After a long period of late-night firing, retiring, and hiring, its time to quantify the monologues and interviews, and crown the all-time kings (and a few queens) of talk. was moved to 11:35p.m. ET/PT on January 8, 2013placing it in line with its competitors, Letterman and Leno. He was the first talk-show host to solicit questions from his studio audience for his guests, who included everyone from Ayn Rand to economist Milton Friedman to Louis Farrakhan. So Fallons interviews are primarily excuses to get A-list stars to do fun, dumb shit, Before celebrities occupied the entirety of American cultural coverage, talk shows often booked guests who were authors or philosophers. Space Ghost was a vain, dimwitted Saturday-morning cartoon superhero who tried to revive his career with a talk show filmed in outer space, but his attempts to interview B-list celebrities were undermined by backstage bickering with his uncooperative sidekick, Zorak, and sarcastic director, Moltar, both of whom hes imprisoned. But his abrasive personality exacerbated by occasional hangovers suited the late hour. 2014 and 2015 saw a realignment to CBS's late night lineup: in April 2014, Craig Ferguson announced that he would leave The Late Late Show at the end of the year. But Try Getting It. 21.

When NBC offered Snyder the time slot after Letterman, he refused it, having always been resentful of the forced change in format, and NBC News Overnight, a newscast, took the slot instead, some months after Tomorrow's final broadcast in 1982. Howard Stern called him an ass-kisser; George Lopez labeled him two-faced and the worst interviewer on TV; and Arsenio Hall, Dennis Miller, and Craig Ferguson all mocked him. Stranded in Fernwood, Ohio, Barth hosted a low-budget local show, Fernwood 2 Night. Daly had already reduced his role on the program, due to his commitments to the Today Show and other projects. On May 13, 2013, it was announced that Fallon's former SNL castmate Seth Meyers would assume the duties of Late Night once Fallon moved to The Tonight Show. The midwestern son of two teachers, Cavett had a low-level job at, Terry Gross, the long-running host and executive producer of NPRs Fresh Air, is a boss: a fearless, legendarily well-prepared, intellectually omnivorous interviewer whose needle-sharp questions often lead to enlightening, occasionally heated exchanges with cultural and political icons. Ignorance often breeds contempt and prejudice, Gimble declared, and the locals called to ask his Jewish guest why he want wearing a beanie and when the next Barbra Streisand movie was coming out. After Paar's departure, hosting duties were filled by Groucho Marx, Mort Sahl, and many others.

Instead, theres the host, in tailored menswear and sneakers, dancing with her audience to feel-good 80s R&B, presiding over smiley-faced party games and comedy bits, and cheerfully goading celebrities even presidents into goofing around with her. Fox returned to late-night television in September 1993 with The Chevy Chase Show. [25] Leno's second Tonight iteration was taped at NBC's Studio 11 in Burbank, the former home of The Jay Leno Show, with a modified version of that show's set. In real life, Colbert is a science-fiction-reading, Sunday-school-teaching father of three with an abiding sense of social justice, as evidenced in his testimony before a congressional subcommittee on the rights of migrant workers (I like talking about people who dont have any power). With his clogged-nose Brooklyn accent, neck-chafing red suspenders, and eight marriages, he was easy to mock. With the new millennium in 2000, NBC's Later finally got another permanent host after various figures had taken the chair for several years, in the form of a VH1 personality, Cynthia Garrett, who broke the proverbial "glass ceiling" by becoming the first African-American female late-night host. He mixed his conservative politics with sexual titillation and the outrageous showmanship of pro wrestling. Maher has a gift for getting to the root of current events, as when he referred to the Bill ClintonMonica Lewinsky affair as ten instances of prison sex. But we still wish hed cut his fucking mullet. That, and the 634 other WTF episodes, are as good as a talk show gets. Tom Snyders late-night one-on-one interview show, Tomorrow, was such a cultural touchstone of the 70s that Dan Aykroyds impression of Snyder became an early staple of Saturday Night Live. Earlier this year, when he called American Sniper a film about a psychopath patriot, Maher reminded us that the essence of comedy is disruption and dissent. Barth Gimble was a TV host in Miami who fled Florida to escape legal charges that he swore involved entrapment. At a press conference, when Snyder asked for advice, Letterman snapped, Do something about the hair.. Hes still neurotic, thankfully (and reliably funny), but the bitterness has subsided, mostly due to the enormous success of his podcast, and the narcissism has given way to a profound curiosity about and empathy for the inner lives of artists: fellow comedians, as well as actors, directors, and musicians (recent guests run from Brillo-headed nonagenarian comic Marty Allen to alt-comedy nerd Barack Obama). Garry Shandling, who had been a frequent guest host in the early 1980s, served as permanent guest host, alternating with Jay Leno, from 1986 to 1987, when he left to focus on his cable show, leaving Leno to be Carson's sole guest host. Soon after he became host of The Tonight Show in the summer of 1957, Paar was the first king of late night. When Bill Clinton appeared on the syndicated Arsenio Hall Show in June 1992, his presidential election was anything but assured. 