The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder

As undergraduates it was inevitable that we would be required to enroll in the advanced television course where our chief assignment was to create our own television program. The most time-consuming aspect wasn't writing or shooting but rather editing together our various clips of video. Because the video editing bays were always in use during the day - either by television station staff, lab practicum classes, or someone else enrolled in the advance television course – we had the option of signing up for "overnight editing," which I must confess could be as miserable as it sounds.

Once you requested this nighttime shift you were expected to be at your video bay that night at ten o'clock and working – be that until midnight or six the next morning. But cooped into the closet-sized space with noisy equipment and a just-as-annoying collaborator for more than thirty minutes easily took its toll. Breaks were frequent, as were the late-night delivered pizzas from the local joint a few blocks away (with Zero bars for desert from the machine upstairs). When it was time to get away, students stumbled in a daze toward the newsroom for fresh air, something to eat, a chance to chat with whoever else was still around, and catch some late night television. The program of choice?

Tom Snyder.

During the spring of 1997 and the following 1997-98 school year, those of us stuck in the communication building had regular visits with Tom and The Late Late Show. Usually a couple nights each week we were Tom's audience, lounging on bulky furniture or sprawled across the floor with our minds unwinding after hours of school and work. How we managed to frequently miss our bed times (and still make it to class later that day) still amazes me a decade later, and so I assume there must have been some magic in those pictures flying in the air. How we first found Tom is an answer lost to the ages but there was something about this erudite man that we all gravitated toward. Even students who seldom fraternized with others during the day, and who would be working overnight to complete a project, might meet by chance and soon find themselves sharing a laugh with Tom and the rest of us. One thing that made it special was the fact that there wasn't then – and isn’t now – anything else like the colorcast: the atmosphere of the studio, the long-form topics discussed, and the wide spectrum of guests whose discussions could evoke a difference of opinion or a giddy laugh from the host. We never called in – we often thought about it – and so we just listened. And if the guest wasn’t grabbing our attention for whatever reason, we just listened to Tom.

We in the audience laughed a lot, too – at stories about trains, dogs, the Companion, or whatever else; at his banter with the stage crew; at the quick-witted mockery when things went awry; and the jokes he shared from other viewers:

When did Pinocchio realize he was made of wood and not a real boy?
The day his hand caught on fire.

And then somewhere in the mix we remembered we were there for a reason and we had work to do. Out of courtesy we waited until a commercial to make our less-than-energetic exit.

The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder debuted on the CBS Network in January of 1995, and ran for over 800 episodes, coming to a close on a Friday night in 1999.

While we mourn his passing, we quaff a colortini to the man who helped get us through those late, late nights.

Good night, Tom.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder
Theme Music Composed and Performed by
(David Sanborn)