Late Night Tunage

I used to be addicted to late night television, especially in college. I was always up until 2am in those days anyway so I'd have the late night talk shows in the background during one of my gaming sessions, while just hanging out, or on one of those crazy nights where I was actually doing homework.

I think it all started with Saturday Night Live, mainly because it was a night where it didn't matter if I stayed up late during high school. Then as I got older it progressed to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, sometimes The Late Show with David Letterman, and most definitely Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Conan was always my favorite even though it involved staying up past 1:00am. (In the pre-DVR days.)

If you aren't aware, Conan finally moved up from the 12:30 spot and is taking Jay Leno's place at the Tonight Show after 16 years at Late Night. It's very sad times for me even though I rarely stay up that late these days. (DVR and free streaming Internet videos are my best friends.) But as I watched the last episodes of Conan, my late night addiction started to take over again, and I think it was just in time.

Jimmy Fallon from SNL fame took over for Conan at Late Night and I'm definitely digging it, especially when it comes to the tunes. A lot of the late night shows are specifically remembered for their house bands and their catchy intro music. (The Max Weinberg 7 with Conan, Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra with Letterman, etc.) Late Night With Jimmy Fallon is no different as he has legendary hip hop band The Roots rockin out his intro song and providing the grooves.

I don't think anything will ever beat the intro that introduced Johnny Carson for the 20-some-odd years he was hosting the Tonight Show, but I dig this new tunage just the same. As for the musical guests on Late Night, especially at the late hour, I'm not partiularly a fan most of the time. It's nuts when a crazed music fan like me has to Google the musical guest for a nationally televised program just to find out who they are. (With the exception of Van Morrison on night one of Jimmy.)

But as long as The Roots keeps rocking it and Jimmy keeps improving as the show progresses I think my DVR will be busy every night helping me get those extra hours of sleep while allowing me to feed my addiction. I embedded the video from the first episode below. Definitely check it out at least for the sweet intro music and maybe even the monologue. It's funny stuff, especially the bit where Jimmy and The Roots "slow jam the news."

Sorry, the video is a little big to fit but I love Hulu, even if they are run by an evil race of aliens trying to harvest our brains. (You'll understand if you watched their Super Bowl commercial with Alec Baldwin.)