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Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Uncomfortable Moments in Late-Night Talk

Daryl Mitchell was the host last night on The Late, Late Show, as CBS continues its rotating host system in the interregnum between Craig Kilbourn and also-Craig Ferguson. Mitchell had been a well-employed supporting comic actor, most notably in The John Larroquette Show and Veronica's Closet, until an accident left him a paraplegic in November 2001. Since then he's returned to show business; fans of NBC's Ed will remember him as Eli in the last two seasons of that show. He may be the first late-night talk show host, even a fill-in, in a wheelchair.

One of Mitchell's guests was Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me), pushing her voice performance in the talking-animal film Racing Stripes. Malick was telling a story about how she met her husband, or something like that, and got into their exciting motorcycle safari to Africa, where you need the cycle to get to some of the places.

I guess she was a bit too enthusiastic about the joy of motorcycling, because eventually Mitchell, quietly, said "Yeah, I was on a motorcycle and I broke my back." He pointed at his wheelchair.

Oops.

Malick either missed it or made the split-second decision that the only thing to do was press on.

And at this point, I changed the channel.

- posted by Don Porges @ 12/22/2004 10:58:00 AM

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