Tom Snyder

Lifelong insomniac that I am, most of my TV viewing takes place after prime time.

I wonder how many hours I've logged in with late night talk shows. It has to be an absolutely enormous total.

One of my favorite late night hosts was Tom Snyder.

I'm saddened today to learn of his death.

The obits are focusing on his interviews with John Lennon, Charles Manson, and Johnny Rotten. Not to take anything away from those memorable moments but Snyder didn't need a fascinating guest to do a fascinating interview.

There's so much that I liked about him. You'd think that his somewhat loud and occasionally abrasive style wouldn't fit with late late TV, in the quiet hours when so much of the country was fast asleep. He was sort of a caffeine jolt when it was time to be winding down.

In spite of the energy, Snyder managed to create a very intimate atmosphere. For most of his late night career, he had no studio audience and the set was only chairs and darkness. (Tomorrow Show viewers might remember the teddy bear mascot.)

Because there were no visual distractions of an overdone set, no live band, and no flashing applause sign, the atmosphere was perfect for compelling interviews.

I loved his opening monologues. They were simply Snyder's ramblings, not the work of a team of writers.

Although I didn't watch the original airing, I did see the famous John Lennon interview. It was shown after John Lennon was killed.

I remember when Meat Loaf appeared with Snyder for the first time. He mistakenly called him Meat Ball when he was saying who would be on the show that night. When the guest joined him, Snyder called him Mr. Loaf.

Another moment that still makes me laugh when I think about it was when Snyder was interviewing a few members of some cheerleading squad for a professional team. Snyder commented on the squad being bisexual. He meant coed or open to both sexes. He didn't mean to suggest that the cheerleaders were bisexual.

I remember being introduced to Curtis Sliwa and John Walsh on Snyder's show. I can't say that I remember U2's appearance, but odds are I saw it.

Although I was a fan of David Letterman's NBC morning show, I still was sorry when Snyder left the air to be replaced by Letterman.

It was kind of funny that the guy who bumped Snyder at NBC would be the one to bring him back to network TV.

I was so pleased when Letterman resurrected a version of Snyder's NBC show to follow his CBS program.

As pleased as I was with Snyder's return, I was equally disappointed that the CBS incarnation of The Tomorrow Show had a relatively brief run.

I loved The Late Late Show.

The interviews weren't the scripted stuff that Letterman and Leno offer, where everything has to have a punchline. They were real interviews -- entertaining, interesting, enlightening. The guests really talked.

Some memorable moments from that show came when Robert Blake would guest. I remember him confessing that he had a face lift and he was sorry that he did. He was unhappy that he had to shave behind his ears due to his facial skin being pulled back.

Of course, those appearances preceded Blake's murder trial. No confessions about that.

Snyder did a great interview with Conan O'Brien, his late night competition at the time.

Florence Henderson was on the show once. Snyder was saying something about the producer of The Brady Bunch, Sherwood Schwartz. Snyder mistakenly called him Sherwood Forest.

As a Wisconsinite, it was great when Snyder would talk about his days in Milwaukee, at Marquette University High School and Marquette University.

When the Green Bay Packers returned to glory and won the Super Bowl, Snyder cheered on the team.

Green Bay native Tony Shalhoub also talked Wisconsin when he was Snyder's guest.

During an interview with the late Barbara Olson, they talked about beautiful Door County, where she had a home in Ellison Bay.

And Snyder always kept his audience up to date on "Mother Snyder."

Snyder was a good son, a great interviewer, and proud to be from Milwaukee.

I'll have a colortini in Tom's honor tonight.
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Read Badger Blogger's memories of Tom Snyder.