History of Late Night TV

From 1973-1982, Snyder hosted the Tomorrow Show on NBC. It was on after Johnny Carson's show. In an interview with comedian Mark Malkoff, the former head of NBC programming, Fred Silverman, revealed some surprising facts about his thoughts on the show. He said that he never cared for Snyder's Tomorrow Show. He felt that the time slot after Carson needed to have something more lively, like a variety show. He wanted to put Steve Allen (the Tonight Show's original host), after Carson. This never happened, and David Letterman followed Carson beginning in 1982. You can listen to Silverman's interview here.

 

Originally from Milwaukee Wisconsin, Snyder was a successful newscaster for many years, working in New York and Los Angeles.

 

He was the first host of the  Late Late Show, which aired on CBS after Letterman from 12:35am-1:35am. The show was created by David Letterman. It was produced by his production company, Worldwide Pants.

 

He would begin the show by welcoming people to the "colorcast". An alcoholic drink was called a "colortini."

 

His toss to the first break would be the line "Sit back, relax, fire up a colortini, and watch the pictures as they fly through the air."

 

No studio audience for the show, just Tom and the guest. Sometimes you could hear the crew chuckling at the jokes. This made the show intimate, like Later with Bob Costas.