For talk shows like Letterman or Leno, is any of the celebrity guest dialogue rehearsed or scripted?

Question

Like, do they pick topics to talk about, or go more specific like set each other up for jokes, kinda like improv? Or is it all entirely non-rehearsed?

Answer 1

Letterman's producers ask the guest what he/she wants to talk about. Then they just brief David and give him a list of what to ask/talk about. The rest is just ad lib. David knows every minute what is going to happen on his show.

Answer 2

I would have to say "yes". There are definitely some things that happen that a celebrity would rather not talk about, and to keep them from walking away, I would think that the producers would have ground rules all set up to keep some topics off the table.

Answer 3

I think the celebrities can provide an outline of questions to the host, but they may or may not follow them. The celebrity can hire writers to produce jokes or whatever, but the show's writers won't normally write dialogue for them, unless it is a set-up skit.

Answer 4

they do a pre interview
not scripted but a session to make sure they are comfortable and to draw out the talking points for the appearance.

Answer 5

They do pre-interviews with the guests. And those joke segments are all scripted.

Answer 6

I think the guest know the questions beforehand.

Answer 7

They do pre interviews, that's about it. Howard Stern is someone who refuses to do them, but he doesn't need to.

Answer 8

Shitty but guaranteed its scripted...it'd be so much more entertaining if it wasn't tho..huh!

Answer 9

it is all rehearsed.