Late-night talk shows began with Faye Emerson on CBS

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]Well, this week marks Steven Colbear's final  week hosting The Late Show. Yeah. Morning anchor Mike Kirkoff is looking back at the  history of late night talk shows on CBS and found the genre was actually invented on CBS  by a real TV pioneer. Before Steven Colbear, I'm your host Steven Colbear. Before David  Letterman, top 10 favorite numbers from 1 to 10. Even before Johnny Carson or  Steve Allen, there was FA Emerson.

[00:00:29]Hello, this is FA Emerson for PepsiCola. I'll  be with you in a minute. She was the first late night television talk show host and she defined  the genre. Dr. Maren Mock is a media historian credited with bringing FA Emerson's story back  to the forefront with her research at WMadison.

[00:00:50]Just a second. Late night television had not  yet become a thing. Mock says at the time it was the evening news, maybe baseball,  and that's it. In fact, at the beginning, 8:15 p.m. was considered late night. Who was  the most interesting person you ever painted?

[00:01:06]She was bringing on these comedians, these  musicians, these politicians, journalists, uh, just kind of fun fact, interesting people from  the culture of the day. Mox says Emerson had full control over everything. The guests, even having  guests to begin with, the set, the topics, a lot of it is still part of late night TV. She also  did kind of similar to how you think about David Letterman with his mailbag. She started that. And  Mock says she didn't shy away from anything. Oh, now here's one. This a key key letter that I  really based a lot of my research on. He says, "Better stick to the plunging neckline." Fay,  politics is not for little girls. She opened that lie, read his name and full name and address.  I think you have a perfect right to say what you think and to tell me about it, but I don't  think that's true altogether. I think politics is everybody's business and um I'm not a very  little girl either. It was such a powerful moment where she, you know, recognized the power of her  platform. She was highly intelligent. But anyway, thanks for your interest. And like Cold Bear,  her willingness to speak boldly about what was important to her drew a certain reaction. The  networks and the sponsors pushed back and kind of asked her to cool it. And then eventually  by 1951 was her last episode and then the late night platform got pushed to men. Women were  never to return. Mach hopes the late night model pioneered by Emerson on CBS and carried  on multiple networks for the last 75 plus years finds a way to continue. As far as Coar leaving  and not being replaced with another late night television talk show host, there's going to be  a void in Milwaukee. Mike Kirkov, CBS 58 News.