BACK TALK: Once a doctor, always a doctor

POSTED: Friday, July 1, 2011, 11:00 AM

Filed Under: TV

Christopher Seybert dishes on the week's best and worst moments in daytime talk.

From Doctor Ken to Hollywood’s Top Comedian

After spending all that money and time on college, you'd hope that it'd be the bridge between you and your dream job. Especially if college for you included four years of undergrad, four years of med school and three years of residency. But sometimes you realize that you have a different dream, as was the case with the hysterical comedic actor Ken Jeong.

Ken, who has been in Knocked Up, The Hangover, The Hangover Part II and most recently Transformers: Dark of the Moon danced onto Live! with Regis and Kelly Wednesday and talked about his unconventional rise to fame. He went from being a successful doctor to doing improv in L.A., where he talked about some of his doctor duties — like the hilarity of prostate exams — as a part of his act. And now, even after a stretch of hit films, he still has his medical license. But the advantage of being an actor over a doctor is that he can do it nude (hence his famous Hangover appearance)!

Can Jeff Probst Survive his new gig?

Is hosting a reality competition and a daytime talk show the same thing? No, no it is not. So it should be interesting come fall of 2012 when Jeff Probst launches his own talk show with CBS.

Jeff’s hourlong show will be a mixture of segments with “a newsmaker-of-the-day, celebrities or ordinary folks.” I don’t know what that means but I guess they’re aiming for a less-serious Oprah and a not-funny Ellen, which doesn’t sound too appealing. Yes, he has filled in for Regis countless times and has done a decent job, but he had the help of an amazing co-host. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if 2012 is really the end of the world or just the Probster’s career.

Tom Hanks, the Renaissance Man

With many daytime talk shows on vacation this week, I decided to turn my eyes to late night and found Tom Hanks on Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday night. Not only a great actor and a great guy, Hanks is a great talk show guest, as well.

While he was there to promote his new film, Larry Crowne, which he directed, wrote, produced and starred in, he entertained the audience and Dave more with his talents as an impressionist. He did a hilarious impersonation of what his friend and famed director Ron Howard would be like directing himself in a movie. Most people don’t know that Tom started out in the business as a standup comedian, and after his appearance Tuesday night, it’s obvious he hasn’t missed a beat.

P.S. CBS Philly’s own Susan Barnett, who co-anchors CBS3’s 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscasts, will be filling in for Julie Chen as co-host of The Talk today at 2 p.m. This whole week, newscasters from CBS affiliates around the nation have been chosen to co-host for a day and they saved the best for last!

(christopher.seybert@citypaper.net)

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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