The Talk Show — A Not Late Night Late Night Show

I really like the new incarnation of The Talk Show with John Gruber. It’s now nine episodes in (after 90 episodes on 5by5) and is getting some steam behind it. Having different people on the show each week gives John and the guests an opportunity to talk about topics way beyond tech news.

I chatted with Gruber for a bit after his appearance on On The Verge, a variety show hosted by Joshua Topolsky. We were joking about a segment on the show where they were demoing different software and hardware that supposedly make working on Windows not so horrific. The host of the segment was showing off an HP Envy and John said that he wanting to run in from backstage and smash the laptop, like a gag on a Late Night show. He figured it was a bad idea because he didn’t know who’s laptop it was but the comment stuck with me.

Gruber has talked about his love for Late Night TV and how it inspired the title and format of the show. What comes out in the new incarnation of The Talk Show is Gruber himself. Now that it’s his show, he can be the star. He can be the man behind the desk of his late night talk show while his guests each week bring new things to talk about and bring new things out of John. The perfect example of this is the episode with Cabel Sasser, live from WWDC. As I was listening, I thought back to that chat with John about how he just loved the late night platform. The leap into this new incarnation was all about shaping something that was more like late night TV and the Live From WWDC show is exactly what I think Gruber envisioned.

Instead of bringing out a cardboard desk, Gruber seems comfortable being the main man behind the mic.