Carson Daly
Carson Daly
Carson Jones Daly is an American television host, radio personality, producer and television personality. Prior to 2002, Daly was a VJ on MTV's Total Request Live, and a DJ for the Southern California-based radio station 106.7 KROQ-FM. In 2002, Daly joined NBC, where he began hosting and producing the late night talk show Last Call with Carson Daly, and occasionally hosting special event programming for NBC, such as the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks show, and executive producing New Year's...
ProfessionTV Show Host
Date of Birth22 June 1973
CitySanta Monica, CA
I love 'Last Call.' It took me a little bit to figure out that I wasn't going to be that guy in a suit telling monologue jokes.
When I was a freshman in high school, I got a letterman jacket, which you'd think would be great stock. The jacket had the big S on it, for Santa Monica. But rather than having a football or a baseball on the S, I had a little nine iron. Girls thought it was a flute.
When reality television really hit, I just had a backlash towards reality. It seemed like a cheap way to make a product. And then when music reality and 'Idol hit,' I just didn't watch it, it seemed novelty. And of course the story of 'Idol,' this is one of the greatest stories in television history.
My girlfriend Siri is a food blogger, and we both love to entertain and eat. This is what happens when you're in your thirties: what was once a passion and real appetite for nightlife in New York City manifests itself into other things, like entertaining at home.
I'm from California, but my father, who passed away when I was young, was from Newark. When I was kid, we would go back east and catch Yankees games. His side of the family are big Yankees fans. But, the real connection came in '97 when I moved to New York and became friends with the team.
I stumbled into this format for 'Last Call with Carson Daly' that I really like, inspired by cable and Dave Attell's 'Insomniac.' I love being out on the street.
MTV was such a great training for me. I did live interviews with everyone from Michael Jackson to Madonna.
I'm developing a record company. I'm learning how to supervise music on a film.
A friend of mine - a cameraman at MTV - lost a lot of weight from cycling, and I thought Id try it, too, thinking whenever you look at a cyclist they all look super-skinny, so hey, why not? But then it turned into such a psychologically satisfying thing.
Carson is an old family name, though my grandma used to watch Johnny all the time and was crazy about him.
Do you remember when we were kids and played that game 'Telephone'? It was like that. The first time I heard about it, someone said he'd been shot 17 times.
Men often think it's the bad boys who get the hot chicks. But I'm living proof that the good guys win.
NBC's priorities are Jimmy Fallon and Jay Leno, and then there's me.
The plate tectonics of media have shifted where NBC had to become a new media company from an old media company.