Snyder simply can’t be silenced. Booted off NBC as host of “Tomorrow” in 1982 to make room for a nobody named Letterman, Tom retreated to radio, resurfaced on cable’s CNBC in 1993, then was restored to a network throne by the very guy who took his job 13 years ago. Letterman is producing “The Late Late Show With Tom Snyder” for CBS and plugging it heavily. Snyder went on at 12:35, thanked Dave and started ranting about how Johnny never plugged him when “Tomorrow” followed “The Tonight Show.” Then he ranted some more about a security guard at KCBS, the network’s Los Angeles affiliate, who didn’t recognize him. The terrible Tom of Dan Aykroyd’s savage “SNL” parody has allegedly mellowed. But when he lets loose that mad cackle, the old black magic comes bubbling up again. With indicted ex-congressman Dan Rostenkowski, who could wind up doing prison time, Snyder blurted out, “So when are ya goin’ in?” Rosty, who has pleaded not guilty, coldly replied, “That’s not even funny.” Less tough with celebs, he sucked up to Candice Bergen while she fixed him with her best ice-queen smile and suffered dumb questions from callers. The show is being “simulcast” live on the radio, with Snyder positioning himself not as a slick TV host but a man-of-the-people radio guy. In his office at CBS’s L.A. studios, he explains: “People out there, their boss won’t listen to them. Their government won’t listen to them. Their spouse won’t listen to them. Rush [Limbaugh] will listen. Howard [Stern] will listen. Tom will listen.” And talk.
Grodin is more interested in his own issues than in America’s. An actor (“Midnight Run” and those dog movies) and natural-born raconteur, he takes over Snyder’s CNBC slot with the kind of dryly comic anecdotes he’s filled three books with. He’s been dubbed “the talk-show guest from hell” for berating his hosts on “The Tonight Show” and “Letterman” so convincingly it’s impossible to tell that the whole thing’s a deadpan put-on. “I was a television host waiting to happen,” says the relentlessly “on” Grodin, pacing neurotically around his office at CNBC’s Ft. Lee, N.J., headquarters. Witty with showbiz pals like Martin Short, too awed by former New York governor Mario Cuomo, he’s still getting the hang of it. He, too, is taking calls from viewers – another sign that talk television is turning into talk radio, into more Larry King and C-Span. CNBC’s sister network, America’s Talking, is basically radio with cameras. Snyder’s ratings slipped after opening night. But if he and Grodin can pull off this retro, unplugged talk TV, then Dave and Jay & Co. may want to brush up on the art of conversation. Or start smoking.
