[music]

Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Yes, once again, this membership drive. We're having a 10-question quiz every day at around this time right after the news to break things up a little bit and have some fun, and give away some swag. In this case, get two in a row right, and win a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap, or the new WNYC tote that says You Can’t Defund the Truth. Today it's a late-night hosts 10-question quiz, and we have people lined up already to play because I gave out the number earlier, but when people finish up, you can try to get in at 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692. We're going to start today with Lynn in East Northport. Hi, Lynn. Ready to play?

Lynn: I am ready.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, this first one is just to make sure you're awake. Last month, my network, ABC, suspended my talk show initially indefinitely over remarks I made about the assassinated right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk. Who am I?

Lynn: That would be Jimmy Kimmel.

Brian Lehrer: That's right. You are awake. We were just making sure everybody's-- Oh, that was too easy. Okay, question two. I was the first host of The Tonight Show, which premiered in 1954. My first ever opening monologue contained a joke to explain the concept of such a show. Here's that seminal moment. Here's that 22nd joke from 1954, Episode 1 of The Tonight Show, and then tell me who I am.

[clip plays]

Steve Allen: It's a long show, goes on from 11:30, here in the East, that is, from 11:30 to 1 in the morning. And we especially selected this particular theater. This is a New York theater called the Hudson, and we especially selected this for this very late show because this theater, oh, I think it sleeps about 800 people.

[audience laughter]

Brian Lehrer: It sleeps about 800 people. Okay. Who am I? Do you know?

Lynn: Jack Paar?

Brian Lehrer: Oh, it was not Jack Paar. He was early as well, but that was Steve Allen, opening the first Tonight Show in 1954. We're going to go next to Amy in Inwood. You're on WNYC. Hi, Amy. Ready to play?

Amy: Yes, hi. Hello.

Brian Lehrer: Hey. This question is so hard that we're making it a bonus question. You win a piece of WNYC swag if you get it right. No penalty if you get it wrong, and you'll get your own questions. I think this fact belongs in the quiz, and it's another who am I question. My show began airing late night on CBS on October 24th, 1949 at 11:00 PM, five years before The Tonight Show debuted with Steve Allen, making me the actual first late-night host, though I am hardly remembered. My show is distinguished for being political, and interviewing political and intellectual figures, and unlike almost anyone who has come since, I was a woman. Here's a clip of me commenting on a viewer. It was something a viewer wrote in that I should not host a talk show and rather stick to low-cut gowns.

[clip plays]

Faye Emerson: I want to read this because I don't quite agree with this gentleman. He says, "Better stick to the plunging neckline, Faye. Politics is not for little girls." But I don't think that's true all together. I think politics is everybody's business. And I'm not a very little girl either.

Brian Lehrer: I know hardly anybody knows this name, but I thought it was important historically in a late-night hosts history quiz to throw her in. Do you have any idea of the name?

Amy: What was the year again? I'm so sorry.

Brian Lehrer: '49, when television was an infant, '49.

Amy: Okay. I remember because I think my mom's parents knew of her, so my mom knew of her when she was little. I just remember stories that my mom told me.

Brian Lehrer: No penalties if you get it wrong.

Amy: Okay, but I think it's--

Brian Lehrer: You think it's what?

Amy: Faye Emerson?

Brian Lehrer: Woo-hoo! Fanfare.

Amy: No way.

[music fanfare]

[laughter]

Brian Lehrer: How'd you do that? Did you Google it? Faye Emerson, who had been known as an actress before that. Her show lasted only one season on CBS. Amy, would you like a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap or a You Can’t Defund the Truth tote?

Amy: I will do the tote, please.

Brian Lehrer: All right, hang on. We'll take your address off the air. That is awesome. Somebody got the Faye Emerson question. I'm so happy. Daniel in San Francisco, ready to play? Hi, Daniel.

Daniel: Hi, Brian. I'm ready.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, question four, we'll call this. As a late-night talk show host, I was known for drawing a hip urban crowd with a very eclectic assortment of guests, including Will Smith, Oprah, and both Bill and Hillary Clinton. I represented another first in late-night hosting, breaking another barrier, different from Faye Emerson. In fact, here I am in December 1990 after citing a newspaper headline that white men get charged less to buy a car than women or Black people.

[clip plays]

Arsenio Hall: I wonder if it's like this in all elements of life. You know, like, let me ask white people.

[audience laughter]

Well, I got to here. It might be a white thing. Do Twinkies, a package of Twinkies, is it $126?

[audience laughter]

Because that's what I paid last night. Oh, so there's a trick going on here. I'm letting some white people do my shopping from now, and I'm taking you with me.

?Speaker: I'll go with you.

Arsenio Hall: Okay. Okay. I'm sending you in from now. Oh, Donald Trump, he needs a job.

[audience laughter]

?Speaker: I'll send him in.

Arsenio Hall: Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Hilarious. Referencing Donald Trump in 1990 in whose talk show? Daniel, if you know?

Daniel: That's Arsenio Hall.

