor, even being picked over from other upcoming Tonight Show guests like Green Day and Chickenfoot (the super group featuring Van Halen alum Sammy Hager and Michael Anthony, guitar whiz Joe Satriani and RHCP drummer Chad Smith). Each and every time the band is in front of the camera, a great TV moment occurs.

I’ve already done a post on Pearl Jam and The Late Show with David Letterman (so check that out right here), so let’s rediscover some other of Pearl Jam’s greatest TV moments.

February 4, 1992: Pearl Jam, on the eve of their first European tour, made their first ever television performance on BBC2 TV’s Late Show with “Alive”.

March 16, 1992: Pearl Jam’s famous MTV Unplugged performance is filmed, which didn’t air until May 13. Long sought after by fans the performance is finally released to DVD on March 24, 2009 as part of the special edition of the Ten reissue. The highlights still have to be “Porch” and “Black”.

April 11, 1992: The band makes their first Saturday Night Live performance with electric performances of “Alive” and “Porch”. They even appear in a skit with host Sharon Stone.

September 9, 1992: Pearl Jam does an intense version of “Jeremy” during the MTV Video Music Awards. Supposedly the band wanted to perform The Dead Boys’ “Sonic Reducer” instead of “Jeremy”, hence why it appears that Ed is mumbling some lyrics from “Sonic Reducer”.

September 2, 1993: After touring with Neil Young during 1993, the band returns to the VMA’s with one of the greatest VMA performances ever…”Rockin’ In The Free World” with the man himself.

April 16, 1994: Shortly following Kurt Cobain’s suicide, Pearl Jam performs on Saturday Night Live for the second time. A darker and more intense performance including not the typical two, but three, songs of the as of yet unreleased “Not For You”, “Rearviewmirror” and “Daughter(Hey Hey, My My)”, which is a tribute to Kurt since he referenced the Neil Young tune in his suicide note.

April 15, 2006: After years of not appearing on much TV, I’m talking about the full band here, the guys return for their third SNL appearance. Pearl Jam performs their current single “World Wide Suicide” and debuts “Severed Hand”.

April 25, 2006: I believe this was the correct date for the band’s performance on Later with Jools Holland, which is an ultra-cool music show in the UK with several stages set up so that different performers can keep on playing. The show begins with Pearl Jam doing some of “Why Go” before the other guests join in during their introductions. The band performs “World Wide Suicide”, “Severed Hand” and “Alive”, as well as, a little interview with Ed and Mike.

May 31, 2006: Pearl Jam does an episode of VH1’s Storytellers with the following setlist: “Better Man”, “Unemployable”, “World Wide Suicide”, “Gone”, “Sleight of Hand”, “Army Reserve”, “Insignificance”, “Alive”, “Here’s To The State of Mississippi” and “Life Wasted”.

Jay Leno books Conan O'Brien as last guest

O'Brien takes over 'Tonight Show' June 1

Associated Press

Jay Leno

Jay Leno's last guest on "Tonight Show" will be the man who's taking over for him -- Conan O'Brien.

Leno wraps up his 17-year-run as host of NBC's late-night show on May 29. The network says that O'Brien will be Leno's final guest. Then O'Brien steps in as "Tonight" host June 1.

The big names making the cut for Leno's final week of shows include Mel Gibson, Prince and Billy Crystal -- who was Leno's first guest when he took "Tonight" over from Johnny Carson in 1992.

Carson's final guests were Bette Midler and Robin Williams, who appeared on Carson's next-to-last show. He hosted his final "Tonight" broadcast without guests.

This fall, Leno will begin a daily prime-time show for NBC.

Andy Richter to Rejoin Conan O’Brien as ‘Tonight Show’ Announcer

By Josef Adalian

Andy Richter is reuniting with Conan O’Brien, signing on to serve as announcer for Mr. O’Brien’s new incarnation of “The Tonight Show.”

NBC is expected to announce the decision later today.

Mr. Richter and Mr. O’Brien entered the pop culture landscape together in 1993, with Mr. Richter serving as sidekick to Mr. O’Brien when Mr. O’Brien took over from David Letterman as host of NBC’s “Late Night.” Mr. Richter left “Late Night” in 2000 to focus on acting.

On “Tonight,” Mr. Richter will not be a nightly desk-side presence as he was on “Late Night.” He will, however, participate in both live and pre-taped comedy bits.

“Andy is one of the funniest people I know, and we’ve maintained a close friendship since he left ‘Late Night,’” Mr. O’Brien said. “We have a proven chemistry that will be an incredible asset to ‘The Tonight Show.’”

What’s more, there’s a practical reason for Mr. Richter to join the “Tonight Show” team. “He owes me $300,” Mr. O’Brien said.

Mr. Richter was the last non-musical guest on the final edition of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” last week.

Since leaving “Late Night,” Mr. Richter has been the lead in two half-hour network comedies, the critically acclaimed “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and “Andy Barker, P.I.” He also has appeared in feature films “Talladega Nights,” “Blades of Glory,” “Semi-Pro” and “Elf.” He’ll next be seen this summer in the Fox feature “They Came From Upstairs.”

