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David Letterman welcomes rival Jimmy Fallon with a weeklong blast of U2
David Letterman must really like Irish rockers U2.
Because TV's grand old man of late night is doing something he has never done before -- booking the superstar pop band for a week of performances on his CBS show -- which just happen to coincide with the debut week of Saturday Night Live alum Jimmy Fallon's new 12:37 a.m. talk show on NBC.
Fallon jumps into Conan O'Brien's shoes March 2, aiming right at the college crowd with house band/rappers The Roots and an act sharpened by months of playing college campuses and comedy clubs to get his stand-up chops ready.
Letterman will feature U2 that entire week -- marking the first time the CBS host has ever had a musical guest perform for five days straights and the first Late Show appearance by U2 in nearly eight years. It's a good deal for U2 as well; their new album No Line on the Horizon drops March 3.
If Letterman puts the musical guest in the traditional spot, at the back end of the show, U2's performances will be a natural bridge to Fallon's 12:37 a.m. competition, Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson. Game on, gentlemen.
If this is the first salvo in a network TV late-night war, looks like the main winners will be viewers with a touch of insomnia.
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Click below to read CBS's press release:
Rock superstars U2 will perform an unprecedented five nights in a row on the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Monday, March 2 – Friday, March 6 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
This will be the first time that a musical guest will perform an entire week on the CBS late night broadcast.
The band will release their 12th album, No Line on the Horizon, March 3. They performed their first single off the album, “Get On Your Boots,” at the 51st Annual GRAMMY Awards last weekend, and the song is already climbing the music charts.
U2 last appeared on the LATE SHOW on Oct. 29, 2001, where they performed and Bono was also interviewed on the broadcast. On June 10, 1997, Bono appeared with Larry Mullen Jr. to talk to Letterman on the program.
The LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN is a production of Worldwide Pants Incorporated. Barbara Gaines, Maria Pope, Jude Brennan and Rob Burnett are the executive producers.
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