YES, they can be serious – CNBC is giving former tennis bad-boy John McEnroe his own prime-time talk show.
McEnroe’s as-yet-untitled show, scheduled to premiere in about three months, will air nightly at 10 – following Dennis Miller’s new talk show, “Dennis Miller,” premiering Jan. 26.
“It will be topical and hopefully unpredictable,” McEnroe told The Post yesterday. “And we’re going to have some fun, but with a level of seriousness.
“The reason it’s such a great opportunity at CNBC, as opposed to somewhere else, is that it’s an opportunity to do different things besides sports – and to do it on a regular basis.”
McEnroe said he wants to cover a variety of topics on the show, including entertainment and politics.
“It’s not like I feel like I have to tell everyone my [political] positions, but I love politics, and I’d love to be able to interview politicians to learn about them myself,” he said.
“I’m not sure there are a lot of people who should care about my opinions – but I’m interested to interview people in the political spectrum.”
McEnroe’s show will be pre-taped at CNBC’s studios in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and will feature an ensemble team of in-studio and field reporters.
“Hopefully, people will be interested and will want to be involved in the show,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. My wife is a musician – and I’d like her to be involved.”
McEnroe, one of the best players in tennis history, was the sport’s enfant terrible in the ’70s and ’80s, when he lambasted line judges with his angry “You cannot be serious!” line – which he also used as the title of his 2002 best-seller.
He’s made a name for himself as a tennis analyst for NBC Sports, CBS and USA.