Jimmy Fallon now has the guy who’ll help him make the transition to “The Tonight Show.”
Josh Lieb has been named producer of Fallon’s “Late Night” and will move with Fallon when he takes over “Tonight” from Jay Leno in February.
Lieb has snared seven Emmys (as a writer and executive producer) of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and also wrote for “The Simpsons” and executive-produced NBC’s late-’90s sitcom, “NewsRadio.”
Meanwhile, original “Daily Show with Jon Stewart” executive producer (and co-creator) Madeleine Smithberg, who segued into founding Mad Cow Productions, will keynote at the 2013 Collaboration Awards, being held Oct. 24 at the Baruch College Performing Arts Center.
Smithberg will talk about collaborating with other women writers and her new comedy, “Moo,” which showcases young Internet comedy producers and comediennes. This year’s awards — run by the Women in the Arts & Media Coalition — will honor writer/actress Jane Edith Wilson and writer/filmmaker Grace Lee.
Speaking of honorees, Seaside Heights, NJ elementary school teacher Marsha Dionisio hits the TV big time Thursday when — as one of People magazine’s “Teacher of the Year” recipients — she appears on Katie Couric’s talk show, “Katie” (3 p.m./Ch. 7).
Dionisio, who’ll appear on-air with People executive editor Betsy Gleick, is a fourth-grade teacher at Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School. She tells Couric how she reinvented her classroom after it was decimated last October by Hurricane Sandy. She and the five other “Teacher of the Year” recipients will be featured in the new People magazine.
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A nugget on ‘Gold Rush’
Discovery Channel’s “Gold Rush” returns for its fourth season Friday, Oct. 25 (9 p.m.) — and, with it, the show’s second annual “100K Gold Rush Sweepstakes.” Registration for this year’s contest begins live online (goldrushgiveaway.com) this Friday, Oct. 18 at midnight — with the code used to enter revealed live, on air, during the Oct. 25 “Gold Rush” premiere.
The winner will be revealed, live, on the Nov. 1 “Gold Rush” episode (last year’s winner resided on Long Island). “Gold Rush” enters Season Four on a hot streak, averaging nearly 5 million viewers last season — and topping all of TV, no exclusions, in men 18-49 for a seven-week stretch.
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Last, but not least
Kevin Nealon and others will participate in “Comedy Gives Back,” a 24-hour international digital telethon benefiting Malaria No More Wednesday, Nov. 6 — with shows from New York, LA, London and Sydney. It streams on dailymotion.com.