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Revision as of 22:14, 5 August 2005 by JButler (talk | contribs) (formatting)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Newscaster for New York's WNBC-TV in the 1970s, Tom Snyder (born May 12, 1936 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) gained national fame as host of The Tomorrow Show, which aired late-nights after The Tonight Show on NBC from 1973–82. It was a talk-show unlike the usual late-night fare, with Snyder asking hard-hitting questions without pulling punches. When not grilling guests, Tom would often joke around with off-stage crewmen, often breaking out in a distinctive staccato laugh that was the basis of Dan Aykroyd's impersonation of Snyder on Saturday Night Live. The show was cancelled in 1982 to make room for up-and-coming young comedian David Letterman, following a disastrous experiment with turning Tomorrow into a more typical talk show, adding a live audience and a co-host, Rona Barrett, whom Snyder detested.
An older, slightly more mellow Tom returned to virtually the same format on CNBC in the early '90s, adding the opportunity for viewers to call in with their own questions for the show's guests. Meanwhile, Letterman had moved on to CBS and was given control of creating a new show to follow his at 12:35 am; Letterman—who had idolized Snyder for years—hired Snyder in 1995 as host of The Late Late Show. This show aired live on the East Coast and was simulcast to other time zones on radio to allow everyone a chance to call in. (Snyder's CNBC show was taken over, largely unchanged in format, by Charles Grodin.) Snyder left the show in 1999, and the show was reformatted for new host Craig Kilborn.
Tom posted regular messages on his own website, colortini.com, during the early 2000s. A "colortini," according to Tom in the CNBC era, was the drink you should enjoy while watching the show ("Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air."). For the CBS show, he redubbed the mythical drink a "simultini." In April, 2005, Snyder revealed that he is suffering from Leukemia.
On July 28th 2005 Tom annouced he was deleting his website after 6 years, saying, "The novelty of communicating this way has worn off." And on August 1st 2005 colortini.com was abruptly taken offline. The front page was replaced with "Colortini is gone. Thanks for the memories."
| Preceded byNone | Host of The Late Late Show 1995 – 1999 |
Succeeded byCraig Kilborn |