When JR Digs says he's taking his new talk show on the road, he really means it.

That's because JR Digs (Man With A Van) tapes in the back of his white 1990 Ford Econoline.

"It's my new set for the talk show and it just happens to have wheels," said the always ebullient Digs. "I'll do whatever it takes to load guests into my studio after convincing them I'm not going to kidnap them."

The half-hour program debuts tomorrow at midnight on E! It will also air on some Global outlets (but not Ontario) before broadcasts of Saturday Night Live.

His first guest is U.S. comic-actor Dane Cook, who was in Toronto recently to promote a DVD of his performance at Madison Square Garden.

Digs heard he was doing publicity, and after playing some phone tag with publicists, landed Cook in the back of the van.

It's a good start, especially when Digs says he set up shop at the MuchMusic Video Awards last weekend dressed as a giant banana in an effort to attract a guest for week two of his show.

"Good thing I left my integrity at the door a long, long time ago," the Hamilton comic said of his antics.

Digs wouldn't say if he succeeded in landing a guest.

"People will have to tune in. That's the fun of the show. You have to see if I actually get someone or end up with a baggage-claim guy from the airport because things didn't work out."

Digs, who has been on the late-night airwaves for seven years in a variety of self-financed programs, bought the van last year and set out for Regina, where he had been nominated for a Gemini Award for the Best Host in a Lifestyle/Practical Information for Performing Arts Program or Series for his last series, Be Real With JR Digs.

The van broke down and he didn't win, but he come up with the germ of an idea that grew into JR Digs (Man With A Van).

The vehicle is rigged for three high-definition cameras, his swivelling captain's chair, a guest chair, a small table and the requisite house plant because, as he says, "you can't have a talk show without a plant."

And he should know.

Digs is in his seventh year of late-night TV, starting with The JR Digs Show of skits and silly ideas, a program he paid Global to air.

It ended up costing him more than $115,000, but led to Be Real With JR Digs and In The Can With JR Digs, for which he was finally able to land real sponsors, which helped cover his costs.

His biggest expense with the new show is the price of gas. "We'll go anywhere within a three- or four-hour drive," Digs said.

dfoley@thespec.com

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