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The King and Ry

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By By Tony Riazzi, Contributing Writer 7:51 PM Thursday, July 9, 2009

Dayton, hello.

It’s an uncommon occurrence for those in a position of power to be able to handpick his or her successor.

Fascist dictators and well-known talk-show hosts are rarely even extended such courtesy, Kim Jong-Il not withstanding. But Larry King is not just any well-known talk-show host. After all, he does have 10 prestigious Cable ACE awards under his belt, err, suspenders. Not to mention nearly as many marriages, which has to count for something.

So during a recent one-man show at the Wynn Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas (and if you remember his old USA Today columns, you can imagine what treat a Larry King one-man show would be), King made it very clear who he would like to replace him.

Asked by an audience member who the 75-year-old would choose as his successor upon retirement, King named Ryan Seacrest. The audience reportedly “burst into gales of laughter.”

To which King replied, “Why is that funny?”

Larry raises an interesting question. Why is that funny? Perhaps the audience that night found it funny because they’re ignorant and they obviously don’t understand real talent, which is what Ry Guy has in droves.

“He’s the classic generalist,” King told the New York Times in 2007. “The only thing I don’t know, and I’ve gotten to know him pretty well, is how versed he is in politics, world affairs. Does he read the paper? Is he interested in Iraq?”

Well Larry, if what you mean is, is he versed in celebrity affairs and is he interested in Iraqi talent shows, then I think you’re going to be very pleased.

Maybe the audience was laughing because they’re not thinking outside the suspenders. They’re looking for someone a little older, in a similar mold as King himself? OK, a lot older. But rest assured, what Seacrest lacks in age and life experience, he more than makes up for in moxie and perfectly waxed eyebrows.

Plus, he’s known for his hard-hitting interviewing style. Seacrest is not afraid to ask the hard questions.

I once saw him ask the cast of “Hairspray” what the most fun part about working on their movie was. A tough, but fair inquiry. You see, Seacrest poses the questions that no one, short of perhaps giants like Pat O’Brien and Billy Bush, has the guts to ask.

Why else would Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie dodge him in that much-publicized incident on the Oscars’ red carpet? It wasn’t some misguided attempt to avoid him because they can’t stand the mere sight of him. It’s that they knew better than to get stuck in the Seacrest web of probing questions.

If he can elicit those kinds of responses from his subjects on the red carpet, putting the fear of God in them just by asking whom they’re wearing, imagine what he could do with a nightly hour of “Seacrest Live” at his disposal.

Plus, he would immediately garner for CNN the credibility of a thousand Wolf Blitzers. (Note: that’s a lot.)

So yuk it up, audience at Larry King’s one-man show. Have a good laugh. But in the end just remember, you’re the ones that paid to attend a one-man show starring Larry King.

Seacrest, out. E-mail, in: entertainmentweakly @yahoo.com

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