Kal Penn, Fresh Off ‘Daily Show’ Run, Sees New Opportunities in Late Night

N.W.A., Laurie Anderson, Donna Summer and more have been announced as recipients of this year’s Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.The 2024 cohort, which also includes Gladys Knight, Tammy Wynette and The Clark Sisters, will receive their awards at the Special Merit Awards ceremony on February 3. It will precede the Grammy Awards, which will take place the next day at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.“What luck! To be part of a group of some of my all-time favourite artists”, Anderson wrote on social media.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor There’s a new senior player in TV’s true-crime industry. Paul Ryan has been named executive producer of NBC News‘ “Dateline,’ reporting to Liz Cole, who became the long-running newsmagazine’s senior executive producer last year. Both elevations come after David Corvo, the NBC News executive who had long overseen the series, moved to tackle consulting duties.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The founder of VideoAmp, a measurement-technology start-up that has been vying with Nielsen and others to create a new means of tabulating video audiences, is stepping down from his CEO role just as the company plans to lay off nearly a fifth of its staff, Ross McCray, who led VideoAmp as it struck deals with titans such as Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, will remain as a shareholder and board member at VideoAmp, but will be replaced by Peter Liguori, an industry veteran who has led Fox Entertainment, FX and Tribune Media, among other companies. Peter Bradbury,, a former Nielsen executive, was named VideoAmp’s chief commercial and growth officer.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CBS kicks off a new era in late-night on Tuesday, January 16, when it launches “After Midnight” at 12:37 a.m. hosted by comic Taylor Tomlinson. The series, which will rely on a rotating series of panelists to discuss the latest trends and memes in the digi-sphere, will follow an original hour of CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” “After Midnight,” based on the premise of “@midnight,” a program that ran on Comedy Central between 2013 and 2017,” breaks late-night tradition at CBS, which has long depended on a more typical program after 12:30 a.m.

Writers from late-night shows including Last Week Tonight, The Daily Show and The Late Show among others are heading to the Primetime Emmys after the Television Academy performed a U-turn on its decision to exclude a key writing category from the main awards.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Athan Stephanopoulos will leave his role as chief digital officer of CNN as the news outlet’s new chief starts to implement his strategic vision for the Warner Bros. Discovery property. In a memo issued Wednesday, Stephanopoulos said that Mark Thompson, CNN”s new chief, “had his own vision of how he wanted digital operations to be organized.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Mike Tirico will have an unusual new partner for NBCUniversal’s looming coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Rapper and actor Snoop Dogg will be on hand during the event to provide regular reports for NBC”s primetime Olympics program, starting July 26 of next year on both the broadcast network and the Peacock streaming hub. Snoop Dogg is slated to offer his unique take on what’s happening at the athletic extravaganza and will be seen exploring landmarks as well as holding forth with various competitors.

Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Burr, Kevin Hart, Sebastian Maniscalco and Ali Wong — have announced major nationwide tours that will send them far and wide all over North America.They’re not the only acts hitting the road, though.Our team found 107 (!) major stand-ups, podcasters, improvisers, duo acts, “Saturday Night Live” cast members, authors, crowd work comics and storytellers likely headed to a venue in your neck of the woods in the very near future.Plus, in May, over 300 (yes, you read that right) comedians are descending upon Los Angeles for the second Netflix is a Joke Festival.Want to see who’s out and about these next few months?You’re in the right place, chuckleheads.Below, you’ll find the 107 biggest comedians on tour separated by sub-genres like household name headliners, ‘SNL’ cast members, ‘Daily Show’ alumni, up-and-comers and many more for your scrolling pleasure.So sit back, relax and get ready to LOL, LMAO, ROFL and plain ol’ laugh.Runs Jan. 5 through Sept. 7.Known for Seinfeld, Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee and Bee Movie.Runs Jan. 6 through June 23.Known for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, The Upside and Get Hard.Runs Jan. 11 through May 4.Known for Big Mouth, The Sack Lunch Bunch, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.Runs Feb. 16 through July 21.Known for Old Dads, F is for Family and The Mandalorian.Runs Jan. 19 through May 26.Known for Chelsea Lately, Chelsea Does and Hello Privilege, It’s Me Chelsea.Runs Jan. 20 through June 14.Known for The Blue Collar Comedy Tour, The Jeff Foxworthy Show and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?Runs Jan. 12 through Feb. 18.Known for Saturday Night Live, Mean Girls and Baby Mama.Runs May 3 through June 15.Known for Only Murders in the Building, Three Amigos and Father of the

Several stars have left Hollywood behind for normal jobs despite having successful movie or TV careers.

Taylor Swift is spending another late night in the recording studio!

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor This isn’t a red-carpet film debut or a charity event, but celebrities are still turning out for it. When the Israeli mobile-games company Playtika launches a new series of ad campaigns on the day after Christmas, it will do so with some famous names in tow. Jason Alexander will pitch World Series of Poker in a series of commercials, and Sarah Jessica Parker will play a city girl who gets to enjoy the country life thanks to Solitaire Grand Harvest.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi are taking their show to the NBA. The two WNBA stalwarts will host their first NBA game together on ESPN, bringing back a programming concept that has proven popular during the network’s coverage of the NCAA women’s final four tournament. “The Bird & Taurasi Show,” seen six times over the course of 2022 and 2023, has gained notice for the duo’s rapport and rogue energy.

It’s been a strange year for late-night and things are only going to get weirder.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Stanley Tucci has found a new recipe for the popular docuseries exploring Italian cuisine he once whipped up for CNN. The actor has struck a production deal with Disney’s National Geographic that calls for a new ten-part docuseries, “Tucci – The Heart of Italy,” to appear on the Nat Geo cable network. Tucci will explore the cuisine and culture in ten different regions of Italy.

“Bedtime Story” that only Madonna could tell.In the true tradition of her notoriously late concert starts, the Queen of Pop kept her loyal subjects waiting until almost 11 p.m. before taking the stage to kick off the US leg of her “Celebration Tour” at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Wednesday night. Due to the tour’s postponement — after a serious bacterial infection sent Madonna to the ICU in June — local fans already had to wait four months since the original New York dates in August were rescheduled.So what’s another couple of hours?Although the tickets had a scheduled 8:30 p.m.

Grammys, marking the fourth year in a row in which he has hosted.The former Daily Show host helmed the music awards ceremony back in 2021, 2022 and 2023, following Alicia Keys‘ run as a host in both 2019 and 2020. The 67th Grammy Awards ceremony will be held on February 4, 2024 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California.“I think it’s also important to acknowledge something.

Trevor Noah has a very exciting announcement!

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The audience for NewsNation‘s Wednesday-night Republican primary debate was one of the smallest and the biggest. Nearly 1.6 million tuned in to the Nexstar-backed upstart cable-news outlet to watch two former Republican governors, one current one and one outlier tangle for attention and donors in a debate moderated by Elizabeth Vargas, Megyn Kelly and Eliana Johnson, with more than 2.5 million choosing to watch a simulcast on the CW broadcast network, a corporate sibling.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Disney wants to get into the Brittney Griner business. The inspirational WNBA All-Star, who was arrested and held in Russia in 2022 and sentenced to nine years in prison, will give Disney the exclusive rights to share her story via a documentary feature from ESPN Films, the development of a scripted series through ABC Signature and an exclusive interview with ABC News anchor Robin Roberts.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Desi Lydic, who has gained notice during her recent tenure as one of the correspondents at Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” has signed with Artists First, the talent-management firm known for its stable of comic actors. Lydic joined “The Daily Show” as a correspondent in September 2015, just as Trevor Noah started his tenure as host.