October/November 2008

November is here, bringing lots of changes...

Jimmy Kimmel Live! continues to have great ratings, especially through November Sweeps. The Halloween show was fun, especially since Jimmy, the band, and the guests (Nicollette as Lil' Red Riding Hood and Craig Robinson as Prince) all dressed up! Terry Bradshaw and Robin Thicke on panel were great on the highest rated show the week of November 3rd. Last Thursday’s James Bond show was ambitious but we are grateful to Val and Andre at Sony for all their help in making a great show. See the hilarious open here. Happy to say we have Tom Cruise booked in December….doesn’t get bigger than that.

The Museum of the Moving Image Salute to Ben Stiller was truly a wonderful event for a wonderful museum. Robert DeNiro, Jack Black, Mike Myers and more turned out to honor Stiller, as well as his wife Christine and his parents, Jerry Stiller and Ann Meara. Thanks to Liz Mahoney and Kelly Bush at ID and of course to Shelly at Museum of the Moving Image and Carol Donovan, who is always great fun to work with.

At the MOMI event, we bumped into our friend DMD from The Webby Awards and Webby Connect. In October, CTB helped book keynote speaker NY Times’ Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. for The Webby Connect event at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna. Read the entire transcript of Arthur Sulzberger Jr.’s WebbyConnect Keynote address. Also, check out some video highlights from Day One and Day Two, which includes our friend Andy Cohen from Bravo.

Paltalk is going, going, going, with some great things coming down the pipeline. Be sure to check out the Paltalk Scene interview with Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster.

We are thrilled that the "Cheech and Chong: Roasted" for the TBS VERY FUNNY FESTIVAL in Las Vegas this weekend has come together. Emmy®-winning comic actor Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond, ‘Til Death) will host the festivities, which is set to feature scorchingly funny testimonials from such scheduled roasters as comedian Tom Arnold, television journalist Geraldo Rivera, comic magicians Penn & Teller and That ‘70s Show’s Wilmer Valderrama, comedian Greg Giraldo, The Rev. Al Sharpton and Tommy Chong’s wife, actress Shelby Chong, with special appearances by actor Steve Carell and comedian Andy Dick. Expect to see Roland and Jo off in Vegas for the evening. Cheech and Chong’s managers have been great to work with as has David and Nancy from TBS and of course Morty has been pushing our buttons to deliver a great show…Check it out on TBS on Sunday, November 30^th.

Also in November, CTB started booking for the very funny internet talk show, "ANYTIME with Bob Kushell." The show ingeniously takes the best elements of everyone’s favorite latenight talkshows to the comic bare bones…including the studio. ANYTIME is a fully-featured five-minute comically compact show, filmed in a garage in Van Nuys, where today’s stars and entertainment personalities are invited to stop by for a fun, relaxed interview that takes less than a half-hour of their time. Bob Kushell, the Emmy-award nominated writer/producer (Dream On, The Simpsons, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Malcolm in the Middle, Grounded for Life, Hidden Hills and Jake in Progress, Samantha Who?) presides as amiable host in the garage, which has been decked out with an elaborate set designed by Emmy-Award winning production designer Glenda Rovello, as well as top-of-the-line lighting, cameras and yes, even air-conditioning. See who’s already stopped by the garage… Here is a look at two complete episodes, featuring Neil Patrick Harris and Jennifer Esposito.

The end of this month brought Billy Bob Thornton by the NFL Total Access studio to share his favorite picks for this year. Also, the beautiful Nadine Velazquez stopped by to talk about the fourth season of “My Name is Earl” and share her top picks. Be on the lookout for upcoming big bookings like Denis Leary and Ryan Philippe.

The December issue of Oprah Magazine is all about how to have Happier Holidays! The Oprah staff traces the meaning behind some popular holiday traditions. Also, this month business and technology writer Daniel Pink stopped by to chat with Oprah about his new book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, which explains how right-brained thinkers are wired for 21^st Century success. The adorable Lee Pace talks about his favorite books, Sissy Spacek shares her AHA moment, Dido lets us all know “What’s Playing in Her Ear”, and the gorgeous Gretchen Mol does a beautiful fashion spread.

