Brentwood Magazine--Ally Dawson
October 2003
CRAIG KILBORN IS SERENADING ME.
Well, sort of. Sitting in his office wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, and latemorning stubble, he cuts a lithe and handsome figure as he turns on a CD. He's just put on a song performed by the great Cuban trumpet master Arturo Sandoval, entitled "I can't get started." "This guy has done everything, but he can't get things started with this woman," says Kilborn, reciting the lyrics as it plays.
"I've flown around the world in a plane
Settled revolutions in Spain
The North Pole I have charted
Still I can't get started--with you..."
"Isn't that great?" Kilborn asks.
Indeed it is. The music is lush, fun, romantic, and earthy. It's an unexpected moment with a man who became popular on "fratboy" appeal. And even if this exchange is, in part, a tactic to disarm the interviewer, it works beautifully. I'm intrigued.
Craig Kilborn is a seeming contradiction: a talkshow host who only halfjokingly admits to "not liking people." At one moment he's charming and personable, the next, aloof. You get the sense his mind is working doubletime: engaged in conversation, yet all the while acutely aware of how his words are being perceived. The longer you talk with him, what comes through the most is an ease and confidence that has sustained his talk show while so many others have failed. Conservative and stable, he's a product of a Midwestern value system that doesn't suffer fools lightly and where "goodnatured ribbing" is an art form.
"I don't take myself too seriously... and I don't take other people too seriously either," says Kilborn. It's a trait he got from his closeknit family. In fact, when he went from local television to ESPN, his father's response was " Great, now you've become a national embarrassment to the family!" Kilborn was raised in smalltown Minnesota. At 6'5", he scored a college basketball scholarship, then embarked on a sports announcing career that eventually landed him at ESPN. Later he became host of Comedy Central's Daily Show. And when Tom Snyder retired, David Letterman's company picked him up to be host of the Late Late Show on CBS.
"This job sort of fell into my lap," he offers, as means of explanation. But the Hollywood scene that whirls around Kilborn doesn't easily impress him. "When it comes to the flavor of the month, the band of the moment, or the actor of the moment, I can see right through it," he admits. He carries that attitude into his offcamera life as well. "I knew right away that LA was little wild for me, so I keep myself isolated. I avoid the party circuit as much as I can, and when I'm off, I get out of town. I go out to dinner, but that's about it. I enjoy the simple things in life: my coffee, the newspaper, and jazz in the morning...a good cigar, red wine, old movies..."
Indeed, Kilborn is very private, and he's constantly surprised at how eager his guests are to reveal their most intimate details. When my questions get too personal, he gets that trademark mischievous twinkle in his eyes and changes the subject. He does, however, confess to only having had one serious relationship and doesn't see himself raising a family. I ask him about his dream life 25 years from now. "I thoroughly enjoy this job. I could do it for a long time--but I could see myself retiring early--maybe buy a house in Carmel."
As for his present? At the request of Arturo Sandoval, whom Craig asked to be on his show after hearing the abovementioned CD, Craig recently hosted an awards ceremony at The Henri Mancini Institute, honoring Clint Eastwood.
Now that's cool.
