The 2012 Golden Woodys, Part 2
It’s time once again for the 4th annual Awards for Excellence in Late-Night Talk Show Doing, aka, The 2012 Golden Woodys. If you missed the awarding of the first four categories you can catch up here.
There are eight award categories. Each category contains three nominees. Nominees are selected and winners are chosen based on my viewing of late-night talk show episodes during 2012. Needless to say, the awards are very subjective, but also very sincere.
Category: Best Band
2009 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2010 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2011 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2012 Nominees:
Conan
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
The Late Show with David Letterman
And the award goes to… Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Reason: All late-night bands consist of talented musicians who play great music. A few go a step further and interact well with the host during the show. What helped the Roots stand out from the rest in 2012 was their willingness to participate in comedy segments and Late Night music videos. These additional steps allowed the Late Night team to create some memorable entertainment over the past year.
Category: Best Sidekick
2009 Winner: The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien
2010 Winner: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2011 Winner: Conan
2012 Nominees:
Conan
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
And the award goes to… The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Reason: Geoff, the gay skeleton robot voiced by Josh Robert Thompson, has been around for a few years. At first he was an interesting novelty, then he was an annoying distraction, now I sometimes wonder how Craig ever did the show without him. It took time, but Craig and Geoff developed a superb rhythm over the year. There were moments when I thought Craig was lazy and relied on Geoff too much, but all in all their interactions and teamwork were a ton of fun to watch.
Category: Best Host
2009 Winner: The Late Show with David Letterman
2010 Winner: The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien/Conan
2011 Winner: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2012 Nominees:
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Show with David Letterman
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
And the award goes to…The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Reason: This is typically the hardest category to decide the winner of each year. In 2012 it was rather easy. In August NBC was required to trim the Tonight Show’s budget. To accomplish this around twenty Tonight Show employees were let go. The number would have been much higher, however, if Jay Leno hadn’t volunteered to take a 50% pay cut in order to save as many jobs as possible. His incredible act went above and beyond any other late-night host.
Category: Best Overall Late-Night Talk Show
2009 Winner: The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien
2010 Winner: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2011 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2012 Nominees:
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
And the award goes to… The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Reason: Each late-night talk show had excellent, good and poor episodes this past year. Each show also had at least one spectacular highlight. The Late Late Show, however, was the only show to have three highlights in the top five: The week of shows in Scotland (#2), New set (#4) and Richie Sambora leading the first ever LLS house band (#5). For this reason the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson wins the Golden Woody for Best Overall Late-Night Talk Show. (In case you’re wondering, Late Night’s episode at UNC Chapel Hill with President Obama was the #1 highlight, while Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s episode in New York with David Letterman was #3.)
Congratulations to the winners. Here’s to a great 2013!
– Woody
Could you post the URLs for the top five highlights so we can make our own informed judgment? Perhaps a fan vote would be in order?
Sure. I’ll see if I can pull that together.
Every year, reading through not only the Golden Woodys but also the show reviews, I learn something more about someone else’s taste. The #1 thing I learned in 2012: my tastes are totally different from “Woody”‘s.
I love Craig’s show all the time. Even when it’s bad – sometimes especially when it’s bad – it’s the greatest thing ever. I sometimes get annoyed with or tired of Conan.
I’m not a stickler for the actual “late night” interview show parameters laid out by Johnny Carson (and predecessors). I hold it against the hosts when it looks like they’re just pitching softballs at guests so the guests can tell their prepared stories.
I think that’s I why I will always love Craig’s show most of all. When a guest launches into something that feels prepared, he throws out “are we doing a thing now?”
For me, what solidified the Late Late Show as #1 for the year was guest Kristen Stewart. I saw her on LLS, Conan’s show and the Daily Show. NO ONE had a good interview with her. She’s weird and… awkward?… and obviously hard to get a word out of. Out of the three, I think Craig’s was the most comfortable to watch.
A well-rounded late show reviewer probably would have found interviews with her on other late night shows as well. For me, those are the only three that really matter. I can respect Dave and Jay, but I don’t wanna watch them. I can’t respect the Jimmys – I just can’t. Who else is there? Probably someone else. If you can’t have a good conversation with Craig Ferguson, Jon Stewart or Conan O’Brien, I probably don’t need to care what you have to say about anything.
That’s me for the year.
(P.S. It was nice to see those LLS Scotland reruns last week. Got to say goodbye to Michael Clarke Duncan. In Scotland.)
Great stuff DuckAmuck. Thanks for sharing!