POPTUB has been going along swiftly. Seann William Scott wowed the POPTUB crew when he stopped by to talk about his new number one comedy, Role Models. The funny Jim Norton stopped by to shamefully promote his new book, I Hate Your Guts. POPTUB made it to the Quantum of Solace premiere to catch a quick second with Daniel Craig. And the always hilarious ventriloquist Jeff Dunham stopped by with his friend Walter.

People’s Choice Awards Nominations were announced November 10^th at the Peninsula in Los Angeles by Joshua Jackson from “Fringe,” Carrie Ann Inaba from “Dancing with the Stars,” and Paula Marshall and Jay Mohr from “Gary Unmarried.” New categories this year include “Favorite Superhero,” “Favorite TV Drama Diva,” “Favorite Movie Cast” and “Favorite Scene Stealing Guest Star.” Fred and Carol were there with Kellie to check out the nominations. Now we are underway with booking presenters for this fantastic award show. To see the full list of nominees or to vote, please visit www.PCAVote.com.

In October, "Best Week Ever" premiered their revamped show “Best Week Ever with Paul F. Thompkins,” where comic Paul F. Thompkins takes over full hosting duties. Stopping by this month was the adorable Dave Annable, offering "Brotherly Advice with Dave Annable" - relationship advice to viewer "call ins," and David Wain, co-writer and director the smash comedy Role Models. Also, Bruce Cambpell came by to spoof the Obama infomercial. Stay tuned this weekend for Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss, who is currently starring on Broadway in the revival of Speed-the-Plow.



VH1’s hilarious Free Radio is back, and we are so excited to be working with Rory and Lance again. Just in case you missed it, check out some highlights from last season's excitement, including Kiefer Sutherland, Tony Shaloub, Ray Romano, Melora Hardin, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. Stay tuned for more from this funny show.

Also, we'd like to shout out to all the wonderful women who have worked with CTB through the years, incuding Jimmy Kimmel Live's Executive Producer Jill Leiderman, History Channel's Nancy Dubuc, TLC's Eileen O'Neil, Telepictures' HIlary Estey McLoughlin, and Lifetime's Andrea Wong for being part of TV Week’s Driving Forces of Women in Television!

September 2008

All of us over here at CTB couldn’t be more excited about the incredible things we have coming up this month – fantastic new shows in the works, some of our old favorites returning, and a bunch of stuff already that’s already cooking. And it all just keeps getting better!

The numbers are in and it’s official: “Jimmy Kimmel Live” had a great premiere week. Even Entertainment Weekly agrees that Jimmy Kimmel deserves some respect. Lots of great guests have been stopping by the studio for interviews, including Shia LaBeouf, Kobe Bryant, Ricky Gervais, Russell Brand, and Danny DeVito. Also, Lauren Conrad from “The Hills” got a taste of what it would be like to have Jimmy as a best friend. And congratulations on the Emmy win for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics for the “I’m F***ing Matt Damon” video!

Paltalk continues to wow with unbelievable guests. Recently, up and coming band One Block Radius stopped by, and rapper/actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges came by to talk to Paltalkers about Guy Ritchie’s new movie, RocknRolla. Also, Paltalk's Music Scene had a great chat with Hootie and the Blowfish lead singer and country music favorite, Darius Rucker.

Having just launched a new season, VH1’s “Best Week Ever” continues to be a crowd pleaser. Zachary Levi and Josh Gomez stopped by the LA studios for a little fun to promote "Chuck", and Jennifer Coolidge had a great time going on a “date” with BWE resident sweet talker and member of MTV's "Human Giant," Rob Huebel. And stay tuned for a revamped Best Week Ever, as contributing comic Paul F. Thompkins, takes over full hosting duties in the new “Best Week Ever with Paul F. Thompkins,” premiering on Friday, October 24^th at 11pm.

The People’s Choice Awards are back for their 35^th year and we’re thrilled to be working with them again. Hosted by Queen Latifah, the show will air live on CBS from the Shrine Auditorium on Wednesday, January 7^th. In the meantime, be looking out for the Nominations announcement on November 10^th. For more information, or to vote, please go to www.PCAVote.com.

