In 1996, readers of FHM voted Gillian Anderson the “Sexiest Woman in the World.”  Over a decade later, now 40 years old and sporting an admitted baby bump, Anderson is still major sexy, and she scored big in her Late Show appearance by making David Letterman look sexy, as well!

Although she began her career as a young actress with a punk edge, Anderson has always walked the line between rebellious counterculture icon and respected mature professional.  That balance was evident when she walked onto the Late Show stage, dressed in sleek taupe and black, but with stray wisps of hair escaping her do, looking both elegant and mom-like.  Flirty and irreverent from the start, she asked Dave if he was sucking up to her.  He denied it but, glancing at her b-bump, replied “It looks to me…”  “…like someone else has sucked up to me!?” she finished.  The big laugh that got paved the way for the story of how she and Dave had made out the last time she was on the show.  (A clip provided proof.)   “You didn’t write, you didn’t call,” pouted Anderson, while Dave blushed and ate it all up.

Anderson connected to the show’s ongoing comic campaign coverage with a story about meeting Bill Clinton on the campaign trail.  When Dave turned the focus back to her motherhood, she still kept him tightly in the circle of attention by asking about his being a father.  And she always maintained the flattering flirtatious edge to the banter.  Referring to her ex-pat residence in London, she rued, “After you rejected me, I decided I was going to move…countries.”  By the time a clip from “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” was shown, all it needed to provide was a reminder of her chemistry with David Duchovny; she had already won us over as a star.

How does a deft display of talk showmanship like this pay off?   Anderson’s presence was so memorable that when Simon Pegg came on after her (it’s always good to have a comedian as a closer), he and Dave spent the first part of his appearance talking about…Gillian Anderson!

When Seth Rogen edged out onto The Tonight Show set, he looked less than a sure thing.  Sure, he had a nice suit, fashionably loose tie, and a fashionable-three-years-ago five-day beard.  But he looked painfully uncomfortable, rarely making eye contact and sitting tensely.  What a wonderful surprise to see him turn in a textbook performance as a great guest.

He first blew our expectations out of the water when Jay displayed a cover of GQ with Rogen front and center.  Pointing out his modified-fro curls, Jay asked, “Is that your hair?”  “Yes,” Rogen replied. “And if you’re wondering, the carpet matches the drapes.”  The audience fell apart!  Rogen milked his doofus persona and kept Jay in stitches throughout his segment.   He had done his homework: bringing out a picture of Jay in jeans and denim shirt (his favorite outfit), Rogen referenced his Northern roots by noting “We call this a Canadian tuxedo.”

The comedy centered on Rogen’s underachiever past, showing a clip from Dawson’s Creek that revealed the stoner character he plays in Pineapple Express (which he was promoting) has deep roots.  Jay even bounced jokes off of Rogen’s parents – in the audience – throughout the segment.

So why did Rogen succeed when he broke so many standard guest appearance rules?  He stuck close to the most important rule: reveal something about your true self that the audience and the host can relate to.  Play to your entertainment strength.  And he did this masterfully.

It’s often thought that David Letterman just can’t handle an interview with a good looking guy.  Some have theorized that Dave is SOOOO uncomfortable with his own looks, it’s hard for him to relax when a good looking actor shows up on the couch.  But Aaron Eckart may have found the trick, and believe me it wouldn’t be any advice that I would give him — just act more nervous than Dave and all of your good looks will be forgiven.

That’s not to say that Eckart wasn’t lively, funny and overall entertaining.  He looked great, came prepared with good relateable stories for Dave, like one about a mutual rattlesnake issue that the two of them have on their Montana farms.  And he certainly did a fine job, within his madated restricted abilities to reveal story points from The Dark Knight, promoting his film.  But what was so distracting for most was his relentless figiting and almost zero eye contact with the host, that just made him visibly uncomfortable with the entire appearance.

This is however where the problem for The Guest Whisperer comes in.  I always stress the importance of knowing your audience when you sit down for an interview and in this case your primary audience is always Dave, as he can save or sink any performance on his show.  So if the mission is have a winning appearance and you aren’t blessed with the attributes of a flirtatious Julia Roberts — one of Dave’s all time favorites — you better go with what you’ve got.  Aaron, being a slightly insecure good looking and talented actor,  made the right choice — if he had one — to be himself and let Dave make him the butt of a few harmless jokes while at the same time coming off as an intelligent, relateable guy who served his producers well with a winning appearance.

Not a perfect plan, but one certainly good enough to get him invited back.

A refreshing Kyra Sedgwick is fun, engaging and open to talking about herself. She readily discussed the fact that she and her husband Kevin Bacon just celebrated their 20th anniversary and are hoping to have dance party  in November. She wants it to be a big party and said everyone was invited. She even turned to the audience to include them. Corny, but always a nice move.
Regis said it was just announced that Sedgwick is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She said she didn’t know the location but Kevin’s is located where, if you went there at night, “you might die!” – so she was hoping for a slightly more choice piece of real estate.