2022 Vox Media, LLC. Tomorrow was different from The Tonight Show. Most TV is totally unsurprising, he once said, adding that he wanted viewers to look at each other and say, What the hell was that? Stupid Pet Tricks were clever, Larry Bud Melman was annoying, and the great attraction was the chance that Dave would go off on a guest. Terms of Service apply. At times, he seemed to be broadcasting from the activities room at Shady Pines Retirement Home, What do TV viewers want with their morning coffee and danish, after the kids have been packed off to school? The show went national: People tuned in to see him yell, Sit down, you fat bitch, and, I would have kicked your fucking nuts out. Guests backed out. It does not, however, include John McEnroe, Magic Johnson, or Tony Danza; make no mistake, that was a conscious decision. [33], The Late Show with Stephen Colbert achieved critical and ratings successes for its satire of the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign and the presidency of Donald Trump; following the 2018-19 television season, it was the highest-rated late-night talk show overall for the third season in a row, and narrowly beat The Tonight Show in key demographic (18-to-49-year-old) viewership for the first time since 199495. Not social commentary or politics or jokes, even, the conventional wisdom goes. Unfortunately, Garrett only lasted a year before NBC canceled the 12-and-a-half-year-old Later in favor of reruns of the critically acclaimed cult Canadian-produced sketch comedy series, SCTV, itself a former NBC late-night program that aired Fridays between 1981 and 1983.

These shows aired once a week in evening time slots that would come to be known as prime time. He transformed, Midnight TV is meant to pacify you, offering a sedative chuckle to help you sleep soundly. For over 30 years, Howard Sterns calling and gift has been getting his guests, many wildly famous, to talk freely about all the things theyd rather not talk about. I never did sleaze, Morton Downey Jr. boasted, which is believable only if you think violence, hooliganism, misogyny, race-baiting, and demagoguery arent sleazy. Competing against soap operas and game shows, Donahue took the concerns and interests of women seriously. Hes still neurotic, thankfully (and reliably funny), but the bitterness has subsided, mostly due to the enormous success of his podcast, and the narcissism has given way to a profound curiosity about and empathy for the inner lives of artists: fellow comedians, as well as actors, directors, and musicians (recent guests run from Brillo-headed nonagenarian comic Marty Allen to alt-comedy nerd Barack Obama). For over 30 years, Howard Sterns calling and gift has been getting his guests, many wildly famous, to talk freely about all the things theyd rather not talk about. Twelve years younger than Conan and seven years Kimmels junior, 40-year-old Fallon breaks with recent comedy trends by showing no interest in irony, meta comedy, or even being cheeky. Comedy Central didnt want to lose Craig Kilborn, the original host of, , a disciple. Carson did not retire in 1987, instead continuing as host until 1992 with Leno as sole permanent guest host. In September 2009, Leno began hosting a new prime time talk show on NBC, The Jay Leno Show. The first show to air in a late-night timeslot itself, Broadway Open House, aired on NBC in 1950 and ended a year later after host Jerry Lester left the show, a combination of frustration with being upstaged by his sidekick Virginia "Dagmar" Lewis, burnout from having to go through a large amount of material in a short time, and the lack of enough television sets in the United States to make television broadcasting in late nights viable. During her tenure, Gifford bravely grimaced through one tabloid scandal after another hubby Frank was caught having an affair; she was charged with using sweatshop labor to manufacture her Walmart clothing line and earned the sympathy of the female viewing audience for whom she was family (a crazy aunt, but still). By reimagining the audience and the way they consume media: on their phones, bored at work, skimming Facebook. Letterman initially won the late-night ratings battle but fell behind Leno in 1995; Leno generally remained in first place until first leaving Tonight in 2009.

