San Diego Late Night TV show in danger

“Late Night Republic” is a hilarious Late Night TV show that airs on local Channel 6, the CW Sundays at 11pm. Hosted by the talented 24 year-old Jake Sasseville, it features often-absurd comedic antics that will leave you laughing out loud.

The show is sharp and captivating where very little is off-limits. You might need a slightly crude sense of humor at times, but the show offers a fearlessly outrageous sense of fun. “Late Night Republic” is executive produced by Jake Sasseville, Travis Granfar, Dave Steck and Jeff Eisenberg. Co-executive producer is Mara Marich Tardy.

Jake Sasseville’s road to late night is a very interesting tale. Sasseville has an uncanny instinct for what works. At only 14 years old he launched “The Edge with Jake Sasseville” on local access TV in Maine. At 21, frustrated with the stagnant state of late-night TV, he successfully launched a viral media mega storm, Jake After Jimmy, to have his program put on ABC after “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Sponsors Overstock, Fuze and Ford, to name a few, jumped on board to back the show.

Jake tells us “I started my first show out of neccesity, actually. I was 15. I was 300 pounds and didn’t really belong on TV, yet had this very burning desire to change what late night was to my generation.”

Upon arriving in New York City, he began schmoozing with agents and networks. He says, “it became painfully obvious that no manager or Hollywood exec would do it for me. So, at 21, I stopped trying to ask others to do it, learned business and how to influence people real quick, then dashed into just doing it.”

Despite the odds, his show launched after Kimmel on ABC affiliates in 35 million homes and ran in syndication for 15 months.

It’s not a really sophisticated show. Jake says “it’s a work in progress — aren’t we all. But it has a hell of a lot of spirit. The people who get that are fans, and they are open to the (bumpy yet hilarious) ride.”

From speaking with Jake it seems obvious that his fans mean the world to him. “I was so grateful when the show began airing around the country. I was even more grateful that the time periods were so good. And now I’m touched that we are building a real sturdy fan base of people getting it (or that don’t get me yet) but who love it nonetheless.”

His newest show, “Late Night Republic,” initially rolled out in nationally in 55 markets, including San Diego. The issue is, the show is in danger to be cancelled on San Diego TV in favor of yet another made-for-TV movie.

Jake says one of his biggest struggles has been measuring their audience by Nielsen ratings versus their known audience on their social media channels. “In San Diego we didn’t reach a number in the Nielsen that the station was happy with, the dozens and dozens of fans we have that talk to me each week about the show is staggering.”

Unfortunately the CW has pulled the plug on the show in San Diego. This doesn’t mean the end of the road for Sasseville. Lance Armstrong’s company FRS Energy has funded LNR RoadTrip2010 which allows Jake and his crew to go to local cities (at least 45 this fall) to meet fans and promote the show.

If you’re a fan or just want to help, you have a few options. By printing out this article, you can take it to the CW and convince them to put us back on the air instead. Jake Sasseville asks you to “help encourage fellow San Diegans that maybe, just maybe the show can be a part of something greater than any of us expect…Or maybe the world ends tomorrow. Either way, I’ve had fun.”

Assuming the world doesn’t end tomorrow, Jake has tremendous future ambitions. And the best part is, he’s still young, so time is no real concern.

His goals are to bring Late Night Republic to Japan in 2011, publish his book, and eventually build a summer camp for kids and families who are challenged with life threatening diseases.

He’s got a lot going for him, indeed. In addition to the show, Sasseville runs Jake Inc., which put on a college campus music tour that has featured Kanye, Guster, One Republic and a slew of others. “This fall, we are going on the road with J. Cole and We the Kings.”

“We have also started a program called Operation:Education. For every campus we go to this fall, with students money, we will build 1 school in Southeast Asia. My goal is to make our initiaves, causes and reasons for giving larger than any person involved, including myself. That’s the real spark to a change of conciousness, and dare I say revolution.”

Follow Jake Sasseville and Late Night Republic on Twitter @LNRepublic, on Facebook , and watch his videos on YouTube.