Willie Geist Profile…

The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove profiles MSNBC’s Willie Geist…

Tell me about the genesis of your new MSNBC show.

We thought Morning Joe started to get this cachet, so why not extend the brand a little bit? People knew Dylan Ratigan from CNBC, but when he started coming on our show during the financial crisis, people at the news division really started to recognize and like him. Dylan Ratigan’s show is sort of an outgrowth on what he did on Morning Joe, so his show airs from 9 to 11 a.m. I thought there was something I could do if they gave me time to deliver the news but do it in a little edgier, more fun way. So I said: “Which way can I grow out of this?” They said: “You can’t grow after 9. Dylan is doing that. You want to grow backward.” It is every kid’s dream to host a show at 5:30 in the morning—2:30 in the morning on the West Coast.

On the West Coast, when it runs at 2:30 a.m., how can it be distinguished from that portion of Red Eye [the sometimes raunchy, politically incorrect Fox News panel show]?

We are live, Lloyd, not taped. That is our advantage. Jeff Zucker doesn’t know this yet, but I am going to spin this as part of the larger NBC late-night rebranding. It’s Jay Leno at 10 p.m., Conan O’Brien at 11:30, Jimmy Fallon at 12:30, Carson Daly at 1:30, and Willie Geist at 2:30 on the West Coast. It is my own personal fantasy that it is a late-night show, so I will account on the show for those sad souls who are still awake at 2:30 on the West Coast.