When Henderson left, Milton DeLugg took over. I thought the smart move was to drop down a generation, SNL producer Lorne Michaels told New York, explaining his decision to make Jimmy Fallon the sixth host of The Tonight Show. Unlike traditional late-night talk shows, Politically Incorrect was a half hour in length and (following a brief host monologue) featured a panel of four guests debating topical issues while Maher moderated in a comedic fashion. Because of a lack of competition, Carson was free to take time off (by 1980, he was only hosting three new shows a week) and have guest hosts on the show on a weekly basis, and for weeks at a time when Carson was on vacation, including Joey Bishop (a former competitor of his), Joan Rivers, David Letterman, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, David Brenner and Jerry Lewis. [17] The program faced dismal ratings, which also led to complaints from NBC affiliates that it was impacting the viewership of their late local newscasts. The agreement gave Carson's production company ownership of the timeslot following Tonight, which, a year later, Carson Productions and NBC used to create Late Night with David Letterman. Not social commentary or politics or jokes, even, the conventional wisdom goes. Johnny Carson took over as host of The Tonight Show in 1962 and the show was renamed The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Typically the show's host conducts interviews from behind a desk, while the guest is seated on a couch. The opening 15 or so minutes of Live! Before he retired from Larry King Live in 2010, he said the greatest question an interviewer could ask is, Why? Many began to appreciate King only after they got to know his wretched replacement, Piers Morgan. TBS entered the late-night scene in 2009 when it debuted Lopez Tonight, hosted by comedian George Lopez. ABC instead counterprogrammed Carson with a successful news magazine entitled Nightline, beginning in 1980. To combat NBC's Late Night, David Letterman (ironically, its former host) created The Late Late Show to follow Letterman at 12:37a.m.; the first host was the one who helmed The Tomorrow Show in the 1970s and 1980s, Tom Snyder, who hosted the show using the same format as Tomorrow until his departure in 1999. How? For the next season, the only late-night program on the networks would be NBC's Nightcap, a preview of the next day's programming hosted by Mary Kay Stearns. Prosecutors allege Donnell Russell purposefully thwarted the premiere and a panel consisting of Kellys accusers. I wanted it to feel like theater, he said, which was an even bigger challenge because his show was an hour and 45 minutes long. For 30 years, he was the center of American culture. They, When CBS launched its first late-night talk show in 1969 to battle the almighty Carson, it wanted Merv Griffin, who had a hit afternoon show. Today, with more late-night options and dwindling big-three-network audiences, celebrities no longer have to genuflect before talk-show hosts as they did to Sanders, but Shandlings skewering of showbiz narcissism and insecurity remain eternal. When Johnny Carson died, Ferguson had been hosting The Late Late Show for less than three weeks. He was a master chef who opened a Burger King. As Leno might point out, Burger King sells a lot of hamburgers. On NBC's Later, Bob Costas gave way to the host of the cable show Talk Soup, Greg Kinnear, whose tenure was accompanied by a move to Burbank and toward a more conventional, audience-and-celebrity-driven format. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno debuted in 1992. By reimagining the audience and the way they consume media: on their phones, bored at work, skimming Facebook. The show created many modern talk show staples including an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, comedy bits, and musical performances; it also had some holdovers from the radio era, including a vocal group (Steve and Eydie, who went on to decades of success after Tonight) in addition to the house band, something that later late-night shows would abandon. Mindless, good-natured, husband-and-wife-over-the-breakfast-table back-and-forth. Downey, who was born to a wealthy family, had a knockabout career singer, Top 40 DJ, political lobbyist before he started The Morton Downey Jr. Show at age 55, in October 1987, on local New York station WWOR-TV. Just be sure to skip the shows second half: Kimmels a hopelessly feckless interviewer. In June 1987, the very successful Late Night with David Letterman on NBC expanded from four to five nights per week, displacing the four-year-old Friday