There to promote the upcoming fourth season of her hit show, The Closer, Sedgwick talked about the toughness of being away from her family for several months at a time, saying she always thinks it’s going to get easier, but it never does. Regis asked if her character, Brenda, was ever going to hook up with anyone (clearly he doesn’t know the show, blame the producers for that gaff!) and she explained without missing a beat or making Regis feel foolish that she and her on-screen love interest, Fritz, have just moved in to a new place together complete with all the problems that come with a cantankerous couple.
It’s nice to see Kyra Sedgwick on a talk show so you can be reminded of how natural, nice and relatively normal she is in stark contrast to some of the neurotics she chooses to play.  Now that’s part of what a good appearance is about.

Brendan Fraser was making the rounds promoting Journey to the Center of the Earth and he takes his job very seriously.  Maybe just a bit too seriously.  Not a lot of small talk, no “how has your summer been so far” chit chat, just right to the task at hand – the movie.
Now, Fraser is attractive and personable enough so that’s ok, I guess, and on this film in recognition of the fact that no actor has probably had so much experience with special effects as Fraser, he was accorded an Executive Producer credit for the first time, so he may feel a little added “suit-like” responsibility,  but you can’t help but get the feeling that his “passion” for the project may be just slightly getting in the way of the fun.  He did make one irresistible offer when he started talking about his second summer blockbuster release The Mummy:  Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, he was willing to guarantee that if viewers didn’t love Journey he’d give them a discount on The Mummy.  (Send your emails, cards and letters to…)

Fraser did finally have a bit of fun at the end of the interview, by walking around in a bright red pair of high heels in honor of Kelly Ripa’s first High Heel-a-Thon.
Nothing monumental here, just good, solid promoting.

Just keep it a little lighter here Brendan and we’ll be happy to take your word that your pics are well worth the price of admission and we won’t wait for the DVD.

The Ted Koppel who showed up to Conan O’Brien’s show recently was not what you’d expect from someone of his stature and import. Koppel was funny, slightly awkward and a bit goofy.
The first thing he said upon greeting O’Brien was “You’re goin’ down.” It seems he threw the gauntlet down to O’Brien when, during the writers strike, O’Brien aired writer-less shows (to which Koppel commented, “I noticed that!”) and desperately started spinning his wedding ring on his desk. A distraction Koppel claims to have been doing since “Conan was running coffee for the editor of the Harvard Lampoon.” Koppel said as much in a magazine article and challenged the talk show host to The North American Wedding Ring Spin-off saying if Conan loses, “he’s gonna have to promote my China series every night it’s on. If I lose…well, I don’t intend to lose.”
He even chided O’Brien saying, “Are we using the piss ant desk?”
So, off they went to a boxing ring set up with ropes, a desk and two chairs…oh and even a bikini-clad round/card girl, who would later be blamed for the loser’s failure. And that loser was… Koppel. The stunt went well and the audience loved it.
After the break, they spent the rest of the time discussing Koppel on Discovery – The People’s Republic of Capitalism. The series sounds very interesting, partly because it is and partly because Koppel made it so by talking to O’Brien, making eye contact and engaging him in conversation, which, in turn, made O’Brien behave more maturely than usual. Koppel then flipped the frame by getting bleeped while talking about Chinglish signs in China and how they are not well translated. One in particular was about things that happen in a bathroom. “The irony is I bring you on this show to class it up,” Conan retorted. “And it’s my opportunity to come down to my natural level,” Koppel replied.
And that’s how you felt watching him. He was having fun, being a regular guy and making what could have been a yawner, appealing. Not the typical newsman.

Holly Hunter looked like a deer in headlights on a recent visit to Tavis Smiley’s show. Not only didn’t she crack a smile when introduced, she hardly moved a muscle. I couldn’t tell if she was scared to death or just bored. During the interview, she made little eye contact with the host. It felt like she just didn’t want to be there. She, of course, answered her questions with her signature stutter/mumble…and the accent was ever-present – so much so that it became a topic of discussion. “It’s never been an issue,” she offered and added she so loves the “different accents of the country.”
Hunter did loosen up a bit when talking about her show Saving Grace. She commented that “the complexity of character is really what kind of keeps me compelled week after week to be excited about my work.”
Hunter takes her job very seriously and sees herself as an advocate for the characters she plays, “I’m the sole person there to represent who I’m playing. I am the character, but I’m also the protector of the character as well.” This is a good thing for Hunter, as she said, “I truly feel like I’m doing what I should be doing, built to do it. To express the particular, to express the detail. In the detail is the universe.”
Pretentious? Yes. Delusions of grandeur? Yes. Perhaps that’s why we sensed she felt she was too good to be there…as if she was “gracing” us with her presence.
I will give her that by the end of the interview, she had relaxed, opened up and I felt like there was a real person there…finally.