Name: Aaron Barnhart on "Fox Thing in the Morning," December 22, 1994
Uploaded: 2017-11-06T17:50:36.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Aaron Barnhart on "Fox Thing in the Morning," December 22, 1994' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2017-11-06. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Aaron Barnhart on "Fox Thing in the Morning," December 22, 1994' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2017-11-06. Transcript available.

I must admit, whenever I log in and see that on the computer, I'm thinking this
is what it's come to in this era of 90s technology.
A computer greeting for the holidays, warm and personal.
Yeah, I like the Christmas tree. I think it was after you mentioned that the
Marriott had done that.
Oh, yes.
Then we got one on our computer.
Very nice. 842. We're going to activate the irregularly scheduled and award-winning
feature In Bed With today to meet Aaron Barnhart.
He's at home in a Chicago suburb this morning. Aaron, explain now what you do.
This is very interesting.
You publish what's called an e-zine about late-night TV. Tell us more about
this.
That's right. I publish an electronic newsletter that goes out every week over
the vast information highway we call the Internet
to a few thousand people who want to keep track of the late-night talk shows.
So you stay up late watching all the shows, and where else do you get your
information?
Well, I get a lot of information online, actually.
You can get most of the major wire services plus a lot of specialty
publications like Variety Magazine is now online.
So that helps me keep up to date.
Now, is this for people who missed the shows and want to know what happened the
night before,
or is this to get the inside stuff on what's going on behind the scenes?
Well, it's a little of both.
I mean, one of my friends describes it as a guy covering the baseball season,
only it's late-night television.
It's true that I like to cover it that way, but I also like to provide a lot of
analysis, too.
I mean, I'm somebody who watches a lot of these shows and always have, so there's
something always in addition to the gossip.
So, for example, are you surrounded there by television sets, remote controls,
VCRs, because you've got to watch a lot of things at the same time, don't you?
No, it's very simple.
One VCR and one set of eyes usually covers me.
I don't attempt to, and I don't advertise to be totally comprehensive, but to
give everybody a good feel for all the shows that are on late-night.
So what are the big shows that you are working with?
Well, I'm a big Letterman fan. I always liked his show.
I like Jon Stewart's show a lot because, well, maybe because it's an underdog.
Why don't you give us the December 22nd, up-to-the-minute report on late-night
TV, the latest gossip, the latest news, the latest information you're coming
across.
Well, two heads have rolled, two head writers have rolled in the last week.
Rob Smigel, who was Conan O'Brien's best friend and the head writer and
producer of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, is out.
He's leaving voluntarily to work on a movie.
And Fred Graver, the producer of Jon Stewart's show, which has been on for all
of 13 weeks, is out.
And he's not leaving voluntarily.
Fred Graver used to be a writer on the Letterman Show.
That's right.
And isn't he a Chicago boy? I believe he might be.
And a big fan of the newsletter, too.
He reads us every week, yes.
Oh, who else reads your newsletter that we might know about?
Well, there's a movie critic in our town and computer buff.
You might be able to guess his name, Roger Ebert.
He picked me up a couple of months ago and has been talking about me on CompuServe,
which I've been very grateful for.
Brought me a lot of new readers, actually.
Picked up, as in on the computer, your information.
That's right.
All right.
So do any of the people from the shows themselves respond to this in any way,
you know, personally or through their people?
Well, I hear from various people.
You know, I not only cover the talk shows, but Nightline, since it's also a
very distinct late-night television program.
And I hear from their people from time to time.
One of their producers watches it.
So, for example, if Ted Koppel got a new haircut, would that be something
featured in your late-night news e-zine?
Well, Bob, I'm not sure.
I think he gets a new haircut every night, don't you think?
Does he?
That would be something for you to investigate.
I wonder how you get the scoop and find out what's going on before it's
actually in the wires and in the papers.
Do you have contact with the people?
Do you have contact with David Letterman, with Jay Leno, with any of these
people?
Well, the Letterman staff have been very nice to the newsletter right from the
beginning.
They've been keeping track of it.
They're the most online group of people, I think, in all of television.
So I'll hear things from them from time to time.
But by and large, I just keep my ears to the ground.
I don't claim to be a gossip sheet.
Every now and then I'll get some information, for instance, from Fred Graver.
But for the most part, I simply try and cover this little niche of late-night
television very thoroughly.
Is this a hobby that's gotten out of control now?
Or is this now your business?
It's not making me any money, so we can't strictly call it a business.
Maybe we could call it a not-for-profit.
But it really is designed, as far as I'm concerned, to give me a distribution
channel for my writing.
So what do you do full-time?
What's your normal vocation?
I work downtown in a real estate firm as an administrative assistant.
Hopefully this will lead to other things, though, right?
I mean, eventually you'll be writing a book and making a movie and all that
stuff, right?
I'm also looking at electronic publishing.
I mean, what's happened in the last year, getting thousands of subscribers to
my newsletter, has been very, very gratifying.
And I think this is the future of journalism.
You normally have to be at work around 9, right?
So this can sometimes cut into your sleep, keeping track of late-night TV.
Well, Bob, if it wasn't for your camera cruise, which showed up, what was it,
three minutes ago?
Yeah, that's right.
I'd be late for work.
Three minutes?
A lot of preparation went into this.
And if somebody wants to pick up the late-night news on their computer, what do
they do?
They can just send me email.
I think you have my name up there spelled correctly.
You just send it to barnhart at mcs, that's michaelcharlesstuart, dot net.
You know what?
People can get in touch with us, and we'll repeat the information for them.
Make sure you give it to our people.
And you're confirming that MCI is not buying the Catholic Church, correct?
That's correct.
That was a false rumor.
All right.
Have a shirt for being on the show.
And by the way, think about publishing a little e-zine about morning TV.
I'll look into it.
It's quite a growing field, isn't it?
Yeah, it is.
Hey, look.
It's the Joe Zone Performance Zone shirt.
I'll wear it with pride, Joe.
And it's Aaron Barnhart, writer and publisher of The Late Show News, in bed in
his suburban Chicago home this morning.
Good luck with it.
Bob, Mary Ann, good morning.
Happy holidays.
You too.
Same to you.
Very interesting story, isn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
There is a specialty for everyone, especially on computer.
Yeah, and what I like about it is that it's concise.
I mean, you can just go right to it.
You don't have to look through a whole lot of stuff to find out all the latest
gossip.
Exactly.
We'll take a break here for two minutes, and then when we return, one more
thing for the youngsters.
This is only for the youngsters, really.
So when you think it's stupid, remember, it's just for the youngsters.
An original holiday story that will touch your heart when we return.
Of course, that would be what Aaron Barnhart is reading.
Of course.
At 10 to 9 in the morning.
His Late Show News now has 6,000 direct subscribers.
And again, if you want more information, get in touch with us.
We'll forward all those numbers and letters to you.
And he's not getting his information from that magazine, by the way.
He has it way before.
I think he's just checking his facts, yeah.
Entertainment.
All right, let's talk to...