NFL Total Access is going strong with some fantastic guests kicking off the season, including Gavin Rossdale, Nelly, LL Cool J, Jeffrey Ross, and Olympic gold medalist Natalie Coughlin. Up this week, Mark Wahlberg will be stopping by to give us his NFL picks for the week, followed by Alyssa Milano on October 17^th.

Everyone here at CTB is excited to be working with FremantleMedia and the always lovely Osbournes (Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly) on their newest project, “The Osbournes: Loud and Dangerous” (working title). Coming to FOX this January, the variety series is hosted by the whole family, and will mix musical performances, comedy sketches, game-show competitions, stunts, and studio surprises with the Osbournes’ unique blend of humor and outrageous sensibility. We start shooting in November, so we’ll keep you posted…and be sure to check out this greeting from our favorite family: watch here.

CTB is honored to be working with the Museum of the Moving Image, and their Salute to Ben Stiller, taking place on Wednesday, November 12^th at Cipriani 42^nd Street in New York City. The black-tie event will include tributes by a stellar group of Stiller’s friends and colleagues, accompanied by notable scenes from his films. Stiller is the 24^th Salute honoree, joining a long list of exceptional people, including Tom Cruise, Ron Howard, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks and more.

The all new POPTUB is now officially up and running on their own YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/poptub. There you will find fun clips, breaking entertainment news, and interviews with celebrities such as The Office’s Melora Hardin, as well as the new Knight Rider heartthrob, Justin Bruening. Also, Pop Tub caught up with the stars of City of Ember: Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, and Saoirse Ronan to find out what they're watching on YouTube these days.

CondeNet's Style.com has a great video up with Kerry Washington from this fall's thriller Lakeview Terrace. She stopped by to share her personal style secrets, the celebrities who inspire her, and how to find the perfect hip-hop kicks.

The October issue of Oprah Magazine is all about LOVE. How to find it, risk it, let it go, and make it grow. Check out what's playing in Natalie Cole's ear. Desperate Housewives' Dana Delany shares with us her Aha! moment and Josh Brolin (W and Milk) shares what books have made a difference to him. Also, don't miss the gorgeous January Jones (Mad Men) channeling Grace Kelly in this months beautiful fashion spread!

Looks like our days are numbered with Opie and Anthony. We're sad to be saying goodbye....Roland and everyone at CTB has had a fantastic time with "the boys."

Jimmy Kimmel's Big Night of Stars

We hope you tuned in early for the Emmy's last night to catch Jimmy's special with stars like Michael Phelps, Tracy Morgan and many more. Just in case you missed it, here is Jimmy's song with Salma Hayek.

August 2008

We’re so glad everyone could make out it to the Roosevelt for the Jimmy Kimmel Summer Soiree – the turnout was great and we hope everyone had a blast. Thanks to all for coming and for all of your help with the show over the years. The couch has been busy, with Mike Myers, Charlize Theron, Whoopi Goldberg, Justin Timberlake, David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell — Jimmy even took the security staff to check out their new flick. Of course congratulations are in order for a pair of Emmy nominations - “I’m F***ing Matt Damon” was nominated for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics while the Post-Academy Awards show got a nod for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video For A Series. Looking forward to a busy fall with the season premiere, and the big pre-Emmy primetime special...

In case you haven’t heard, the merger has been finalized and Sirius XM Radio is upon us. After everything has been on hold for so long, it’s nice to see things moving forward. And moving quickly. But as world spins around us, there are still shows to book and interviews to be done. Seth Rogen came through Comix to talk Pineapple Express in an amazing installment of Unmasked. We also taped shows with Richard Lewis and Tommy Chong that will be running soon, with lots of other incredible guests in the works. And a quick thanks to the always exemplary XM production team who helped pull off an excellent Tommy Chong show, in spite a couple last-minute logistical challenges. Elsewhere around the XM dial, there’s been a slew of great guests – Guy Pearce on Cinemagic, Buzz Aldrin on XM KiDS, Kevin Costner on POTUS, Plaxico Burress on Joe Madison, Alan Ball on Broadminded and Ry Cooder chatting with Bob Edwards. As for Opie & Anthony, well it’s hard to even know where to begin with guests like Will Ferrell, Cheech & Chong, Rainn Wilson and Black Sabbath making appearances. Also, check out the video of

