Tonight's Musical Guest, Today

About Tonight's Musical Guest, Today

The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Nirvana on Saturday Night Live. Warren Zevon on David Letterman. Sometimes, late-night TV musical performances live on forever. Most don’t. But we still want to talk about them. Each week on “Tonight’s Musical Guest, Today”, long-time friends Alex Beaton and Jon Hillman dive in on the music and cultural memory of a band through the arc of their late-night TV performances. Watch along with Alex and Jon as they examine and react to these musical history moments preserved in the amber of time alongside two celebrity guests and a talk show host. From Conan to Colbert, Letterman to Leno, or SNL to MadTV, there is no shortage of iconic late-night musical moments. And no end to the ones you don’t remember.

Publisher

Tonight's Musical Guest, Today

Category

music · music · music

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

8 May 2023

Latest episode

23 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 62 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   23 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT

   KISS

   Alex and Jon explore how the iconic band KISS redefined American rock and roll, examining their groundbreaking business strategies and cultural impact.

2. 

   31 May 2026

   My Chemical Romance

   Fingerless gloves. Intense eyeliner. Swoopy haircuts. Their look defined the height of the mid 2000s emo movement. But the music? That was something different it turns out. It's MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE week! Jon and Alex reflect on why they outright dismissed MCR at the height of their fame and explain that like many others they were idiots for doing so. Clip 1 illustrates that dynamic, as the band is introduced to America by Pierre from Simple Plan on TRL before a ripping performance of I'm Not ...

3. 

   12 Apr 2026

   Radiohead

   It's a career arc that spanned genres, oceans, and mainstream musical movements that came and went. And at the center of it, an enigmatic frontman that refused to make anything easy. It's RADIOHEAD week! The guys give a quick upcoming concert report before Jon reveals a shocking secret about his relationship with the band of the week. The clip story begins with Radiohead as a fish out of water on MTV Beach House until Thom Yorke literally gets wet. Back to back clips on Jools Holland captures...

Inside a recent episode

KISS

Published 23 Aug 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] I'm referring to the long-term accumulation of people who are exceptionally invested in a particular artist's existence. It's better to have one person love you than have ten people like you. It's very easy to like someone's work, and it doesn't mean that much. You can like something for a year and just as easily forget it even existed. But people remember the things they love. They psychologically invest in those things, and they use them to define their lives. This is why KISS must be accepted as meaningful. We buy new KISS records we know we won't like, and the purchase still feels essential. […]

Who has been a guest on Tonight's Musical Guest, Today

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Alanis Morissette
• Soundgarden
• Mary J Blige

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

27 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

15 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 35 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

41

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

71

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