The Format of the TV-program «Vecherniy Urgant» in the Context of American Late-night Shows

The Vecherniy Urgant show is a successful Russian late-night show. Although it is not an official adaptation of any of the foreign television formats, there is a hot discussion in the media field about its similar features to well-known American late-night shows. The present study aims to reveal the manifestation of the elements of the formats of three American late-night shows («The Late Show with Stephen Colbert», «Jimmy Kimmel Live!», «The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon») in the TV-format of Vecherniy Urgant. For better analysis, the work is organized into two sections. Section one describes systematization of the theoretical information about format as a concept of modern TV-industry, designation of approaches for understanding dramaturgy of the tv-shows, and definition of late-night show with its characteristics as a content type. Section two is devoted to comparison of the Vecherniy Urgant show and the four of American late-night shows at the levels of the program structure, format characters and dramaturgy of rubrics. In order to analyze the episodes comparative dramaturgical analysis and comparative structural analysis of the formats will be performed. Thus, this study will shed new light on the similarities and differences within those television formats.