Night Videos to the timeslot following it. For 20 years, his low-pulse afternoon show comforted housewives and shut-ins, with occasional surprises. [31] On August 6, 2015, Jon Stewart also retired from The Daily Show (being succeeded by fellow cast member and South African comedian Trevor Noah),[32] joining The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as an executive producer and occasional contributor. Before she spit-roasted celebrity fashion donts or shamelessly harangued pompous actors on awards-show red carpets, the late Joan Rivers was a fearless, pioneering stand-up comedian whose showbiz breakthrough came, as it did for many comics, via Johnny Carson. Many in 1986, including top executives at NBC, thought it was possible that Johnny Carson would retire after reaching his 25th anniversary on October 1, 1987, as it was such a logical cut-off point.

Arsenio Hall would take over her role after a string of zany guest-hosts, and from 89 to 93, Rivers would try her hand at daytime hosting. Another syndicated show that earned significant clearance in the late 2000s was Comics Unleashed, a panel comedy show that lasted only one season but was seen in reruns for several years afterward. Jake Sasseville entered the late-night arena after a self-syndication campaign got him clearance on several ABC affiliates by local general managers in 2008. Lately, networks have been changing talk-show hosts faster than Zsa Zsa Gabor changed husbands. Most comedy is based on getting a laugh at somebody elses expense, and I find thats just a form of bullying, shes explained, and shes mostly stuck to that, even when judging American Idol or hosting the Oscars. Youre just so deep into yourself. Terry Gross: She gives no fucks.

But that doesnt mean they taste good. Arsenio Hall's show lost numerous affiliates after Letterman's debut and his show was canceled one year later. After leaving NBC, O'Brien began hosting his new late night talk show, Conan, on TBS on November 8, 2010, after the non-compete clause in his NBC contract had lapsed. To Mervs shock, CBS agreed. He was congenial without being charming, funny without being clever. Pass the cream, will ya, hon? Singh opted not to continue A Little Late beyond 2021, and NBC returned the time slot to its affiliates. It was like Stalin had sent me to Siberia, she told People. Consider this: After 9/11, comedy rolled into a fetal position. Before celebrities occupied the entirety of American cultural coverage, talk shows often booked guests who were authors or philosophers. moments, commemorated on YouTube: Crispin Glover, Oliver Reed, Drew Barrymore, Madonna, Cher (who called him an asshole), John McCain in absentia, Joaquin Phoenix, Farrah Fawcett. Regis, whod served as Rat Pack jester Joey Bishops sidekick on a short-lived talk show in the 60s, had been co-hosting a version of the a.m. franchise since 1975, but it wasnt until Kathie Lee joined him in 88 that the show, then renamedLive! [27] On September 8, 2014, British actor and comedian James Corden was announced as the new host of The Late Late Show. Paar permanently left the show in 1962, citing the reason that he could not handle the workload of The Tonight Show (at the time, the show ran 105 minutes a day, five nights a week), and he moved to his own weekly prime-time show, which would run until 1965. Guest host Kerry Washington helping out fellow actors. The first episode to have the entire cast firing on all cylinders. See you at the auto show, he barked dismissively at Adam West, the has-been actor who played Batman in the 60s, something every host has surely fantasized about saying. Early television variety shows included The Ed Sullivan Show (originally known as Toast of the Town), which aired on CBS Sunday nights from 1948 to 1971, and Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle, which aired on NBC from 1948 to 1956. Sometimes that can be a limited, teenaged lens through which to view the world, but Sterns bullshit detector is what his fans love most about him, and his own neuroses and discomfort more than balance out the self-righteousness. Stranded in Fernwood, Ohio, Barth hosted a low-budget local show, When Bill Clinton appeared on the syndicated, Kimmel is an oddity in the modern-day late-night wars. adding fading all-star Rosie ODonnell and (now-departed) rookie Republican Nicolle Wallace to a squad anchored by crafty vet Whoopi Goldberg. Rivers was fired from The Late Show in 1987 after abysmal ratings and a battle with network executives, leading to her being replaced by Arsenio Hall. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up.

