Harry Connick, Jr. is launching a new talk show this fall, when the New Orleans actor and musician wants to bring late-night energy to daytime.
But there are some things he won’t rip off from the “Tonight Show”-style format.
“We’re not gonna play games,” Connick Jr. said Wednesday morning at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, without specifically mentioning the likes of Jimmy Fallon and James Corden. “I’m not gonna put ’em in dunk tanks.”
Also, daytime’s newest player isn’t going to require a pre-interview for guests, his least-favorite experience from the couch side of the process.
“There’s this undercurrent of rehearsal — or pre-planning — that happens when you get out on the panel,” Connick Jr. said of the antiquated approach. “I tell all the publicists and anybody’s who’s gonna be on the show, ‘Man, if you don’t want to do a pre-interview — it’s my job to know everything there is to know about you, so don’t worry about that, and we’re just gonna have a conversation.’”
Perhaps surprisingly, the ex-“American Idol” judge swears the communications professionals he’s dealt with thus far have responded favorably to the more spontaneous — and riskier — approach.