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No Tomorrow

Posted at 5:50 PM on July 31, 2007 by Tony Lopez (6 Comments)

Before Conan and Letterman, Tom Snyder and "Tomorrow" kept Americans up late. I know he kept my parents (and, therefore, me) awake back in the day. He was one of those television news stars whose own personality often competed with those of the people he was interviewing.

News of his death in today's New York Times filled my head with some of his more memorable moments on late night. Of course, my first memory is of Dan Aykroyd's spot-on impression of Snyder's patented cackle from the early SNL years. But I clearly remember the 1981 interview he did with The Clash and their in-studio performances here and here.

He seemed strangely at home chatting up Ace Frehley. Gene wasn't amused!

His interview, if you can call it that, of John Lydon and Keith Levene of Public Image Limited was downright scary.

And the time he spent with Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics just has to be seen to be believed. It was totally cutting edge television and it warped my 12-year old mind for a little while!

Thanks to YouTube, we can relive our favorite Tom Snyder moments.

Comments (6)

I certainly remember staying up to watch Tom Snyder as a kid. I remember seeing the Plasmatics interview/performance when it happened. He was a unique character!

Thanks for the YT links, Tone! I don't think I've seen the KISS interviews and I was a HUGE KISS fan back in the day.

You can also own a DVD set of his interviews with the Punk and New Wave artists like Lydon and Levine, Plasmatics, Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, Paul Weller and The Jam, and the scary "What's up with this Punk Music?" round table discussion with Bill Graham and Kim Fowley and others, featuring Paul Weller and a 17-year old Joan Jett when she was still in the Runaways.

Posted by Frick | August 1, 2007 11:45 AM

Maybe this is a good time to discuss whether or not Snyder ever truly got his proper respect in the TV business. As much as Letterman is a hero to me -- and I can never have imagined a universe without his presence on late night televison -- to this day I'm saddened by the way "Tomorrow" was unceremoniously yanked from the air to make room for "Late Night" (and especially after those final indignities that included foisting Rona Barrett upon the show, fergawdsakes). Furthermore, I always felt that not only did the Dan Aykroyd impersonation supplant the real Snyder in the country's imagination, but that it essentially established the meme that Snyder was a kind of laughable freak rather than someone who was actually capable, quirks aside, of doing an occasionally amazing interview. And that he was actually smart and funny, as opposed to just a boob who talked about himself continually.

As Tom would say to close his (original) broadcasts, "And now, for all of us here at the late-late shift at 30 Rock, I'm Tom Synder ... goodnight everybody."

Posted by Steve Seel | August 1, 2007 12:44 PM

I'm gonna have to look up that DVD set, Frick.

You make some amazing points, Steve. The Ackroyd impression, as funny as it is, has replaced the image of the real Snyder in our collective consciousness.

He was wicked in revealing his subjects' weaknesses, particularly those who thought they could show him up. That John Lydon "interview" is a classic example. Lydon was exposed as the bitter pseudo-intellectual that he really always has been. Snyder completely calls him out when he says "you're out of step." It's a beautiful moment.

On the other hand, Wendy O. Williams absolutely shines in defending her form of pure expression. And you can tell Snyder appreciated it because his subject was able to defend her art. I think it surprised him.

I hope that people will take the time to appreciate Tom Snyder.

Posted by Tony Lopez | August 1, 2007 1:57 PM

That KISS interview was hysterical. It seems that Ace was pretty trashed, but he helped to make it at least interesting rather than let Gene blather on about how great they are/he is.

What I appreciated about TS was pretty much what Tony said about if the interviewee could defend their art/themselves he was impressed. I think it's great that he had so many cutting edge artists/musicians on the show and let them do their thing. Not to many other shows did that at that time.

Posted by Frick | August 1, 2007 3:46 PM

Plus he had the best eyebrows in tv....

I'm not kidding. They were like caterpillars that lived on his forehead. And they lived completely separate, individual lives. They were mesmerizing.

Posted by Ali Lozoff | August 1, 2007 5:17 PM

Just like Martin Scorsese's eyebrows. Those things need their own zip code!

Posted by Frick | August 1, 2007 8:40 PM

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