What Spinal Tap is to heavy metal, Garry Shandlings brilliant HBO workplace comedy The Larry Sanders Show is to late-night talk. The Late Late Show's second host, Craig Kilborn, followed a more conventional (albeit low-budget) late-night format. In 2009, Daly dropped the traditional celebrity-driven in-studio template in favor of something of a travelogue that carried the viewer to various pop-culture attractions throughout the U.S., along with interviews. 31-year-old Johnny Pizarro worked on the parking detail in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The show was not popular, leading to many NBC affiliates dropping the show. Though he appears incapable of having a conversation without giggling, hes singlehandedly revived late night. It is characterized by spontaneous conversation, and for an effect of immediacy and intimacy as if the host was speaking alone to each of the millions of audience members. Martin Mull brought mustachioed smarm to the role of Gimble, a condescending blowhard stuck in a hick town, and Fred Willard (setting the tone for the rest of his career) played oblivious sidekick Jerry Hubbard. Neither puppy-dog cute and earnest like Jimmy Fallon, nor a graceful comic actor like Stephen Colbert, nor even a corn-fed smart-aleck like David Letterman, Kimmel is more average man than everyman, a fast-witted shlub whose total lack of fealty toward celebrity may be his strongest suit. [7][8], Politically Incorrect was canceled due to low ratings in the summer of 2002, after which Maher joined HBO and began hosting the similarly formatted weekly series Real Time. Starring Shandling as Sanders (the putative Carson), Rip Torn as Artie (Carsons producer Fred de Cordova), and Jeffrey Tambor as mewling Hank Hey Now Kingsley (the Ed McMahonlike sidekick), the show was nominated for 56 Emmys during its six-year run. Despite Rivers breaking the glass ceiling nearly 30 years ago, late-night TV remains as much of a boysclub today as it was during Carsons martinis-and-strip-steak prime, and Rivers remains the only woman ever to host a network late-night talk show. ET. The job came with too much pressure People said, Nobody will ever replace Paar, Carson recalled. [26] The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon debuted during NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics in Russia on February 17, 2014, while Late Night with Seth Meyers debuted one week later. Under Fallon, the show returned to New York City, where the show originated from its 1954 debut until 1972; NBC no longer owns the former company-owned studios in Burbank where Carson and Leno's programs originated (O'Brien's Tonight Show taped at nearby Universal Studios). Carson's new contract in 1980 allowed him to cut the length of his show from 90 minutes to 60 minutes, and for a short time, Tomorrow was moved to an earlier timeslot, to fill the time gap left by Carson's move. Late-night talk shows had their genesis in early variety shows, a format that migrated to television from radio, where it had been the dominant form of light entertainment during most of the old-time radio era. [13][14] O'Brien's final Late Night episode was taped on February 20, 2009. Since trampolining from co-host of Comedy Centrals puerile Man Show to his late-night Jimmy Kimmel Live! The Bush White House objected, sponsors fled, ABC fired him, and Maher moved to HBO, where, under the name Real Time, hes unconstrained by FCC rules against curse words and weed jokes. But when the on-air light goes on, five mornings a week these days on SiriusXM, hes the best that ever was. He interviewed everyone, including eight presidents, and unlike Charlie Rose, who strives to demonstrate how insightful he is, King kept it simple: short, clear questions. Self-destructive stand-up turned failed left-wing radio