Arsenio Hall will host a new late-night talk show in 2013

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The dog pound is back.

Once dubbed as the King of Late Night television during his prime, Arsenio Hall will attempt a major comeback September 2013 with a new syndicated talk show.

Arsenio Hall talk show

Two decades after his self-titled show rebuilt the late night talk show genre for a new generation, the 56-year-old comic and recent “Celebrity Apprentice” winner will attempt a major comeback with a nightly syndicated show starting in September 2013.

Arsenio Hall is partnering with CBS Television Distribution and Tribune Co., which will broadcast the 11 p.m. show on 17 stations.

“In the end I’m a comic, and nothing fits the talk-show mode like a stand-up comic,” Hall said in an interview Monday. Referring to the crowded field in late-night TV – which includes “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” as well as traditional venues such as “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” – he added: “I know there are a lot of shows, but I think there’s a space for my show.”

Hall’s show during the 90s was an instant hit bringing youth and diversity to late-night television. His status as the only black host in late-night TV gave him a special access to rappers and African American entertainers, including Eddie Murphy, his costar in the hit comedy film “Coming to America.”

The show reached its pinnacle when Bill Clinton, then a presidential candidate, appeared as a guest, wearing sunglasses and honking a saxophone rendition of “Heartbreak Hotel”. But the show suffered after CBS brought David Letterman to host a late-night show that displaced Hall on many local stations, and it went off the air in 1994.

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