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Every winter, right around New Year’s, Carson Daly meets for a quiet dinner with the man who hijacked his career — Ryan Seacrest.
“It’s our annual event that the public doesn’t know about,” Daly says. “We are both in New York for a couple of days, and we always make a point of getting together and at least having a drink.”
On paper, at least, the two TV hosts are fierce rivals. Both have popular morning radio shows in LA. Both have daily TV shows and both anchor live New Year’s Eve telecasts from Times Square.
And now that Daly has been hired to host NBC’s “American Idol“-like series “The Voice” beginning next month, both men host singing competitions.
But that’s sort of where the comparison ends.
A decade ago — when Daly ruled MTV as host of “Total Request Live” — he appeared to be the heir to Dick Clark, the master of pop on TV, friend to the stars and, eventually, a producer in his own right of shows that young people lap up.
Then, Seacrest cut in line.
“Ryan was the [new] me for a minute,” he says now. “Now, he’s the uber-man of the moment.”
In addition to “Idol,” Seacrest is also host of the nightly “E! News” show, “American Top 40” radio show and produces a raft of TV shows, including the killer-app of celebrity reality, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”
Daly, meanwhile, has been trying to find a way off the graveyard shift.
His late-night show, “Last Call,” was supposed to be a stepping stone — but now, as the network announced this week that it wants him back for an 11th season, it may seem more like a millstone.
“I have been on the network for 10 years now, and I have been trying to get on a little earlier than 1:30 a.m. in other capacities,” he admits.
But “I don’t look at that as sloppy real estate,” says Daly. “Just because it is on so late at night doesn’t mitigate how important it is to me.”
Daly, who once aspired to join the clergy, was recruited for “The Voice” while pitching his own ideas to NBC.
“They said: ‘Finally, we found a format that we really think you might like. It is a music competition.’
“And I said, ‘It’s not for me. I am not interested.’ ”
Daly changed his mind after watching an episode of “The Voice of Holland,” on which the new show is based.
Unlike “Idol”, the show has no judges. Instead, four celebrity coaches organize teams of eight contestants — chosen solely on the sound of their voices.
The celebs have to listen with their backs to the singers, insuring they select based on vocal quality only.
Each week, the coaches — pop singer Christina Aguilera, hip hop icon Cee Lo Green, Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine and country crooner Blake Shelton — eliminate one member from their team.
The final four square off in a live finale with viewer votes picking the winner.
In the end, says Daly, he doesn’t mind no longer being compared to the man who ran “American Bandstand” for almost 40 years.
“That was always a nice comparison for me,” he says, “and a really bad one for Mr. Clark.”