Tom Snyder

A long-time journeyman TV newsman, working in several major markets from coast to coast (in Philadelphia he worked under David Brenner, later to become a Vegas comic of note; in New York he anchored one of the first modern multi-hour local newscasts); the first network TV late-late night talk show host, starting with The Tomorrow Show in the early 70's. Tomorrow, in its original form, was the blueprint for his later shows, on ABC Radio, CNBC, and The Late Late Show on CBS.

An inimitable non-style which is quite lovable. Laughs sort of like Ed McMahon. Calls all old men 'young man' and old women 'young lady.' Is one of those people who is in love with show biz even though he has no real talent or rightful place in it. This also makes him a lot more lovable than slicker talk-hosts. Was parodied perfectly by Dan Aykroyd. Interviewed a lot of interesting people such as Jerry Garcia, Charles Manson, Johnny Rotten, and the Hillside Strangler.

What was it like? What are any conversations like? You sit next to people. People like you and me-at least-people you think are like you and me. So you sit with them and you ask them things-questions-and I would pause and give them time to think about their answers- you know REALLY think about them. Sometimes two or three minutes and just that dead air and me -chainsmoking on the air, because it was allowed back then and I smoke and that is the way that it is. Or was. But not anymore.

So I would ask these questions and sometimes I got good answers and sometimes I got bad answers but it was real -I mean, as real as Television gets-we all know it's not real, but it approached that.

So I had a monologue of sorts, without jokes, because I wasn't funny, still am not funny, and would talk about things. Then I would interview these people and things would be said and we would do commercials and then we would say good morning-because obviously 3am on the East coast was too late to say good night. So I never said that. There were a lot of things I never said that maybe I should, but that's water under the bridge. I don't regret anything that happened.

Thanks for watching.