If you haven’t noticed yet that the Winter Olympics are underway, you probably don’t own a TV (or any other light-bearing device in that grain silo you call home).
Snow and ice are everywhere on the TV set, as well as every sidewalk north of Pensacola. The nation has little choice but to give in, seek shelter and some heavy blanketing, and let the games of winter slip and slide into ever-present daily life.
That also means a lot less late-night TV than usual, because competing with the allure of the downhill and the double-axle has proved folly in the past, and things have only gotten harder for every form of traditional television (except football) since then.
Thus: viewers are being left with a truncated schedule for late-night shows over the fortnight of the Milan Olympiad.
But here’s the thing. Late-night television is filled with connections to the Olympics, and late-night performers, producers, and executives have played a significant role in what the Olympics have become as a television mega-event.
Seriously. Stick with me on this.
Let’s start with this: the most prolific producer in the history of the Olympics on television is a man named Dick Ebersol, who served as “executive producer” on no fewer than eight editions of the Olympic games, six of which are among the top ten most-watched events in television history.
Surely an achievement like that would topline any professional resume. But for Ebersol, that recognition would have to share space with being involved in the creation of Saturday Night Live. As the executive in charge of weekend late-night programming at NBC in 1974, Ebersol was the man who hired Lorne Michaels—and set in motion that iconic franchise.
He also served as EP of the show for four years during the interregnum until Michaels returned in 1985, and presided over a version of the show that starred performers like Billy Crystal, Martin Short and Eddie Murphy.
Those are some serious late night bonafides.
Ebersol has another notable late-night credit: creating Later, the celebrated talk-centered show hosted by Bob Costas.
Costas is deeply associated with the Olympics, of course, having served as the event’s primetime host 12 times. Costas began his Olympics run in 1988, but he wasn’t the primetime host that year; he was the host of the late-night coverage.
That show was designed as mostly a compendium of highlights of that day’s action, but it developed into a model of what Later would become.
By then, Costas was already a familiar face in Iate night—as a frequent guest on David Letterman’s Late Night show on NBC, including a memorable turn as the unflappable announcer for Letterman’s 30 Rock elevator races.
And then there’s this: When Costas worked those late nights in Seoul, Korea in 1988, he was especially impressed by a young researcher who provided both great information and program ideas. The intern, fresh out of Harvard, had won a renowned TV steppingstone job as researcher for the entire games, the same job that had launched Ebersol’s career.
On the recommendation of Costas, the researcher got a producing job at NBC after those games. His name was Jeff Zucker. And few executives have had a more consequential role in late night than Zucker.
He was president of NBC when faced with the conundrum of how to retain both Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien; and despite his best efforts, his plan—hatching a 10 pm show for Leno while Conan took over at Tonight—became a train wreck, a classic of its kind.
Like other late-night hosts, Leno stayed connected to the games while they played on NBC, keeping up his monologue before the network switched to more Olympics coverage, and employing comedy “correspondents” like “Ross the Intern” doing bits from Salt Lake City in 2002.
But the most memorable “civilian” correspondent from the Olympics was unquestionably Dorothy Mengering, who worked the venues for Letterman, starting in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. Everybody remembers Dorothy because she was Dave’s mom, who stood in the cold, wearing Indiana-style winter wear rather that ski fashions, interviewing Nancy Kerrigan and Hillary Clinton, while Dave nervously joked her through it.
Other more experienced performers have dropped in and out of the coverage, people like SNL’s Leslie Jones. She got herself hired by NBC to add some comedy and high energy commentary beginning with the 2016 games in Rio and 2018 games in South Korea.
That happened to be the last time a Winter Olympics was taking place while Donald Trump was President of the United States.
But, of course, everything in late night was different then.
Not so much.
Jimmy Fallon
“Tonight was the Opening Ceremony, which was a lot of fun until Trump stood there and pointing out which countries are sh*tholes.”
Bill Maher
“We sent Mike Pence. He doesn’t like it. Foreigners playing in the snow. He doesn’t want to see Mexicans on ice; he wants to see ICE on Mexicans.”
Stephen Colbert
“Yeah, kids, get into skating now—while we still have ice.”
Fallon (in Trump voice)
“I love the Olympics. There are so many fantastic countries participating. Countries like [video of Luxembourg entering the stadium] Luxury Bird… [video of Trinidad and Tobago] Tiny Dad and Toboggan… [video of Kazakhstan] Kardashian… [video of Macedonia] and Melania.”
That’s a lot of late-night associations with the Winter Games. But here’s one more, one that sort of sums up how late night has left an indelible impression on the thrilling experience of Olympic coverage on television.
It’s classic segment from a classic late-night host: Conan, from Salt Lake City in 2002.
Get stories like this in your inbox: Sign up for LateNighter’s free daily newsletter.
I’m getting a sneaking suspicion that since Fallon and Meyers’ contracts take them into 2028, the network might incorporate them into standard Olympic programming roles (commentators, host of a separate program related to the Games, etc.) but the chances of there being an LA edition of the “Tonight Show” or “Late Night” remote from Los Angeles might not be in the cards.