Late Night With The Devil (2024) Ending Explained - What Happened To Jack Delroy?

Welcome to Knockout Horror. We just got done reviewing the fantastic Late Night With The Devil and, obviously, really enjoyed it. Today we are bringing you a Late Night With The Devil Ending Explained article to clue you in on some of the less obvious moments. We are also going to clear up that strange ending and answer the questions of what happened to Jack Delroy?

As always, we will summarise the plot of the movie first. We will then jump into answering a few questions. As of September 2025, I’ve spent a bit of time updating this article to elaborate on a few points and flesh things out a little bit.

Obviously, if you are here and haven’t watched Late Night With The Devil yet. You should probably exit stage left as this article contains spoilers. Read our review of Late Night With The Devil, check out the movie and then come back here afterwards. Without further ado, let’s go.

When Late Night Talk Shows Were King

While the USA still has a lot of late night talk shows, including those presented by Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. It’s kind of difficult for younger people to understand just what an institution these shows were in the pre-internet era.

Nowadays, people don’t exactly buy into “appointment viewing”; entertainment is much more fragmented. In fact, sitting in front of the television can be seen as something of an inconvenience. Instead, many choose to binge watch entire series on Netflix or just turn to YouTube or TikTok for their entertainment. The late night talk show isn’t the massive staple of people’s lives that it once was.

Years ago, basically everyone that happened to be awake when these shows aired would tune into one or another. They were essential night time viewing and the stars of these shows would become nationwide celebrities with almost cult like followings. This, naturally, lead to fierce competition between broadcasters and presenters.

Each channel would attempt to provide something different from the other with their late night talk show offering. You had NBC’s The Dick Cavett Show for intellectual stimulation and intense debate. There was The Merv Griffin Show on CBS for those looking for something a bit more relaxed. The undisputed king of late night, however, was Johnny Carson with his eponymous viewing staple The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Carson was huge! His impact was even felt in the horror genre. Jack Nicholson’s improvised line “Here’s Johnny!” from the horror megahit The Shining was taken from Ed McMahon’s iconic introduction of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. Understanding the popularity of late night talk shows helps you to understand the story of Late Night With The Devil.

A Deal With The Devil!

The events of this movie are presented in a documentary format relating the events that took place that Halloween night. Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) is a 70’s late night talk show presenter.

His show, Night Owls, is placed directly up against the hugely popular Tonight Show With Johnny Carson and is being destroyed in the ratings weekly. Jack needs, at the very least, a lot of luck or some divine intervention to help elevate his show to stratospheric levels and knock Carson off his perch.

The only problem is that divine intervention is hard to come by. Unlike a type of intervention that comes from something altogether more Satanic. Jack Delroy was a frequent visitor of a cult like organisation of wealthy individuals in California at a place known as The Grove.

Interestingly, The Grove is a fictionalised version of a very real group known as the Bohemian Club. Meetings between these, typically massively wealthy and influential, individuals takes place in mid-July every year under the utmost secrecy in a compound known as Bohemian Grove. Rumours persist that these meetings are used to make world changing decisions. Some even suggest that the so called New World Order is being formed under this event’s influence.

One such visit to the Grove took place in 1969. Seven years later, Delroy’s wife tragically dies from lung cancer, despite never having smoked. This bizarre death will play heavily into the events that take place. Jack Delroy made a deal with the Devil and the Devil came for payment.

Jack Delroy Returns to Late Night Television

Delroy takes a break to mourn the death of his wife, only to return to television a few weeks later. Determined to beat Johnny Carson, Delroy resorts to increasingly risky tactics. Featuring wild guests and more outlandish topics. Most resulting in either embarrassment for Delroy or, simply, failure.

This is a pretty spot-on interpretation of how the various late night talk shows attempted to get ahead in the ratings war. While what was considered risky then is very different from what is considered risky today. Shows would book controversial or counter-culture guests to boost their viewership.

Dick Cavett, for example, hosted a fiery debate between writers Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal and even offered interviews to member of groups like the Black Panthers. John Lennon and Yoko Ono once took over the entire show to vent their grievances about the immigration process and relate their anti-war views.

These guests brought topics of race, gender, inequality, and opposition to government and war to a mainstream audience. This would attract big viewership as people watched with baited breath, hoping the pressure cooker would explore. Johnny Carson, however, never needed to do this. He was so dominant that he never had to step out of his comfort zone to continue owning the ratings.

In another desperate attempt to gain viewers, Jack decides to host a Halloween special. This special takes place on Monday the 31st of October, 1977. Right at the start of sweeps week. A period where television companies attempt to draw in extra viewers to increase advertising rates for the following year. If you don’t succeed in sweeps week, everyone’s pay will be lower and the show will make less money.

