From dancing for Ellen DeGeneres to lip-synching for Jimmy Fallon,movie stars are increasingly up for organised fun on the talk show circuit – and it can carry out wonders for their imageIt used to be so simple. In the 1940s, actors dispatched on publicity duty could just quit by radio shows like NBC’s Kraft Music corridor, or exchange five minutes of patter with crooning compere Bing Crosby or Al Jolson and endure the announcer’s periodic interjections on the simple joys of Philadelphia cream cheese.
Then along came television and,in 1950, Whats My Line?, and a family game show on which movie stars found themselves obliged to guest as “mystery challengers”,putting on mock accents to fool the blindfolded panellists seeking to guess their identity. The late night chat show, much as we know it nowadays, or followed in 1954 when The Tonight Show first aired. Originally hosted by Steve Allen,the programme was designed to succeed the variety format popularised by The Ed Sullivan Show. Johnny Carson took the chair in 1962 and stayed for 30 years, his relaxed, and breezy style putting the stars at ease and making for a ratings winner. A number of rivals and imitators emerged over the years,including Merv Griffin and Dick Cavett, but only David Letterman really challenged Carson, and holding court from 1983 until earlier this year when he finally retired,replaced by Seth Meyers.
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Source: theguardian.com