For the past forty years, late night television has been the home of cutting-edge humor and political commentary, and recently it was discovered that more and more, younger audiences are getting their news from these shows rather than traditional news outlets. On Thursday, June 7, 2007, DGA members were treated to a panel discussion on the art of directing late night television.

The panel featured directors Allan Kartun (Late Night with Conan O'Brien), Jerry Foley (Late Show with David Letterman), Jim Hoskinson (The Colbert Report), and Chuck O'Neil (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), who spoke about their various approaches to directing late night television with DGA award-winning director Beth McCarthy-Miller (Saturday Night Live), who served as the panel’s moderator.

Prior to the panel discussion, the directors all participated in a reception on the rooftop patio of the Guild’s office building in New York and mingled with the attendees. Then everyone moved to the DGA boardroom where the event proved so popular that it was standing room only.

McCarthy-Miller opened the discussion with a highlight reel of some of the more memorable and hysterical moments from each of the panelists’ shows that left the audience in stitches. Then the directors spoke about the challenges involved in realizing some of the crazy antics, sketches and stunts dreamt up by the writers which included things like getting a vat of turkey gravy to hit David Letterman on the head in a safe manner without benefit of rehearsal, or getting a cow to do walk-through of the studio on cue.