A good balance of interesting and entertaining this week on late night television. As always, Fallon leads the week with musical guests, but the personalities are a mixed bag. You can find a local politician on a Comedy Central show or a Comedy Central personality on a CBS show.
Top Music Picks:
Monday, April 21 – Death on Arsenio
Vermont-by-way-of-Detroit punk trio Death was documented in the very interesting film, “A Band Called Death.” The band of brothers, whose lead singer passed away about a decade ago, has had a huge resurgence thanks to the film. Death’s original album, “…For the Whole World to See” has seen a new wave of popularity and the band recently released a series of early demos as well.
Wednesday, April 22 – Nas on Tavis Smiley
Nas recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the release of his legendary album “Illmatic,” cited by many as the greatest rap album of all time. Tavis Smiley doesn’t often kill it with his musical guests, but Nas is always one to get excited for.
Wednesday, April 23 – Skaters on Carson Daly
New York (with a touch of Boston) rockers and BDCwire favorites Skaters head to Carson Daly’s show, working off of the release of the band’s debut album “Manhattan.”
Thursday, April 24 – Courtney Barnett and Steven Tyler and Joe Perry on Fallon
Australian newcomer Courtney Barnett has taken the States by storm with her latest single, “Avant Gardener,” featuring a peculiar but refreshing stream-of-consciousness verse style. She will head to Fallon’s show along with the “Bad Boys from Boston,” Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.
Friday, April 25 – Alicia Keys and Kendrick Lamar on Fallon
One of the great crooners of recent R&B history teams up with one of the strongest lyricists in the new ranks of hip-hop. It would be almost impossible for this duo to do any wrong.
Top Guest Picks:
Tuesday, April 22 – Sen. Elizabeth Warren on “The Daily Show”
Massachusetts’ own Elizabeth Warren will head to “The Daily Show” for a chat with John Stewart upon the release of her new book, “A Fighting Chance.” Some have predicted Warren to throw her hat in the ring for the next Presidential race. Perhaps this interview could shed a bit of light on the matter.
Tuesday, April 22 – Stephen Colbert on Letterman
We’ve all learned by now, thanks to some really aggressive Facebook posting, that Stephen Colbert will be replacing David Letterman at as the next host of “The Late Show.” Let us see if this passing-of-the-torch goes a bit more smoothly than the Leno-Conan debacle of yore.
Wednesday, April 23 – Jim Gaffigan on Fallon
Jim Gaffigan is always relevant, despite being constantly irrelevant at the same time. He’s one of the funniest guys in stand-up, and even if he just sits there and talks about Hot Pockets the whole time, it will still be hilarious.
Thursday, April 24 – Matt Taibbi on Carson Daly
The former Rolling Stone writer just left that rag and has a new book out as well called “The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap.” He is a man of many opinions, but just so happens to back those opinions really well, which makes sense because he’s a journalist. Anyway, for some reason he’ll stop by Carson Daly’s show instead of something a bit more political, but it should still be worth checking out.
Thursday, April 24 – Gary Gulman on Seth Meyers
Boston bred stand-up comic Gary Gulman is a common face around here, hosting a show on NESN and having been a popular face on Dane Cook’s old show “Tourgasm.” You can probably hold those two things against him, but he’s still funny, and will likely be worth a few chuckles on Seth Meyers’ show.
