DOWNTOWN — The voice of Wrigley Field is stepping in front of the camera.
Tickets are now on sale for the first live taping of Jeremiah Paprocki’s aptly named late night talk show, “Late Nights in Chicago.” The premiere event — hosted by the 24-year-old Cubs wunderkind with a vibrato beyond his years — will be held March 24 at the Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts promptly at 8 p.m.
The 90-minute kickoff features an interview with Chicago historian Shermann “Dilla” Thomas and a performance by local rapper Matt Muse. Paprocki, who has assembled a full production team with four studio cameras, plans to pilot five episodes in front of live audiences, with the show published to YouTube.
Like his late-night contemporaries on both coasts, Paprocki will be backed by a band. He said he’s starting to practice his opening monologue in the mirror at home.
“The monologue is maybe the most daunting part of this,” Paprocki said. “But I love entertaining people. When the Cubs are trailing in the bottom of the ninth, your voice can be what gets the people going. You say, ‘Leading off,’ and you get that thrill of the crowd reacting to you. Your excitement is their excitement. I want to capture that in a new way.”
Paprocki broke barriers when he was plucked out of the University of Illinois at Chicago to the highest booth looming over Wrigley Field, becoming the Cubs’ youngest and first Black PA announcer. His microphone was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2021.
Paprocki can still be found calling UIC games and even local high school basketball.
Paprocki was inspired to squeeze a late night show into his schedule after going a taping of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Paprocki said he wondered why Chicago didn’t have its own counterpunch to late-night shows in New York and Los Angeles.
“So this show is going to be for Chicago, by Chicago,” Paprocki said. “Hopefully it will be a great way for people to spend a night Downtown, learn about interesting people and for us to highlight the best of Chicago.”
With a few baseball seasons now under his belt, Paprocki said he’s been taking cues from Wrigley about how to put on a good show. He also jots notes while watching Kimmel and “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, long after the final innings.
“I know I have the passion, because I’m crazy enough to upstart my own show,” Paprocki said. “But a good talk show host should focus on highlighting the guests. If I do it right, everyone will hopefully leave with a better understanding of their story.”
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