A Night to Remember

The Halloween special will feature guests with supernatural abilities. A psychic called Christou (Fayssal Bazzi). A parapsychologist author called June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) and a girl called Lilly (Ingrid Torelli) who is, supposedly, possessed by a demon. The show also includes former illusionist, turned paranormal debunker, Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss). Carmichael offers $100,000 to anyone who can withstand his scientific scrutinising of their supposed abilities.

The psychic, Christou, is first up. He clearly uses his cold reading techniques to trick two women in the audience into believing he is having a premonition related to them. Cold reading is an extremely common technique used by “so called” psychics to worm information out of unsuspecting victims. It involves using trickery, manipulation, and observation to coerce the victim into feeding them information about their lives. This information will then allow the psychic to act as if they are in contact with a deceased loved one.

After the performance, Christou suddenly appears to be in tremendous pain. He claims he is receiving a message from a person named Minnie for an unmarried man wearing a wedding ring. Christou’s nose bleeds and he looks distraught. Haig hits the stage and is unimpressed by Christou’s performance. Claiming he clearly used cold reading techniques.

Doubtful, Delroy chimes in declaring that he believes Christou is being honest as Minnie was the name he used for his late wife. Due to her death, he is the unmarried man wearing a wedding ring. Carmichael still refutes the evidence and Christou storms off before collapsing and vomiting black liquid at Carmichael.

While Christou is taken off stage, Carmichael interviews the women from the audience. Finding out that Christou’s assistant had gathered information from them before the show. This clearly proves that he was not a real psychic.

The Late Show Goes From Bad to Worse

Despite the graphic scenes, Delroy wants to carry on because he knows the huge ratings boost he will get from the drama taking place. The show goes on and next out is parapsychologist June with her subject Lilly. Lilly was part of a satanic cult lead by Szandor D’Abo. The group worshipped the demon Abraxas but was wiped out as the result of a mass suicide. Lilly was the only survivor and is now, supposedly, possessed by a demon known as Mr Wriggles.

Thinking it would be huge for ratings, Delroy convinces June to conjure the demon and Lilly enthusiastically agrees. The show heads to a commercial break where we learn that Christou died on his way to the hospital due to a massive haemorrhage. Clearly, something is going badly wrong and it is almost like the night is cursed.

When the show returns, June conjures the demon possessing Lilly. The demon talks through its host and refers specifically to Jack Delroy. It claims to have met him once “under the tall trees”. This is, obviously, referencing the Grove. The secretive place where we can assume that Delroy made a deal with the Devil. The demon also alludes to June and Delroy having a romantic relationship and that Delroy wanted his wife to die so that he could be with June.

Is June Really Talking to a Demon?

When June finally manages to subdue the demon, Carmichael claims that it was all trickery and he can prove it. Carmichael asks for a volunteer; the show’s maestro Gus eagerly accepts. He talks to Gus about his fear of worms, only for Gus to suddenly notice a hole in his neck with worms spilling out. Feeling warm, Gus takes off his shirt to see worms under his skin. He rips open his stomach and, horrifyingly, worms pour out. We are quick to learn that this isn’t actually happening.

Carmichael informs everyone that he actually hypnotised, not only Gus, but the entire television viewing audience and the people in attendance. Everything they just watched was trickery. He can prove it by playing back the camera footage. When doing so, it is clear that the events played out completely differently to how everyone remembered it. There were never any worms at all. Carmichael claims that June did the same thing to convince everyone in the room that Lily was possessed.

June denies this and Lilly requests that they watch the footage back to prove it. They do just that and the cameras actually recorded everything that we saw. It is clear that Lilly was actually possessed. Rolling back the footage, Delroy spots his late wife in the background of the image with her hand on his shoulder. Carmichael is convinced that Delroy has had his studio technicians alter the footage and that this is all a scam to increase ratings.

A Shocking, Gory Conclusion

Lilly suddenly levitates again and her head splits open. She kills Gus who was trying to subdue the demon with his crucifix, ala The Exorcist – “The power of Christ compels you”. She then kills June by slitting her throat and sets Carmichael on fire as he attempts to control the demon.

Lilly then transports Jack Delroy to a dimension inside his own mind where he sees horrifying moments from his past. He suddenly wakes, having stabbed Lilly to death as police can be heard in the background. The broadcast ends with the words “So it be done” flickering in the bottom corner. A phrase earlier uttered by the cult leader responsible for kidnapping Lilly, Szandor D’Abo.

Jack Delory’s Faustian Bargain!

This final part of the film is, obviously, the thing that is likely to confuse a lot of viewers. Particularly those trippy moments inside Delroy’s mind. Jack Delroy hallucinates and sees moments from his failing show’s past, emphasising the dire situation he was in. He didn’t want the show to be cancelled but everything he tried to do failed. The show was simply not getting more popular and was on the verge of cancellation.