host Marc Maron was just another bitter, neurotic, narcissistic, middle-aged comic before he began broadcasting a twice-weekly long-form interview podcast called WTF, recorded in his Highland Park, California, garage. Another time, he said about the shows humor, We want to avoid racism and being sexist. Brenner also left Tonight in 1986, although he did so amicably, to launch a syndicated 30-minute late-night talk show called Nightlife, which was canceled after one season. And you thought Chevy Chases show was awful? No host was more identified with lofty conversation than Dick Cavett, who was as influential (if not nearly as popular) as Johnny Carson. [29] Meanwhile, in May 2015, David Letterman retired from Late Show, ending a 33-year career on late-night TV,[30] and was succeeded the following September by Stephen Colbertwho departed from Comedy Central and The Colbert Report to host the program. Now he has his eyes on the art world. Heres how dire it was for Conan OBrien: Bob Denver canceled. From 2005 until last December, Ferguson was the best host on late-night TV, through a mix of intelligence, honesty, dont give a fuck swagger, and wit. Everybody else whos doing a show, myself included, were all kind of secretly doing Johnnys Tonight Show, Letterman admitted in his on-air eulogy of Carson in 2005. The show returned to the original format that year and was renamed Tonight Starring Jack Paar. Slate ranked the 25 greatest podcast episodes of all time; Marons two-plus-hour talk with frenemy Louis C.K., who broke down and cried while talking about the birth of his daughter, was the no-brainer choice for No. Frankly, Colbert is too brilliant a performer to be a major-network late-night talk-show host in 2015 he makes Fallon and Kimmel look like morning-zoo jocks in comparison but his error in judgment is our good fortune. He was already working without a house band, and then he decided to do away with other talk-show conventions most important, no prepared monologue and no staged questions with guests. The first version of The Tonight Show, Tonight Starring Steve Allen, debuted in 1954 on NBC. In his final years, Carson produced new shows only three nights a week with guest hosts and "Best of Carson" reruns the other two nights. The two candidates were David Letterman (host of Late Night since 1982) and Jay Leno (Carson's regular guest host since 1987). For instance, the show originally featured no studio audience, while Snyder would conduct one-on-one interviews (Snyder's guest list was often more eclectic and would sometimes include the intellectuals and cultural and artistic figures that Carson had long since abandoned) with a cigarette in hand. Ed McMahon served as Carson's announcer, while from 1962 to 1966, the band was led by Skitch Henderson, who hired, among others, Doc Severinsen. Where women once swore allegiance to Oprahs self-actualized, inspirational talk-therapy, their new daytime heroine is more BFF than shrink.

Over the years, he also added heartfelt moments his first shows after 9/11 and his heart surgery, the night he confessed to having sex with staffers but he still responded irascibly to showbiz b.s. He was a great monologuist, possibly because he performed them without cue cards or a TelePrompTer, and a probing interviewer more interested in conversation than in punch lines. In 1986, Joan Rivers joined the brand-new Fox network, where she would host her own late-night talk show, The Late Show, which competed directly against The Tonight Show. It originated from 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York and bore a strong resemblance to an earlier NBC late-night favorite, Tom Snyder's Tomorrow, due to its lack of the typical late-night trappings in favor of a low-key but intense concentration upon Costas interviewing a single guest.