Brian Lehrer: Absolutely right. That monologue, by the way, the reference to Trump, I looked it up after I heard the clip. It came two days after this New York Times story in 1990 that said Donald and Ivana Trump were granted a divorce yesterday. Cruel and inhuman treatment by Mr. Trump was cited as the grounds for the uncontested divorce. Who will get what from the troubled Trump real estate, hotel and casino empire was not decided during the brief proceeding, so another little bit--

Daniel: If only that were the last we ever heard of him. Oh, my God. That would have been great.

Brian Lehrer: Question five, for the hat or the tote? Before I went on to host my own late-night talk show, I hosted Saturday Night Live's satirical news program Weekend Update for seven years, mostly alongside Amy Poehler. Who am I?

Daniel: I'm Seth Meyers.

Brian Lehrer: Seth Meyers is absolutely right, 2006 to 2013 on Weekend Update, and then, of course, onto his own show. Would you like the You Can’t Defund the Truth tote or The Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap to be sent out there to San Francisco?

Daniel: We will take the baseball cap.

Brian Lehrer: All right, and people will say, Brian Lehrer Show, what's that? Daniel, thank you very much. We're going to take your address off the air. We're going to go from Daniel in San Francisco to Spencer in Berkeley Heights. That's in New Jersey, not on the other side of the Bay Bridge in the Bay Area. Spencer, you're on WNYC. Ready to play?

Spencer: Good morning, Brian. I sure hope so.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, question six. My late-night show launched during the 2000 US presidential campaign with satiric but comprehensive political coverage called Indecision 2000. It became so popular that on election night 2000, my show's viewership rivaled that of some traditional news programs coverage. Who am I?

Spencer: I'm going to say-- I'm sure you said Indecision 2000?

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Three, two, one, take your best guess.

Spencer: I can only think of Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, you were one host too late. It was Jon Stewart. Spencer, thanks for trying. We're going to try Charlotte in Jersey City. Hi, Charlotte. Ready to play, Charlotte?

Charlotte: I'm panicked. I hope winning really gets to me.

Brian Lehrer: Okay. Question eight in this 10-question late-night show quiz. Forgive me, question seven. I don't want to lose track. We just heard about Jon Stewart. Several late-night talk show hosts started off as daily show correspondence under Jon Stewart, but maybe none faster than me. I began appearing as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 2014, and by the next year, I was the host. Who am I?

Charlotte: Oh, my God. Appearing on the Jon Stewart--

Brian Lehrer: Succeeded Jon Stewart as the host for a number of years.

Charlotte: See, I'm so bad with names, but--

Brian Lehrer: It's a name quiz.

Charlotte: I know it's a name quiz.

Brian Lehrer: Three, two, one, take a guess.

Charlotte: Can't do it. He's from South Africa. He's Black. He's-- But I can't do the name.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, that's so close, but we needed the name. Trevor Noah. Sorry about that. All right, next up, Chris in Greenpoint. Question 8. Chris, hi. Ready to play? Here we go. As long as there have been late-night talk show hosts, they've been joined on their program by their band leaders. Johnny Carson had Doc Severinsen, super well to The Tonight Show viewers in those years. Then Jay Leno had two during his years hosting The Tonight Show. Can you name either one? You just need one, or do you need a clue?

Chris: I know Kevin Eubanks was one of them.

Brian Lehrer: Kevin Eubanks was one of them.

[music]

There he is, to celebrate you getting that right. The other one was Brandon Marsalis, brother of Wynton. Question 9. I am the only late-night talk show who's been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Chris: Oh, God.

Brian Lehrer: If you need a hint, I was given the award the same year I retired from a late-night talk show in 1992.

Chris: Johnny Carson

Brian Lehrer: Is correct.

[music fanfare]

Congratulations on knowing Kevin Eubanks and getting the Johnny Carson question. Do you want a You Can’t Defund the Truth tote or The Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap?

Chris: I'll take that hat, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Hang on, we'll take your address off the air. Judy in Rockland County. Ready to play?

Judy: I am.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, one question left. When Carson announced his impending retirement, Johnny Carson, it sparked a fierce competition between two other prominent comedians, one of whom got the job. Who were both competitors?

Judy: I believe it was David Letterman and Jay Leno.

Brian Lehrer: That is correct, and because it was the last question--

[music fanfare]

You get the prize. One little footnote to history, after Leno won the coveted spot, an angry Letterman, as we know, moved over to rival network CBS, and he went on to appear twice as a guest on Letterman's show, zero on Leno's, because he didn't like the way the network handled the whole thing. Do you want the You Can’t Defund the Truth tote or The Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap?

Judy: Well, I've got a cap already, so I'm going to take the tote, please.

Brian Lehrer: Judy, thank you. We'll take your address off the air. That's our 10-question quiz for today. We'll do another one tomorrow. We have Adam Gopnik from The New Yorker coming up next. I saw his one-person show yesterday, and it was really fun. We'll talk to Adam Gopnik. Stay with us.

 

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