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syncope at 11:31pm on 03/06/2009
syncope at 11:31pm on 03/06/2009Man, oh man.
So when I had to explain who Tom Snyder was to Amber I thought maybe I should just ice-flow myself and admit that I'm old. But I'm not THAT FUCKING OLD, ok?
But anyway, so to all of you under 25 year olds on my fl, in the way back old days of the 1970's this dude Tom Snyder had a tv show. It was a chat show. This was before Paris Hilton's dog had a talk show. Back then, the kind of people who had talk shows were William F. Buckley (wiki him) and other super fly mofos like Tom Snyder. Like happened in the 1970's, Tom had a bit of a, uh, burn out and left the airwaves for an extended period of time. You should light a candle for all the years he was off the air, but this dude? Seriously way cooler than any other talk show host ever. Yes, I mean cooler than Letterman...
Speaking of which. In the 90's, Tom had gotten his shit (mostly) together and Letterman brought him back. He was Letterman's idol, and a living legend by then. Me? I hate interview shows. I find celebrities boring and people selling stuff annoying. Tom Snyder the Reboot? I watched that shit every night. Sometimes even coming home from carousing to catch Tom. Yes! Me! Putting off drugs, wild sex, and booze to watch a tv show! (This was before Tivo.)
Tom Snyder is kind of like my life's wallpaper. My mother actually put off going to the hospital when she was in labor to finish watching an episode of his show. Ah, yes. It's on like THAT, folks!
I really don't know how to explain how superlative his show was on so many levels. Even in the 90's when he came back the guests drank and smoked on the air. Keep in mind this was when Letterman was doing Stupid Pet Trick gags and Leno had taken over The Tonight Show. His guest list was basically a list of his old buddies who would come on the show and tell the same stories they'd been telling since 1957--and that was the allure; the show was like getting to stay up past bedtime at a family get together. Guest X would launch into a story that Tom knew only too well and then Tom would join in the middle of it laughing, supplying punchlines. This was old fashioned tv in the middle of the night at the turn of the millennium. In other words, good shit.
He had guests who always brought it--he had a rotating cast of friends who would drop by like we were watching him kicking it in his living room and his friend just dropped by. One of my absolute favorites was Harlan Ellison. You think you know how nuts that dude is, but if you never caught his direct narratives on Tom Snyder, I doubt you really do.
TOS cast on Tom Snyder
Also, I love hearing the timeslot conversation happening 30 years ago. Hahaha. Oh lord, tv was tv from Day One. Also, the cult show gets canceled. Yeah, that's how it happens. Their in-depth conversation about ratings made me 1. see them as human beings who I can relate to 2. laugh.
I really miss Ton Snyder, damn.
So when I had to explain who Tom Snyder was to Amber I thought maybe I should just ice-flow myself and admit that I'm old. But I'm not THAT FUCKING OLD, ok?
But anyway, so to all of you under 25 year olds on my fl, in the way back old days of the 1970's this dude Tom Snyder had a tv show. It was a chat show. This was before Paris Hilton's dog had a talk show. Back then, the kind of people who had talk shows were William F. Buckley (wiki him) and other super fly mofos like Tom Snyder. Like happened in the 1970's, Tom had a bit of a, uh, burn out and left the airwaves for an extended period of time. You should light a candle for all the years he was off the air, but this dude? Seriously way cooler than any other talk show host ever. Yes, I mean cooler than Letterman...
Speaking of which. In the 90's, Tom had gotten his shit (mostly) together and Letterman brought him back. He was Letterman's idol, and a living legend by then. Me? I hate interview shows. I find celebrities boring and people selling stuff annoying. Tom Snyder the Reboot? I watched that shit every night. Sometimes even coming home from carousing to catch Tom. Yes! Me! Putting off drugs, wild sex, and booze to watch a tv show! (This was before Tivo.)
Tom Snyder is kind of like my life's wallpaper. My mother actually put off going to the hospital when she was in labor to finish watching an episode of his show. Ah, yes. It's on like THAT, folks!
I really don't know how to explain how superlative his show was on so many levels. Even in the 90's when he came back the guests drank and smoked on the air. Keep in mind this was when Letterman was doing Stupid Pet Trick gags and Leno had taken over The Tonight Show. His guest list was basically a list of his old buddies who would come on the show and tell the same stories they'd been telling since 1957--and that was the allure; the show was like getting to stay up past bedtime at a family get together. Guest X would launch into a story that Tom knew only too well and then Tom would join in the middle of it laughing, supplying punchlines. This was old fashioned tv in the middle of the night at the turn of the millennium. In other words, good shit.
He had guests who always brought it--he had a rotating cast of friends who would drop by like we were watching him kicking it in his living room and his friend just dropped by. One of my absolute favorites was Harlan Ellison. You think you know how nuts that dude is, but if you never caught his direct narratives on Tom Snyder, I doubt you really do.
TOS cast on Tom Snyder
Also, I love hearing the timeslot conversation happening 30 years ago. Hahaha. Oh lord, tv was tv from Day One. Also, the cult show gets canceled. Yeah, that's how it happens. Their in-depth conversation about ratings made me 1. see them as human beings who I can relate to 2. laugh.
I really miss Ton Snyder, damn.
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