Ranking recent generations' late night hosts

Trotsky

Trotsky

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I was recently reading up on the 2010 Tonight Show conflict, and how multiple shows hosts like Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman, Howard Stern, and others were directly hostile toward Jay Leno because of how he treated Conan O'Brien and Johnny Carson, and because of Leno's perceived lack of comedic talent.

I always thought Leno was incredibly un-funny and just a hack who pandered to yokels, so I felt validating learning about that.

So, how do you rank the late night hosts of recent years? For consistency, let's keep it to network television.

I go:

1. Conan O'Brien (NBC/TBS)
2. David Letterman (CBS)
3. Craig Ferguson (CBS)
4. Stephen Colbert (CBS)
5. Seth Meyers (NBC)
6. James Corden (CBS)
7. Jimmy Kimmel (ABC)
8. Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
9. Jay Leno (NBC)


Strangely enough, I think NBC has by far better original programming than CBS over the past decade and has put on some really edgy, innovative and funny shows (The Office, Community, 30 Rock), while CBS has stuck with shitty formulaic shows like The Big Bang Theory. Meanwhile, the exact opposite is true in terms of their late night hosts.
 
1. Conan
2. Kimmel
3. Leno
4. Letterman
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Fallon

And I don't like Leno either after what he did to Conan. But he's above Letterman because Letterman's monologues were so godawful that it was offensive that he even thought we were dumb enough to laugh at that dreck.

Plus Leno had headlines every Monday. That segment always brought the lulz
 
For me,

Conan, saw him in a comedy show here during his Leno exile, soooo funny. Took my gf, she came along for the ride, expecting to hate it,
but ended up loving it, his whole thing with the Chuck Norris breakdown of his scenes was awesome

Jimmy kimmel next

Colbert.

Hate the rest, can’t stand Fallon, don’t know why, just comes across as fake to me, but people love him, so maybe it’s just me

And must admit, don’t watch any of them for their particular show, just watch for whatever guest they have on
 
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1/2. Conan before taking Leno's job and Leno
3. Craig Ferguson

fuck the rest
 
I think most of those named on list are funny fellows, generally, but I don't watch late night talk shows bc of their respective political views. No matter which way a comedian or comedy troupe leans these days, they lean so hard in that direction that their product just comes across as blatant propaganda. And not just in this case, but most of the media seems to be this way, anymore. My media consumption has dropped sharply over the last couple of years, directly bc of this. Can't enjoy anything anymore.
 
ferguson #1 imo. hilarious and quick witted interviews. i used to love the colbert report, but since he took over his late show, i cant stand him anymore. the constant, incessant, trump bashing is annoying as fuck, and im not even a trump fan. everybody else seems to do it too. the political proselytizing is played out. the last thing i want to think about when watching a late show is politics. i just want to chuckle and relax.
 
If you ever listen to the stand up comedians during the time Leno came up, his contemporaries, they all rave about him. Even the comedians that came after looked up to Leno
 
Letterman was the king, by far.

It's all about the interviews, and Letterman was the best. Monologues don't mean shit, they're all lines written by an army of writers.

I like a bunch of the other guys too. Conan and Ferguson both have kind of a needy, desperate vibe, like they're sweating hard to be funny, but they're talented as fuck so when it works it really works. Kimmel is also funny and much more natural and at ease in the company of superstars than Conan and Ferguson, but doesn't have that edge that they have so never reaches the same heights. Meyers and Colbert I dig, but don't really seek out their stuff.

Cordon and Fallon can get to fuck.
 
1. Eric Andre
2. Conan
3. Ferguson
4. Kimmel
5. Colbert

... don't give a fuck about the rest of the boring shows out there.

*9th circle of hell- Jimmy Fallon. This creepy as fuck, soulless, waiting for orders from the mothership, alien motherfucker is not only completely devoid of humor, but utterly unavoidable if you use the internet. # Secret weapon of the Illuminati
 
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Old enough to rank Carson on top. Leno 2nd. Letterman 3rd. Conan 4th because of Norm MacDonald's appearances. SNL used to be funny too. End of my old fucker opinion.
 