David Duchovny tickling CTB booker Roland…there’s not really anything else that needs to be said about that. To close out on XM, we just want to thank Eric Logan, former head of XM Programming, for all of his help over the last few years. Just prior to the merger’s approval, Eric announced that he was leaving to take an incredible position with Harpo. He was a pleasure to work with and all of us at CTB wish him the best of luck, particularly during those long, cold Chicago winters.

Paltalk has been jumping with guests this summer. Sci-fi superstar David Duchovny talked X-Files with Paltalkers, Aussie songwriter Missy Hutchins charmed us with her new record and the always newsworthy Plaxico Burress offered his latest prediction for Giants fans: that’s right, he’s staying as long as they’ll have him.

This year’s UNCF Evening of Stars is paying tribute to the one and only Patti LaBelle. We’re about a month away from the taping but the line-up is already looking incredible – Jennifer Hudson, Wayne Brady, Vivica Fox, Dionne Warwick… It’s gonna be a great night.

Summer is winding down, and the best thing about that is that football season is right around the corner, and that means another season of NFL Total Access. CTB is gearing up for its second season with the NFL Network show. Last year we had some great celebrity guests -- P. Diddy, The Rock, Ryan Phillippe, Paula Abdul -- offering picks and predictions, ands there’s already a ton of great stuff in the works for this year. Stay tuned.

O Mag has a great new issue out: Juliette Binoche is the new face of Lancome as well as this month’s Aha Moment, Ben Affleck offers some book picks and the one and only Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas, tells us what she’s listening to.

Best Week Ever wrapped up the season with Al Roker, Joss Whedon and Justin Kirk. Jo and Alyson hit the wrap party and we’re all looking forward to the next season.

HGTV is gearing up for a new season of its popular makeover series Summer Showdown, and this season is getting a little makeover of its own, as this season will have celebs going head-to-head in a room design challenge. Sneak a peek here.

Oh, one more thing, the WebbyConnect conference is coming up in October. It’s from the wonderful people behind the Webby Awards, so it’s got to be cool. NY Times Company Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. is already on signed up to deliver the opening night keynote, and it’s basically going to be the biggest names in the Internet and digital media in Dana Point, CA, October 22-24^th.

It’s hard to believe that Fall is almost here, and that there’s already so much going on - it's going to be a busy, busy fall...

June 2008

Well it's hot and it's busy...sounds like summer at CTB. Between the NBA Finals, all the awards shows and 'business as usual,' we just might be going a little crazy from the heat. In a good way

It's been a great NBA Finals series so far, well, unless you're a Lakers fan, but particularly if you've been tuning in early to catch Jimmy Kimmel Live Game Night - and nearly 10 million viewers did for the first three shows. On Sunday, Barack Obama took a few minutes out of his Father's Day to talk to Jimmy and attempt what might be the world's first satellite-hook-up-fist-bump. Check it out. Not to be outdone, Sen. John McCain was also on to talk sports and BBQ, while Jimmy lobbied for a spot on the ticket - see for yourself. It's just been killer show after killer show, with recent appearances from Adam Sandler, Liv Tyler and an exclusive Incredible Hulk trailer with Edward Norton - Edward and Guillermo just might be the next Ben and Jimmy...

Up in the Big Apple it’s been non-stop awards shows. Jo, Kellie and Jennifer were on hand for the 2008 CFDA Fashion Awards at the New York Public Library and spent most of the lovely June evening running back and forth with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. The turn out was amazing, as always, and the awards show went off with out a hitch. Some of the talent involved this year included: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eva Mendes, Victoria Beckham, Kim Cattrall among other stellar presenters. Check out the video wrap-up at Style.com and more pictures here.

