Longtime late-night executive Nick Bernstein spent more than two decades behind the scenes at NBC and CBS, working with Jay Leno, James Corden, Taylor Tomlinson, and others.
But one of the strangest days of his career came near the end of After Midnight.
On this week’s episode of LateNighter’s Inside Late Night podcast, Bernstein tells Mark Malkoff that CBS called him with good news: the network planned to pick up After Midnight for a third season.
Later that same day, he learned Tomlinson had told another group of producers that she didn’t want to continue hosting the show.
CBS briefly considered continuing After Midnight with another host, but ultimately decided it would mean starting over after investing in establishing Tomlinson with viewers.
Within about a week, Bernstein says, the decision was made to end the show after its second season.
Bernstein’s CBS tenure also included The Late Late Show with James Corden, where the longtime behind-the-scenes executive unexpectedly became an on-camera personality during the COVID-era shows. What began as Corden bantering with staff eventually led to Bernstein being put on an increasingly tall chair, dressed as a jockey, and even strapped to a basketball backboard for a bit with Dwyane Wade.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Bernstein recalls initially questioning the decision to air Justin Bieber’s first”Carpool Karaoke” after David Letterman’s final Late Show, pitching a possible 1:30 a.m. show with Josh Johnson in mind, navigating NBC’s Leno-Conan transition, and what he learned from years of meetings with Lorne Michaels.
Click the embed above to listen to Mark Malkoff’s full conversation with Nick Bernstein now, or find Inside Late Night on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