If we go back to earlier in the movie and look at the rumours of Delroy being part of a cult like group of influential individuals in California – The Grove. It turns out, that Jack Delroy, while with the organisation at the Grove in 1969, made a Faustian bargain with a demon.

A Faustian bargain is a pact where a person trades something of supreme moral or spiritual importance, such as their soul, to the devil or a demonic figure. In return, they receive worldly benefits like knowledge, fame, success, wealth, or power. Ultimately, however, this bargain leads to their damnation. It’s your classic “Sold your soul to the devil” situation. Stories of Faustian bargains typically serve as a cautionary tales about the perils of short-sighted ambition.

In this case, Jack Delroy traded the life of his wife in exchange for the success of his show. Remember the demon saying to Delroy “we met under the tall trees”? They met when he made the deal at the Grove. 7 Years later, the demon came to collect his price meaning Delroy’s wife passed away. This is why she died from lung cancer despite never smoking. Jack Delory is the reason his wife died so young.

The Demon Came to Collect

Like most Faustian bargains, the thing given up is often worth far more than what you get in return. You will never get exactly what you want and the deal will always back fire on you in some way. You never make a deal with the Devil because the Devil will always come out on top! Delory’s moment of hallucination was down to the demon’s corruption.

It sent him into a fugue state where he wasn’t aware of what he was doing. During this hallucination, he sees his ailing wife. In this moment, he feels tremendous guilt and sorrow for what he did – picking fame and notoriety over her. He stabs his wife to put her out of her pain and misery. Perhaps he only realised how much he loved her once the demon came to collect?

While all of this was taking place in his mind and didn’t actually happen. It acts as a metaphor for the shame he feels at having been responsible for his wife’s death. In reality, he is actually stabbing Lilly. The monkey’s paw closes! And that is, at its core, what Late Night With The Devil is and what the ending means. It is a monkey’s paw tale but what does that mean?

The Monkey’s Paw

Based on the classic short story by W.W. Jacobs, “the Monkey’s Paw” refers to a cursed object that grants its owner three wishes. The only catch is that the wishes are granted in a way that has unforeseen, devastating, consequences. The monkey’s paw is a metaphor that serves as a cautionary tale about the danger of interfering with fate.

There are a ton of different horror movies that use the monkey’s paw as a theme. Wish Upon (2017), Drag me To Hell (2009), and The Box (2009) are a few examples. Though most people would probably recognise Pet Sematary (1989) as one of the most well known examples. I also enjoyed Wake Wood (2009), as well.

Delroy will have the fame and notoriety he so longed for but it will be as the violent murderer of a young girl. Not as the well loved host of a popular late night talk show. His show never eclipsed Johnny Carson’s, it just kept afloat. He got his wish, but not in the way he thought he would and he sacrificed his wife to get it.

70’s References

Late Night With The Devil is packed full of 70’s references. The most prominent of which is the character Carmichael Haig. He is clearly based on James Randi. A Canadian-American magician turned sceptic. Randi spent his later life challenging supposed psychics, mediums, and other people claiming to have supernatural abilities to prove themselves.

Some of his most famous debunking moments involved self proclaimed psychic Uri Gellar and religious faith healer Peter Popoff. Randi started the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge where he would offer the prize money to anyone who could prove their supernatural abilities under scientific testing. To this day, nobody has ever won the money but plenty have proved themselves to be charlatans, ruining their careers in the process, trying.

Contestants would often leave feeling humiliated and thoroughly debunked. Funnily enough, Randi was a regular on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, the show referenced frequently as a competitor to the fictional Night Owls. Carson, himself, was a magician and enlisted the help of Randi as he was sceptical of Gellar’s, and others, claimed abilities.

There are plenty of other references too. Namely to the aforementioned Bohemian Grove. The show’s title, Night Owls is a nod to this as the owl is the mascot of the Grove and features prominently throughout the grounds. We also see nods to the Waco Texas compound siege, the movie The Exorcist, The Church of Satan and its leader Anton Szandor LaVey (the cult leader who kidnapped Lilly was based on him), the Amityville Haunting, Lorraine and Ed Warren, the Patty Hearst brainwashing organisation the Symbionese Liberation Army, the television network ABC, among others.

Thanks for Reading

That is Late Night with the Devil’s ending explained. I thought this was an awesome movie with such a genuine recreation of 70’s entertainment. I highly recommend that you all check out James Randi’s psychic debunking shows on YouTube. It is seriously entertaining content and way funnier than it should be, at times. The guy was simply incredible, even more so than Carmichael Haig in this movie. He had a wicked sense of humour, too.

As I always say, thanks for spending your time here. You can stick around and take a look at some horror movie lists or some more reviews if you like or even check out some more Ending Explained articles. I appreciate every one of you for spending your time on Knockout Horror. It means the world to me as all I want to do is chat horror. Take care and I will, hopefully, see you soon.

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