I liked Conan a lot. Kimmel too but he went full libtard and turns me off now. I was big into Letterman in the 90s but lost interest. Wasn't into Leno but enjoy his web series Jay lenos garage. Ferg was funny but wasn't a die hard. Jimmy Fallon I want to punch in the face.
 
They're all unbearable since Trump got elected. That's all they talk about
 
Conan was great, but outside of the remote segments (segments outside the studio) and some guest segments like with Stephen Ho, the show has really been a bummer since it went to L.A., the writing has been terrible these last few years.

Late Night had some of the best writers ever, people who went on to write/write for other amazing shows (Nathan For You, Eagleheart, Delocated, Review, South Park, Wonder Showzen, The Heart She Holler etc.), but most left when the show went to L.A., that's including the sketch performers. Seems like they only have one regular sketch performer now (the fat dude with the stubble beard). The show is now Trump this and Trump that like all the other ones save for Fallon, and it has even crept into his remotes and visits, from the Mexican show last year to the current Haiti one. It especially sucks because before Late Night was anti-political, just tried to be funny without the pandering. I mean Trump does seem things you can easily make jokes about, but it shouldn't be 50% of your show, nor should it seem like propaganda. When Clinton had the Lewinsky scandal in the late 90's most of the jokes were just goofy ones about him being some philandering hillbilly that shouted "yeeeha!" whenever he arrived, and they weren't ever single day multiple times an episode, that's where the fatigue sets in. Don't even watch late night shows anymore, not even subbed to them on Youtube.

L.A. seems to drain the life out of those that move there in some cases. Bill Burr is still great, but the L.A. move definitely took some bite out of his humor. I doubt these are the only two examples either.
 
Craig Ferguson - consistently funny over a long time. Great and different interview style.
The rest just weren't consistently funny enough for me. They were okay. Except James Corden..................f$&k him.
 
I gave up on late night all the shows suck now.

the late good show was late night with conan on nbc.
 
Plissken said:
Conan was great, but outside of the remote segments (segments outside the studio) and some guest segments like with Stephen Ho, the show has really been a bummer since it went to L.A., the writing has been terrible these last few years.

Late Night had some of the best writers ever, people who went on to write/write for other amazing shows (Nathan For You, Eagleheart, Delocated, Review, South Park, Wonder Showzen, The Heart She Holler etc.), but most left when the show went to L.A., that's including the sketch performers. Seems like they only have one regular sketch performer now (the fat dude with the stubble beard). The show is now Trump this and Trump that like all the other ones save for Fallon, and it has even crept into his remotes and visits, from the Mexican show last year to the current Haiti one. It especially sucks because before Late Night was anti-political, just tried to be funny without the pandering. I mean Trump does seem things you can easily make jokes about, but it shouldn't be 50% of your show, nor should it seem like propaganda. When Clinton had the Lewinsky scandal in the late 90's most of the jokes were just goofy ones about him being some philandering hillbilly that shouted "yeeeha!" whenever he arrived, and they weren't ever single day multiple times an episode, that's where the fatigue sets in. Don't even watch late night shows anymore, not even subbed to them on Youtube.

L.A. seems to drain the life out of those that move there in some cases. Bill Burr is still great, but the L.A. move definitely took some bite out of his humor. I doubt these are the only two examples either.
Click to expand...
I agree gave up on conan only watch the YouTube clips.
 
Letterman was novel and good in the 80s and very early 90s. IMO his shit just became snarky and dated by the mid-90s and he annoyed the fuck out of me. Last year I watched a couple of early 80s Lettermans and it was very fresh. Cool to see what NYC looked like before the mid-90s start of gentrification and clean up :eek:

youtube Eddie Murphy Letterman and check out the early/mid 80s appearances. That was essentially an example of the best of Letterman.
 
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