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Decades ago, \u201ceccentrics,\u201d \u201cnut cases\u201d and other New Orleans personalities enjoyed the spotlight of a late-night TV show. One reader\u2019s question brings back recollections of the memorable \u201cNew Orleans Nite People.\u201d<\/p>\n
The question: \u201cI remember hearing about a show called \u2018Late Night New Orleans People.\u2019 When did it air and where did it air? What was the format of the show?\u201d<\/p>\n
Delving into the often inscrutable landscape of old New Orleans media with the help of seasoned TV producers turned up two possibilities: \u201cLate Nite New Orleans\u201d and \u201cNew Orleans Nite People.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Orleans Nite People\u201d was a show that elicited strong, although mixed, reactions from the viewing public. Local DJ \u201cCaptain Humble,\u201d a.k.a. Hugh Dillard, created the show in 1968, envisioning a local spin on the classic \u201cTonight Show\u201d formula.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The show aired on WGNO from 1968-70 and was briefly brought back for a one-hour special in October of 1987. Characters such as Ruthie the Duck Girl, Harry the Singing Mailman and Ding Dong the Singing Bird contributed to mingled feelings about the show, which was often accused of mining for shock value \u2014 one guest is said to have bit off a chicken\u2019s head on air.<\/p>\n
David Cuthbert, longtime New Orleans reporter and former writer for The Times-Picayune, had somewhat unflattering memories of the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf memory serves\u2026 [the show] involved an ever-changing array of people yearning to be thought of as New Orleans \u2018characters,\u2019 whose entertainment value was nil,\u201d Cuthbert said.<\/p>\n
The show underwent more of a tonal shift when then-station owner Dave Wagenvoord took over as host. Wagenvoord reportedly dedicated more air time to sponsors, such as water bed promoter Red Kagan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“New Orleans Nite People\u201d was canceled shortly after the station was sold, according to Times-Picayune reporting. From the same scorching Times-Picayune account of the show: \u201cIt was deranged. It was disgusting. It was discontinued\u2026 an hour long edition of \u2018Stupid Human Tricks\u2019 featuring any eccentric or nut case who popped up in the studio audience or walked through the studio doors.\u201d<\/p>\n
The show has largely disappeared from the collective consciousness. Former WGNO producer David Jones, who joined the organization in 1980, said the involved parties had already left the station. Jones later tried to track down a couple of the characters to include in a new weekly series, but the search proved unsuccessful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIn the ’70s they did produce a lot of odd ball shows,\u201d Jones said via email.<\/p>\n
The other show, alternately referred to as \u201cLate Night New Orleans,\u201d and \u201cLate Nite New Orleans\u201d was also treated none too gently in the local paper. Current WLAE-TV staff members did not have records of the show, but a Times-Picayune search turned up some information \u2014 in the form of another scathing review.<\/p>\n
The show was announced as a joint project between radio station WTIX and WLAE. DJS Tony Ponseti and Jay Richards headed the show, set to launch September 1992. The two were meant to host \u201cLate Nite New Orleans\u201d every Tuesday, with new live musical acts broadcasted from the Palm Court Cafe in the French Quarter. But by December, multiple delays and a lack of funding led the Times-Picayune to term the show a \u201cdead issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
From the December 1992 article on the show: \u201cOnce touted as its most ambitious local production ever, \u2018Late Nite New Orleans\u2019 instead has turned out to be one of WLAE\u2019s biggest busts.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the two shows were ultimately short-lived, memories of the programming lives on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Decades ago, \u201ceccentrics,\u201d \u201cnut cases\u201d and other New Orleans personalities enjoyed the spotlight of a late-night TV show. One reader\u2019s question brings back recollections of the memorable \u201cNew Orleans Nite People.\u201d The question: \u201cI remember hearing about a show called \u2018Late Night New Orleans People.\u2019 When did it air and where did it air? What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2234851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2234850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Curious-Louisiana-TV-show-about-New-Orleans-night-people.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2234850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2234852,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234850\/revisions\/2234852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2234851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2234850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2234850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2234850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}