Mr. Richter is represented by CAA and manager Tim Sarkes.

Mr. O’Brien and Mr. Richter will make their “Tonight” debuts on June 1. Jeff Ross is the show’s executive producer.

NBC Expected to Give 10 P.M. Show to Leno

By BILL CARTER

Published: December 8, 2008

NBC will keep Jay Leno five nights a week, but in prime time, competing not with David Letterman, but with shows like “CSI: Miami.”

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Paul Drinkwater/NBC, via Associated Press

Tonight show host Jay Leno gave his monologue in January.

The network will announce Tuesday that Mr. Leno’s new show will appear at 10 o’clock each weeknight in a format similar to “The Tonight Show,” which he has hosted since 1993.

Five years ago NBC announced that it would hand the job of host of that franchise show to Conan O’Brien in May 2009. Since then the network has maneuvered to try to keep Mr. Leno, who continues to be the late-night ratings leader, fearing that he could leave and start a new late-night show on a competitor’s network. “The Tonight Show” is seen at 11:35 weeknights.

Mr. Leno, 58, was known to have suitors, including ABC, the Fox network and the Sony television studio. But he was apparently persuaded to stay at NBC after aggressive personal wooing by Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric.

Retaining Mr. Leno will undoubtedly be seen as a coup for Mr. Zucker, who has faced some serious questions about the wisdom of guaranteeing “The Tonight Show” to Mr. O’Brien and possibly losing Mr. Leno to another network.

Details of Mr. Leno’s agreement and the new show were provided by NBC executives who were briefed on the matter and who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the project until the network made its announcement.

The new show, which will begin next fall, is expected to be set in Mr. Leno’s longtime studio in Burbank, Calif. Mr. Leno is expected to retain many of the most popular elements of his “Tonight Show,” including his monologue and bits like “Headlines” and “Jay Walking.” One “Tonight Show” staff member said the new program would not be a variety show.

Mr. O’Brien, currently the host of NBC’s “Late Night,” will move “The Tonight Show” to a new studio on the NBC Universal lot in Universal City, Calif., in May. Mr. Leno, who is known to want to work as much as possible, would then miss only three months on the air, and would use that time to prepare his new show.

An executive involved in the discussions with Mr. Leno said that Mr. Leno finally came around to the idea that the television business had changed and a show like his could be a success in prime time.

Running the same show in prime time five nights a week would be a novelty for a broadcast network. Such so-called stripped shows have been a staple of daytime broadcasting.

The offer of a weeknight prime-time show is one that Mr. Zucker has favored for some time. In 2002, when David Letterman, Mr. Leno’s competitor at CBS, was contemplating whether to renew his contract, Mr. Zucker offered him a show at 8 o’clock weeknights. He turned it down.

Executives involved in the decision said Monday that because ratings have decreased and costs are becoming more critical, NBC could reap an enormous financial benefit from this move.

Though Mr. Leno will command an enormous salary, probably more than $30 million a year, the cost of his show will be a fraction of what a network pays for dramas at 10 p.m. Those average about $3 million an episode. That adds up to $15 million a week to fill the 10 p.m. hour. Mr. Leno’s show is expected to cost less than $2 million a week.

In addition, NBC will get more weeks of original programming. Network dramas typically make 22 to 24 episodes a year. Under this deal, the executives involved in the discussions said, Mr. Leno will perform 46 weeks a year.

That cost differential will probably be enough for NBC to absorb any fall in ratings from its current slate of dramas. Mr. Leno has averaged 4.8 million viewers for his show this year, with a rating of 1.3, or 1.7 million people, in the category of viewers ages 18 to 49, which most advertisers favor.

Few shows now at 10 p.m. could be considered hits. They include “CSI: Miami,” and “CSI: New York” on CBS and “Law & Order SVU” and “E.R.” on NBC. “E.R.” is about the leave the air. “SVU” will probably move to 9 p.m. next fall.

There have been no new hits at 10 p.m. on any network in almost four years; ratings for shows in that time slot continue to fall.

That does not mean that either the network or Mr. Leno has no risk in the move. Mr. Leno’s shows tend to fare best in their first half hour; if they were to decline too much in the second half hour, NBC’s affiliated stations would see their news shows adversely affected. And there may be some question about whether Mr. Leno’s show at 10 might diminish the stature of Mr. O’Brien’s “Tonight Show” at 11:35.

But Peter Lassally, the longtime late-night producer of shows starring Johnny Carson, Mr. Letterman and now Craig Ferguson, said that NBC came to Mr. Carson in the late 1980s with a similar idea, but that Mr. Carson turned it down.

“It’s all different now,” Mr. Lassally said. “The economic factors have changed so much it makes complete sense for NBC to try this.”

On Monday Mr. Zucker suggested at a news conference in New York that in the future networks might have to cut back the hours of prime-time programming. The program with Mr. Leno would effectively cut the number of hours NBC needed to fill each week from 22 to 17.

Mr. Leno had no comment. NBC executives also declined to comment. The network is expected to announce the deal with Mr. Leno in Los Angeles on Tuesday.