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I miss the comedy of one Mr. Craig Kilborn. In the ’90s, the talk show host affectionately known as “Kilby” glided from silver-tongued SportsCenter anchor (Hemoglobin!) to the inaugural man behind the desk at The Daily Show to the host of CBS’ Late Late Show. When the great Tonight Show imbroglio of 2010 went down, Kilborn was a distant memory, leaving the talk show game in 2004 after choosing not to renew his contract. “I achieved my goals, and it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be,” the host told The L.A. Times back in 2010.
Kilborn’s version of The Late Late Show survives mostly by word of mouth. Aside from a few random YouTube clips, Kilby’s contributions to the late night landscape aren’t easily streamable, existing only in folklore as segments like “5 Questions,” “Yambo,” and “What up?” are lost to time. Other than a brief return to television in 2010 (the short-lived syndicated series The Kilborn File), the elusive host has kept a low-profile, opting to eschew the spotlight for the urbane pleasures of early retirement.
How exactly do I know all of this? Easy. I follow Craig Kilborn on Instagram.
A little over a year ago, Craig Lawrence Kilborn joined Instagram. Amidst the endless array of brunch pics and thirst traps, Kilborn has cultivated a page that’s vintage Kilby. His Instagram presence — an unconventional hodgepodge of erudite monologues, soft rock, martini selfies, winking, loafer recommendations, and more references to club chairs than you can shake a stick at — is like finding an unreleased episode of The Late Late Show.
“So last night I’m rewatching the 1940s Hitchcock classic Rebecca, which I do at least once a month, and I had to put it on pause to watch that fourth quarter,” Kilborn muses after congratulating the Toronto Raptors on winning the NBA Championship in one of his Instagram missives. “And I couldn’t help but think if Sir Laurence Olivier were still with us how he would marvel at Freddy VanVleet. Ohh, Larry would love Freddy!”
I understand that humor is subjective, but the combination of Sir Laurence Olivier and Raptors sixth man extraordinaire Fred VanVleet is objectively hilarious. Here’s another one of my favorites:
Kilborn’s dramatic pause after the word closet — as if he’s saying, “Yeah, can you believe that a rakish tomcat like me has a closet?” — is pure art. His playful deadpan delivery and subtle yet admittedly intoxicating charisma are a potent comedic combination. Much like his old CBS show, it’s silly comedy performed smartly.
He even extracts some exemplary social content from a humdrum chore like visiting the Home Depot.
“And, of course, I’m kidding. Come on over and say hi. Buy me a drink. We’re all friends.”
I have no idea where the bit ends and the person begins with Craig Kilborn, but stumbling upon his Instagram made my week. If you’re a fan of his Late Late Show, you’ll love his Instagram page, which, fingers crossed, will one day include the return of “5 Questions.”