Elsewhere in the city were two nights of the wonderful Webby Awards. These annual salutes to the best of the web brought out everyone from Lorne Michaels to Will.i.am to the infamous Obama Girl. Like the medium they celebrate, the Webby Awards are innovative, unconventional and fun, particularly the Webby's traditional five-word acceptance speech for winners. This limit challenges awardees to be a little more creative, and always yields some interesting results. Some of this year’s highlights include:

• Michel Gondry, winner of Webby Person of the Year: "Keyboards are full of germs."
  


• Lorne Michaels, winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award: "Five words is not enough."
  


• David Byrne, winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award: "Mr. DJ, can you play another song?"
  


• Tay Zonday, singer of Chocolate Rain: "Contact me for voice work."
  


• And Stephen Colbert, winner of the Person of the Year Award put it all in perspective: "Me, me, me, me, me."

Rounding out the awards show trio, Bravo held its very first awards show, the A-List Awards, featuring all of your favorite stars from the network’s reality shows and a healthy dose of celebrity winners. Hosted by the one and only Kathy Griffin, the show premiered on June 12^th, but if you happened to miss it (or one of the many repeats), check out the Bravo A-List page for clips, pictures and behind the scenes dirt.

Over at Style.com, Famke Janssen took time out to chat with Men.Style.com’s own Tyler Thoreson in their very first “In the Closet with…” video series. Also, Lisa Loeb takes you on a personal tour of her kitchen on Epicurious.com and be sure to check out Zooey Deschanel’s video, where she talks about pretty dresses in scary movies.


The big talk down in XM DC, is all about the merger. After almost sixteen months of speculation and waiting, it looks like things are finally starting to move forward. We're not quite ready to stop holding our breath yet, but to say we're excited would be an understatement. Elsewhere in XM DC, the XM KiDS Traveling Roadshow wrapped up with a big concert down on the Mall, featuring none other than Lisa Loeb. Lewis Black also came through to talk about his latest book, “Me of Little Faith.” Maybe we're masochists, but there’s just something incredibly satisfying about being yelled at by Lewis Black…

It’s already been a hectic summer for Opie & Anthony with their first annual animation festival at Roseland. It was a huge success – head on over to iTunes to download the animations. Personally, our favorite O&A related video features CTB’s own Roland in: Tragic News with (Tickle Me) Roland (now with animation). We work with him and we still can’t get enough. But meanwhile back on the show… Tito Ortiz came through through the studios, Mark Wahlberg called in to check up on the boys and the always outrageous Terrell Owens stopped in to talk football.

As always, O Magazine has a lot to look at, talk about and read. This month’s O interview is with Oprah’s life-long friend, Maria Shriver - check out a cut of their interview here. Cynthia Nixon (Sex And The City) shares her Aha! Moment in the June issue of O magazine, while Author Mary Roach tell us what is on her book-shelf. And always be sure to read our favorite creative director, Adam Glassman’s, column about tips on what to wear.

Things are busy over at Best Week Ever - recent videos include Seann William Scott, William Shatner and Michael Urie. Good stuff indeed.

There's a lot coming down the pike with new projects and new clients, but we'd like to take a moment to congratulate the newest CTB bride, Alyson, who tied the knot with her longtime beau Vincent. Congrats!

TV Guide Article & Kimmel Ratings

From the upcoming issue of TV Guide:

He’s had everyone from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher – on his show, that is. How does Jimmy Kimmel keep scoring such big names? He can thank Joanna Jordan, whose company, Central Talent Booking, wrangles the stars on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“My goal is to help Jimmy win,” says Jordan, who’s been with the show for two years. “By winning, I mean high ratings. You live and die by who is on your couch on a nightly basis.”

Or who’s in your proverbial bed. Jordan was the force behind Kimmel’s hilarious “I’m F---ing Ben Affleck” video, which boasts a who’s who of A-listers. “I remember getting the emails from Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford’s people that they would do it,” she says. “Those are the e-mails you archive.”

Another bonus: the video directly resulted in landing Kimmel more stars, like Keanu Reeves and upcoming guests Charlize Theron. You also earn respect from your boss. “Joanna is great at her job because she loves it,” Kimmel says. “I wish I’d had her in high school when I was looking for a date to the prom.”

