London show going late night

Sitting with the creators of the London Tonight show is like being in the middle of a verbal ping pong match between five people — a constant volley of jokes, building until someone cracks up and they're onto the next thing.

“I'm just the cue card guy.”

“Everyone picks on you because you're the card guy.”

“You basically get paid to watch the Oprah show when you go.”

“Technically, it's called Grade 14.”

And it goes on.

The new project, developed by 18-year-old Fanshawe business student Christian Harter with host, 19-year-old Tom Ebblewhite, is aiming to successfully launch London's only late-night comedy show to audiences through the Internet.

The writers and host of the London Tonight show ham it up for the camera. The show will be premiering on January 30 at the London Arts Project.Premiering January 30 at the Arts Project, London Tonight will be bringing viewers the same style of late night shtick à la Conan and Letterman — complete with monologues, a house band, and witty banter with guests — with an added local flavour.

“A lot of it will be what's funny to us,” said Ebblewhite, referring to himself and the group of writers. “The rest will be what's funny to other people.”

While most of their writers — Jenna Jones, Ben Rowe Dafoe and Scott O'Neil — are still in high school, they promise their show will reach a broad range of age groups, said Harter — who is involved in an improvisation group along with Ebblewhite. Their staff also includes local comedians Al Val and Robert Browning.

Even though they have yet to debut an episode online, Rogers has already reached out to let them know they're interested in picking it up once it gets going.

However, while the planning stages are fun and future prospects look good — the group is still facing some challenges.

“One concern is getting guests to come on the show,” said Harter.

Row Dafoe, 17, and Jones, 17, also added that just getting tickets sold for the live show is also another hurdle.

But all these details add to the experience for the group who got together on the simple premise that the whole idea sounded interesting. “I'm in it just to have fun,” said Ebblewhite, echoing the sentiment of the group.

Given how much fun they were having during this interview, it looks like London's in for some late-night laughs.

The first show will be featuring guests Alan Cross of The Edge's Ongoing History of New Music, comedian Robert Browning and performances by Daniel Bryant and the Gypsy Sun.

If you're interested in checking out London Tonight, a division of All Kinds of Talent Entertainment, on January 30 at the Arts Project, check out www.londontonight.ca for information on how to get tickets. Cost is $15.