Neil deGrasse Tyson to host ‘Star Talk’ late-night series

Heads up Jimmy, Jimmy, Stephen and Conan: the late-night fray is about to be joined by someone whose brain is bigger than everyone else’s. Neil deGrasse Tyson is getting his own late-night talk show, “Star Talk,” on National Geographic Channel.

The new series, which will premiere in April, is an extension of the astrophysicist’s popular podcast of the same name.

NatGeo made the announcement at the Television Critics Assn.’s Winter Press Tour in Pasadena. It’s the channel’s first foray into the late-night arena.

The series, which will be produced by National Geographic Studios, will tape before an audience at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium in New York City, where Tyson serves as director.

Each week, Tyson will host comedians, scientists and other celebrities to discuss the latest developments in the exploration of the universe.

Though Tyson has been a regular presence on PBS specials and as a guest on “The Daily Show,” his fame got a big boost earlier this year when he hosted a new version of “Cosmos,” the famous series created by Carl Sagan.

“Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” aired on the Fox network as well as on National Geographic Channel.

NatGeo plans to pair the premiere of Tyson’s maiden talk show voyage with a new special, “Hubble’s Cosmic Journey,” which will celebrate 25 years of the Hubble Space Telescope’s mission around our planet to peer into the furthest reaches of the universe.

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