BOZEMAN — The Montana State football team had just won a national title, but that didn’t faze Craig Kilborn. It was the mid-1980s, when Kilborn played basketball at MSU. By then, Kilborn was known around campus for his sense of humor, so MSU boosters asked him to guest host one of their luncheons.
When he got on the mic, he decided to roast the football coaches. “Here he is, some young college kid, basketball player, and he had the audacity to do that,” said Jeff Epperly, Kilborn’s teammate at MSU. “But that was Craig.
He just had a lot of confidence in himself and his abilities and was unafraid, totally unafraid.” The roast provided a preview of Kilborn’s future. After graduating from MSU, he anchored ESPN’s SportsCenter during the show’s golden era, then became the first host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.
As Jon Stewart steered The Daily Show’s ascension, Kilborn hosted The Late Late Show, appearing on CBS right after David Letterman. “He was at the top of the world in a short period of time,” said Stu Starner, who coached Kilborn at MSU. “He is one of our most successful former players.
” Kilborn’s last episode as a late-night host aired 20 years ago, when he was in his early 40s. The bright blonde hair that graced millions of televisions in the 1990s and 2000s now glimmers with silver. His visibility is mainly limited to Instagram.
He’s done little to regain the fame he once possessed. Kilborn’s reasons for leaving his high-profi.