Jordan, who cut her teeth as a booker for Late Night With David Letterman, is up at 6am, reading the trades and watching the morning news shows. At 10am she gathers her staff for a meeting – and lots of coffee. Then she hits the phones. “I can spend 12 hours a day on the phone,” she says. “Some days I forget to eat.”

At 7:30pm, when she’s not having dinner with her three kids or visiting the Kimmel set for a telecast, Jordan and her staff hit the party circuit. “We move like an army,” she says. “I find it’s easier to get a ‘yes’ out of people when they’re surrounded by beautiful women.”

The tactics definitely work, executive producer Jill Leiderman says. “When I look at the caliber of guests since Joanna started, there is no comparison.”

Next up is a June 5 prime-time NBA special, Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night. On tap for the evening: Adam Sandler, Liv Tyler and Steve Carell. Score!

Jordan’s Favorite Gets

Charlize Theron – “Getting her to say, ‘I’d love to do your show’ is thrilling. And Jimmy is happy to have a beautiful woman on.” Theron stops by June 27.

Zac Efron – “We were thrilled to have him on promoting ‘Hairspray,’” Jordan says. “The amount of women who came to the show to see him was unbelievable.”

Kate Walsh – “She is a great guest because she’s sexy and she has great energy,” explains Jordan. “She has a twinkle in her eye.” Walsh will be back June 17.

By Zoë Alexander

TV Guide – June 2^nd, 20008

Week of May 19, 2008 and 2007-08 Broadcast Season

May 30, 2008: Fringe Ratings Report: “Jimmy Kimmel Live”

ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Draws its Best Numbers in Total

Viewers and Adults 18-49 in Nearly Seven Month

With Guests Kristi Yamaguchi, Matthew Fox and the Pussycat Dolls, “JKL’s” Tuesday Telecast

Draws its Largest Audience and Young Adult Rating in Late-Night in 6 Months

For the 2007-08 TV Season, Despite the Impact of the Writers’ Strike,

“Kimmel” Retains Nearly All of its Year-ago Record-Setting Audience Levels

to Score its Second Largest Total Viewer Count in 5 Years

“JKL” Beats CBS’ “Ferguson” in Total Viewers for the First Time Ever During

A TV Season, While Posting it Narrowest Margin Ever to NBC’s “Conan”

Weekly National Ratings:

During the week of May 19, 2008, which contained the final nights of the 2007-08 TV season, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” drew its largest audience (1.89 million) and highest Adults 18-49 rating (0.7/3) in nearly seven months – since w/o 11/5/07 and w/o 10/29/07, respectively.

• On Tuesday (5/20/08), featuring “Dancing with the Stars” champions Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Balls, as well as Matthew Fox and musical guests the Pussycat Dolls, “JKL” drew its best numbers in Total Viewers (2.40 million) and Adults 18-49 (0.9/4) for any “Kimmel” late-night telecast since November – since 11/27/07. In fact, the Tuesday airing drew “JKL’s” second-largest audience in late-night of the 2007-08 TV season.
  


• For the week, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” beat CBS’ “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” in Total Viewers (1.89 million vs. 1.64 million) and across each of the key adult demographics: Adults 18-34 (0.5/3 vs. 0.4/2), Adults 18-49 (0.7/3 vs. 0.5/3) and Adults 25-54 (0.8/4 vs. 0.7/4). In addition, “JKL” tied NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” in Adults 25-54 (0.8/4).

Complete 2007-08 TV Season (9/24/07-5/21/08)

During the 2007-08 television broadcast season, despite being impacted by the writers’ strike, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” retained nearly all (96%) of the previous TV season’s audience (1.73 million vs. 1.80 million). In fact “Jimmy Kimmel” exhibited the greatest retention of its overall audience from the previous TV season compared to its late-night network competitors, “Leno” (-17%), “Letterman” (-11%), “Conan” (-22%), “Ferguson” (-12%) and “Carson Daly” (-26%). Furthermore, in retaining 96% of the show’s record-setting 2006-07 Total Viewer audience during the TV season, “JKL” registered its second-largest audience in the last 5 TV seasons.

