Cryer Tonite

Cryer Tonite is a Georgeland television program, based largely on American late night TV shows, especially The Tonight Show and The Late Show with David Letterman. The show debuted on 9th February 1994, initially in a weekly slot, but proved so consistently popular for a late-night slot that from it's fifth season onwards, starting in 1998, the show was moved to a five-night a week slot, much in the manner of its U.S. forebears. Since the beginning, the show has been presented by Jim Cryer. The show is broadcast on Channel 12 (Georgeland) at 10:30 pm every weeknight. Cryer hosts the show from Santa Christina, but occasionally ventures outside to other cities. In 2005, Cryer announced some shows in 2006 would be broadcast from New York, Los Angeles, London and Melbourne.

Format
The show, like its U.S. equivilants, begins with an opening monologue, performed by Cryer, commenting on news of the day. There is almost always a joke at the expense of either George W. Bush or Michael Jackson in the monologue. Thereafter, Cryer will announce his guests, and then spend the first third of the show sitting at his desk in the studio, chatting about whatever he feels like to his sidekick, band leader Tony Valmont. Usually, a number of short segments will puntuate this period, including the nightly Top Ten list, a device Cryer admits is borrowed from Letterman. At about the twenty minute mark, Cryer's first guest will arrive. There are typically two guests a night, one of whom is usually a musical act.

Segments
Stolen from Letterman by Cryer's own admission, the list counts down the 'top ten' of whatever Cryer or the writers have decided that week. This is often topical, but just as often bares no relevance to anything, such as "Top Ten Reasons Not to Buy a Giraffe". Also borrowed from Letterman, Cryer and Valmont have an item placed in a tank of water and guess whether or not it will float. Cryer gets members of the audience to provide actual song titles to Valmont, who then leads the band in an (always incorrect) rendition of a song with that title. Borrowed from Johnny Carson, this segment was not performed in 2005 as a mark of respect to Carson. There has been no word as to whether or not it will return in 2006. A game played by a contestant selected from the audience. This game always goes the same way - Cryer will ask the question - "Who Am I?", and the contestant, pre-coached, will provide the answer before Cryer gets any further with the question.
 * "The Top Ten List"
 * "Will it Float?"
 * "Stump the Band"
 * A variety of games played with the studio audience, usually selected by 'roving reporter' Jemma Rawlings. The running joke with Rawlings is that she has never 'roamed' more than 20 meters from the studio.
 * "Who Am I?"
 * There are also a number of segments, which change names frequently, that involve footage being cut together. One such segment is the "Prime Ministerial Out of Context Comment", which takes a brief portion of a speech (usually by Campbell Rhodes, though Zoe Parker has featured once, and takes it completely out of context, such as footage of Rhodes saying "I want pudding!". That particular comment was played over and over for weeks in 2001.

Quotes

 * "I'm just a big dumb white guy." - Jim Cryer's catchphrase.

Notable Celebrity Appearances

 * On the January 24 edition of 'Will it Float', the 'item' to test was then-Immigration Minister Tom McCully, who wore a wetsuit and crash helmet. After a comment concerning his dislike of Johnny Carson, Channel 6 news anchor Jack Harriman was 'thrown' into the tank as well.
 * When John Travolta was a guest on the show in May 2002, he landed a Boeing 737 on-camera at Santa Christina International Airport before taking a taxi from the airport to appear for his interview.
 * The last four Prime Minister of Georgeland have all appeared on the show at least once. Prime Ministers Rhodes, Parker and Elderton have all presented the Top Ten List.

Cast and Crew

 * Host: Jim Cryer
 * Band leader:Tony Valmont
 * Roving Reporter: Jemma Rawlings
 * Announcer: Geoff Wicks
 * Executive Producer:Hugh Carstairs