Why I Disliked Carson Daly Long Before the Talentless Hack Broke the Strike

Cue sound of girls swooning

I try to live a life free of hate and, until this week, there was only one person that I truly hated: Rev. Fred Phelps.However, that changed when I read this story. It seems that Carson Daly has become the first of the late night/early morning talk show hosts to return to work. Now he's not only an agent of the devil but he's also hurting the writer's strike. Hold on, let me back up and provide some context.

Who is Carson Daly?

Carson Daly is an annoying man whose only talent – if you want to call it that – is that he seems able to talk non-stop with celebrities. Growing up in Southern California he was a disc jockey on the normally great, influential radio station KROQ. Whenever he would come on the air I would turn off the station. When I moved to Arkansas and then Maryland I figured I was rid of Carson Daly.

Nope. MTV, in the infinite wisdom that would turn a music video channel until into a channel that seemed to show everything BUT music videos, hired Carson Daly. He hosted its TRL show, making him a hit in the teenage market. Did he use his new position for good, steering kids to good music? No, of course not. Instead he gave the kids what they said they wanted: more Britney Spears, more Backstreet Boys, more… well, just more crap.

At some point in the last few years, as TV networks were looking for more late night talk show hosts tNBC decided to hire someone who is about as funny as he is smart, which is to say he makes George Bush seem like a MENSA member.

The cancer that is Carson Daly spread from cable to the networks but that was fine, I figured. I would just continue to refuse to watch him on the logic of ignorance being bliss. Besides, I'm asleep by 1:35 a.m. when his show comes on.

The 2007 Writers Guild Strike

Then I started watching – and covering – the 2007 Writers Guild Strike, and interviewing two of the writers on strike. The networks have been pressuring talk show hosts to return to work, with or without their writing staffs. At first nobody budged.

There has been plenty of media speculation about who would be the first late night talk show host to yield, the thinking being that once one host returns (and is thus the focus of well-justified ire from writers) it would make it easier for the networks to convince other hosts to return.

Now let me ask you a question:

Have any of you heard anyone saying, "You know who I'm missing during this writer's strike? No, not The Daily Show. No, not the Colbert Report. No, I've really been missing Carson Daly. I sure wish he'd come back soon." Because I haven't heard anyone saying that.

As if that is not bad enough, he is rumored to be seeking a non-union writing staff for his show, which would do further damage to the writer's strike. What's the point of the TV Writers Guild if hosts can just hire non-union writers? I say if he wants to return let him try to do so without writers – let's see how funny he can be without help.

While Guild workers this week were saying, "Carson who?" Conan O'Brien showed why he is a better man, agreeing to pay out of his own pocket for his non-guild staff

Yes, I want to see Carson sweat and have a meltdown on the air when he run out of questions to ask a guest and resort to humming your favorite songs while drooling and pining for his ex-girlfriend Tara Reid who was wise to ditch his sorry ass.

For these and other reasons I consider Carson Daly either an agent of Satan or, since this would explain his many breaks so far, the luckiest man in the world. That, dear readers, is why I now hate two people: Rev. Phelps and Carson Daly.

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	Carson Daly About to Defy Writers Strike	Associated Press	Tue Nov 27	0
	`Last Call' Bucks Strike to Air New Show	Associated Press	Tue Dec 4	0
	Late-Night TV in Limbo As Daly Returns	Associated Press	Wed Nov 28	1