April 2008

Congratulations to Jimmy Kimmel for passing the 1000 show benchmark. Eva Longoria Parker was on to help celebrate, and if you haven’t seen the Richard Simmons video yet, well…do yourself a favor. Kate Bosworth, Naomi Watts, Woody Harrelson and Keanu Reeves were recent highlights, while Nate Berkus even gave Jimmy some male grooming tips. And just when you thought you’d seen the last Kimmel-related sex tape, Ryan Phillippe had to get in on the action with show security guard Veatrice – watch at your own risk. All of this has been resonating with viewers, as Jimmy has been outperforming the competition in key demos - beating Late Late Night with Conan O'Brien in adults and women 25-54, outperforming Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in all adults and women last week and outdelivered Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in males 18-34.

The theme of May’s O mag is spirituality, and the spiritually package includes celebs like Annie Lennox and Patti Smith. Elsewhere there’s a cool book feature with Miranda July, Patrick Dempsey in the Aha Moment and Randy Jackson talks music.

If you're searching for a good vegan blueberry pancake recipe, then you don't need to look any further than Moby's new video on Epicurious. Also in the CondéNet family are new videos from Natalie Portman and Seymour Cassel.

Paltalk is about to re-launch Hollywood Now and MusicScene

in May, with exciting new technology following soon-after. The new Flash-based platform means Paltalk will work on Mac or Windows, Firefox or Explorer – all with no download necessary.

CelebsGoneGood.com is part of the DoSomething family that celebrates the lifestyle of the rich, famous and philanthropic. It’s a great site that shines a little light on celebrity good deeds, rather than focusing on the bad. This past Sunday there was a fabulous cocktail party at the Santa Monica home of LivingHomes CEO and Do Something supporter Steve Glenn. His house has been called “The Greenest Home on the Planet” by BusinessWeek, and was also the first home to be certified LEED Platinum, the highest rating by the United States Green Building Council.

Over at XM it’s business as usual and that means, well, busy. The new season of Unmasked is gearing up, with lots of great guests on board – Lewis Black, Margaret Cho, Janeane Garofalo, the always-hilarious Kids in the Hall with even more coming down the pipe... The Bob Edwards Show has welcomed some notable guests of late – Willem Dafoe, Eddie Izzard, Sen. Tom Dashcle and Phil Donahue to name but a few. And of course nothing is ever quiet at the Opie & Anthony Show. The boys had former Governor/wrestler Jesse Ventura on the other day, which got pretty heated, pretty fast. On that note, Jose Canseco came by to talk baseball, steroids and a whole lot more, and Floyd 'Money' Mayweather was in studio to talk Wrestlemania. Jason Segal, Russell Brand and Kristen Bell were in studio for the new Judd Apatow movie, and Edward Norton is checking in for Earth Day. Coming up in June is the O&A Animation Festival at the Roseland Ballroom in NY - more info here.

With everything going on in the world, Best Week Ever has probably never had a problem coming up with material for the weekly show and the site, which updates constantly if you haven’t checked it out - you've got to see the hilarious piece from Rachel Bilson & Jamie Bell.

Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but June is already shaping up to be a busy month with three awards shows within about a week.

First up are the CFDA Fashion Awards, which return to NY on June 2^nd to honor the best in American fashion with Fran Lebowitz as the evening’s host. This year’s nominees for designers of the year include: Womenswear - Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein, Lazaro Hernandez & Jack McCollough for Proenza Schouler, and Marc Jacobs; Accessory - Tory Burch, Marc Jacobs, and Michael Kors; Menswear - Michael Bastian, Thom Browne, and Tom Ford. The Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Carolina Herrera and the Board of Directors’ Special Tribute will be presented to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

On June 4th, Bravo is holding its very first awards show – the A-List Awards to salute the best in food, fashion, design, beauty and pop culture. Hosted by D-list queen Kathy Griffin and featuring style guru Tim Gunn on the red carpet, the event will be taped to air as a special and promises to be an unforgettable evening of fun.

We also have the awards that the New York Times has called “the Oscars of the Internet,” the Webby Awards. There are actually two separate events – the Webby Film & Video Awards on June 9th and the Webby Awards Gala on the June 10th. You can watch highlights from David Bowie, Al Gore, Prince and more here. The full list of nominees is posted here, so go vote for epicurious.com, style.com and Best Week Ever now.

