Late Night TV

[dynamotv]

With Conan taking over the Tonight Show, I thought it would be a good time to talk about late night TV over the years. The main focus would be on the late night talkers but anything after the late night news is fair game. For what it's worth, here are my top and bottom talk show hosts......

Top Talk Shows

1. Johnny Carson's Tonight Show: What else needs to be said about the guy? He's still the gold standard for late night yak fests to this day. His comic timing, his interviews, his chemistry with Ed McMahon, it was the ultimate TV comfort food. Miss his show alot.

2. David Letterman: I've always been more a fan of his "Late Night With David Letterman" days than his CBS incarnation. Even though Letterman is a little more mainstream these days, the guy still has an edge and there's nothing better when you piss off Dave. Nothing.

3. Conan O' Brien: I never saw much of his Late Night shows but I've become a fan since he moved to The Tonight Show. The creepy Tom Cruise Wax Figure gag is an instant classic. I hope NBC sticks with him. His audience will find him.

4. Arsenio Hall: This one is more of a historical inclusion more than a quality inclusion. I remember the show being charming enough and it had its share of historic moments (Clinton playing the sax) but the reason it's here is that it was the first show to directly compete with Carson and survive for more than a season. At the time this was kind of a big deal and really the first show to reach out to the Urban demographic and younger audience and it was rewarded with great ratings.

The Bottom

This one is more easy to fill.

3. The Rush Limbaugh Show: Yup, he had a late night TV show and it was gloriously bad. No it wasn't a talk show but rather it was his radio show on TV.

The show's highlight(?) was a bit where Rush said "You know the Clinton's have a family cat but did you know they also had a family dog?" Cue the picture of Chelsea Clinton at age 13. The show was cancelled not long after that.

2. The Magic Hour: Magic Johnson has many talents but starring on a late night talk show isn't one of them. He was so bad that Howard Stern came on and spent two segments coaching Magic on how to do a talk show. It was amazingly bad and I think it only lasted a month at most.

1. The Chevy Chase Show: This gets my number one spot for the sheer fact that on paper, this should have worked. I've only worked through a few of his clips on Youtube but whatever mojo he had going on with SNL just wasn't with him any more. It was pretty fucking sad actually.

I'm pretty sure there's a small graveyard of late night talk show hosts who tried to take on Johnny, Jay, Dave, and Conan so I'll leave it up to you guys to chat about them. I seem to remember Joan Rivers had a show at one time as well as Pat Sajak but I'll leave it up to those of you who actually saw these to chat about them.

Anyway, have fun.

I'm sure there are Chewers who have way more knowledge on this subject than I do so have at it.

[dynamotv]

One thing I always wondered. If Joan Rivers hadn't signed up to do the FOX show, would she have been next in line to host "The Tonight Show"? My memory is fuzzy but I seem to remember her being pretty damned good when she subbed for Johnny. Certainly better than Leno was.

Also on the subject of guest hosts, I don't seem to recall anyone but Johnny having guest hosts while he was on vacation or does David Letterman have one or two on standby as well?

[Nexus-7]

As far as the Chevy Chase Show is concerned, they canceled it so fast, there was no way to tell if it may have gotten better. Every show should get it's fair shake. I'm not saying it was good. It wasn't. But still.

[BubWilliams]

Originally Posted by dynamotv

3. The Rush Limbaugh Show: Yup, he had a late night TV show and it was gloriously bad. No it wasn't a talk show but rather it was his radio show on TV.

The show's highlight(?) was a bit where Rush said "You know the Clinton's have a family cat but did you know they also had a family dog?" Cue the picture of Chelsea Clinton at age 13. The show was cancelled not long after that.

There was also the time Gibby Haynes from the Butthole Surfers tried to gain entry into the show, but was sadly denied.

[Fat Dragon]

Carson knew how to make his guest look good. The problem today, even though I like a lot of the later hosts, is they make no secret of their boredom. It may be part of Dave's appeal, but I noticed it with Arsenio and now Kimmel, it's more about THEM unless it's a guest they really like-"Uh, ok here is some band I guess is popular with some people, I don't get it personally...".

Carson was a professional, the hosts today are too egotistical to pull back. I like Conan, but he interrupts too fucking much.

Also, don't forget the curse of the fish tank. Chevy Chase show=had a fish tank.
Keenan Ivory Wayans show=had a fish tank.

The fact that Carson Daly has been on longer than 6 months proves that people will watch anything.

[FilmNerdJamie]

Originally Posted by dynamotv

One thing I always wondered. If Joan Rivers hadn't signed up to do the FOX show, would she have been next in line to host "The Tonight Show"?

I'd think that Carson would have seen to it that Rivers took over. On the other hand, he certainly stayed out of the war between Leno and Letterman for the gig once he announced his retirement. This despite the fact that it's now common-knowledge that he thought Letterman deserved and had earned getting The Tonight Show.

[Paul755]

I'm curious to see how the guest situation plays out between Leno, Conan and Fallon. Fallon despite the crappyness of his show gets some good guests...sometimes a little better than Conan. I can't imagin once Leno starts up Fallon will have much of anyone left.

[Yaz]

Originally Posted by dynamotv

I seem to remember Joan Rivers had a show at one time as well as Pat Sajak but I'll leave it up to those of you who actually saw these to chat about them.

Conan always talked about the Pat Sajak show as being one that was actually really good, but it was cancelled before catching on.

[Cameron Hughes]

My favorite right now is Craig Ferguson. The best monologues and he often has great authors as guests.

[Hammerhead]

Agreed on Ferguson. He's also the only host who holds to the "It's after midnight and nobody's watching anyway" credo of classic late-night. His improvisation with the guy from Big Bang Theory when a stage-light failed mid-interview was amazing.

I think, though, that if I had to choose just one interviewer from over the years, it would have to be Tom Snyder. No sketches or remotes for him, just a smoke-filled room. If he wasn't interested in his guests he let them know, and if he was you knew they were worth it.

[Cameron Hughes]

Originally Posted by Fat Dragon

Carson knew how to make his guest look good. The problem today, even though I like a lot of the later hosts, is they make no secret of their boredom. It may be part of Dave's appeal, but I noticed it with Arsenio and now Kimmel, it's more about THEM unless it's a guest they really like-"Uh, ok here is some band I guess is popular with some people, I don't get it personally...".

Carson was a professional, the hosts today are too egotistical to pull back. I like Conan, but he interrupts too fucking much.

Also, don't forget the curse of the fish tank. Chevy Chase show=had a fish tank.
Keenan Ivory Wayans show=had a fish tank.

The fact that Carson Daly has been on longer than 6 months proves that people will watch anything.

Angry or disinterested David Letterman is awesome.

[Subotai]

See Ferguson's Grandmaster Flash bit? That shit was awesome.

I miss Tom Snyder so much. He's 3rd in my late night host list, after Letterman and Carson. O'Brien, I could take or leave - he is brutal with the guests. Brutal. Hasn't improved in 15 years. He'd be great as a head writer, though.

When Letterman was out for his bypass a bunch of folks filled in for him, iirc Cosby and Snyder. Paul Shaffer hosted one day iirc. Bruce Willis, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Sandler, have all filled in for him over the years at CBS.

Ah, Dave. I remember once when Sharon Stone was on to promote Sliver or some piece of shit, she said something like "I can't act - thank God I can take off my clothes, huh?" Letterman turned to the camera and said "It's nice to see someone finally call a spade a spade, isn't it?" She didn't come back on the show for 15 years.