John Mayer is in talks to get his own late-night talk show, Variety reveals. The star is reportedly discussing the possibility with Paramount+, ViacomCBS’ new streaming platform that launched on March 4. Based on the format of BBC talk show Later with Jools Holland, the series will run as a talk and performance show. The outlet reports the show is being shopped to possible broadcast partners as a show with performances along with interviews with musicians, artists and other cultural figures in a set created to look like an after-hours musicians club.
New episodes will air weekly on Paramount+, and the overall aim will include specials taken from the various performance segments to be broadcast regularly on CBS as well. Coincidentally, the Grammys also air on CBS, meaning performances would be aired during the ceremony as well. Mayer has been looked at by the network for years. The news comes more than a decade after then-CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler told reporters the two parties were nearing a deal for a show with the “Daughters” singer. Variety claims neither Paramount+ or a rep for Mayer have responded for comment.
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If the deal is to go down, it would mark a major TV commitment for the singer, who’s maintained a long career as a touring artist. His most recent trip around the country with Dead & Company alongside original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. Mayer has some experience doing talk shows. In 2018, he launched an Instagram Live series called Current Mood. He’s also appeared as a guest host on the Late Late Show following Craig Ferguson’s exit, and starred in the finale episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Outside of that, he’s additionally done his fair share of cameos on scripted television. He’s worked with comedians like Dave Chappelle and is currently showing off his own comedy skills on TikTok, where he has 1.1 million followers.
The star recently shared his thoughts on the Framing Britney documentary from the New York Times, admitting that he “almost cried five times” while watching. “To see the sadness in this human being, I almost, I mean the end, I mean, I was on the edge of tears five times, because if you understand what this business, slash industry, slash lifestyle does to a person,” he told Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM show. “To go through this and come out the other side OK, is to have infinite grace for those who struggle with it.”
He also talked about his own experience dealing with fame. “I came out OK… I have a very strong feeling that part of that is because I’m a man,” he said. “And I have a very strong feeling that a lot of these things that happen to female performers is endemic to being female. Why do so many men emerge going, ‘Learned my lesson. Yes, I got dinked in the head, but I’m back baby’? So I watched it with such grace for someone who got much more maligned by the inhuman experiment of fame than I did.” Disclaimer: PopCulture.com is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.