Jimmy's Revenge & A New Postcard

Jimmy gets back at Sarah & Matt Damon with Ben Affleck:

And a new postcard:

January 2008

It’s a new year – new offices, new clients and lots of new babies in the extended CTB family. Congratulations to Eric Logan, Jesse Mann, Mindy Thomas and their (slightly bigger) families. CTB closed out 2007 in style with a matched set of bi-coastal holiday dinners. Good food, company and maybe a drop or two of the holiday spirits. But after a much-needed holiday back, we’re off and running in 2008.

Kimmel is back on the air. We appreciate and echo Jimmy’s statement on the situation, and so now on with the show. In light of all this, Jimmy and Jay Leno decided to mix things up a little and trade appearances on each other's shows - here's Jay on the other side of the desk.

Update:

You have to check out Sarah Silverman's new video for Jimmy, I think she's trying to tell him something...

The Yahoo gang helped christen the new New York office with a festive holiday meal of Chinese food. Penn Gillette and Cloverfield’s Michael Stahl-David and Odette Yustman came through The 9 for some great segments. Watch here.

Speaking of Cloverfield, Roland and O&A gang trucked out a screening to get ready for the cast’s visit – clips here – before the film went on to set a box office record for MLK weekend. Other recent highlights over at O&A include Sylvester Stallone, Bret Michaels and the one and only Chris Rock. In case you haven’t heard, XM has been podcasting, offering up free highlights from O&A, Bob Edwards, Unmasked and more. See for yourself. Before we forget, way back in November, Bob Edwards came up to NY to be honored with the Gaudium Award from the Breukelein Institute. CTB’s own Celia Converse helped set it up and was on hand for the event along with Bob producer Ariana Pekary.

The writer’s strike has certainly had an impact on the awards season and the People’s Choice Awards was one of the first to tackle the issue. Everyone pulled together and put on a great show in spite of the circumstances, and the format allowed the winners to appear via taped acceptance speeches, so there were some great guests. Thanks for everybody’s hard work.

Starz has some great stuff in the pipeline including an evening with the hilarious Jamie Kennedy, which promises to be anything but predictable.

The big news in Oprah-land is OWN – the Oprah Winfrey Network – and it is big news indeed. Things are rolling along over at O at Home, in February’s issue you will find Bette Midler’s Aha! Moment and Kate Winslet’s favorite books. Bette’s new show goes up in Las Vegas in Feb and Kate is the new ambassador for Lancome’s Tresor. And we’d be remiss in not saying how wonderful it is to be working with new O at Home editor-in-chief, Sarah Gray Miller.

We’ll let you in on a secret: The Huffington Post is one of the smartest and coolest sites on the web, with some of the best news and media commentary out there. Okay, it’s not much of a secret, as there are millions of folks out there who read it every day, but we are thrilled to have the first set of blog bookings up with Ashleigh Banfield, Margaret Cho and Steven Zaillian.

Another site you should really check out is Black20. There are hilarious, original new videos up every day. Repeat: every day. There’s a daily news show, an episodic comedy series, a while bunch of spoofs and much more. We’re not suggesting that anyone is looking for new ways to kill time at work…but if you happen to find yourself with a minute to spare, do yourself a favor and take a look.

The voting is closed for this year’s BR!CK Awards and we’re looking forward to getting started on the show itself. Mark your calendars for Do Something’s 15^th annual charity dinner on March 6^th, which promises to be an amazing night. Previous hosts include Susan Sarandon, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Mandy Moore…

In case you missed it, People magazine talked about the Listen Campaign and had great pictures of Natalie Portman and Brooke Shields. The CBS special will air in June, check out the videos here.

Also, new videos up on epicurious.com and men.style.com from Debie Mazar and Fabio.

That’s it for now, plenty of stuff in the pipe – Bravo’s A-List Awards, VH1’s Best Week Ever, the breathtaking Absolut campaign, the wonderful CFDA’s in June and make sure to tune into Free Radio on VH1 starting February 8th, check out the trailer: