Let's discuss Late Night Talk Shows

[UZI Suicide 0]

While watching Conan tonight I just felt like making a random Late Night talkshow post to discuss the present and future of the various talk shows.

 

David Letterman...I'm assuming will probably retire a couple of years. Replacement I'm going to assume will be Jon Stewart, seems like Viacom is grooming him for that spot.

 

If/When Stewart leaves the Daily Show.. maybe Stephen Colbert takes over?

 

Leno is retiring in 5 years..Conan takes over, hopefully Carson Daly DOESN'T take over Conan's slot, as he is just fucking awful. Maybe Andy Richter can take over Conan's slot, but that time he'll have realized he has no career outside of hosting a talk show.

 

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson has GOT to go. That guy is terrible, who the hell thought it was a good idea to hire that guy? DL Hughley would have been much better. Although that entire show has been plagued by horrible guests and writing, even since Kilborn started. CBS needs to ditch him soon and get some comedian to take over that show.

[Placebo Effect 0]

Stewart's contract expires in 2009, so there's a very good chance he could go to CBS.

 

Carson will definitely not take over for Conan. They're not that stupid.

 

CBS is nuts to let The Late, Late Show continue in its present condition. Kilborn was terrible, as is Ferguson.

[MDH257 0]

Tom Snyder seemed to be grooming Jon Stewart to replace him (Stewart guest hosted for Snyder and was the only person to do so).

When Snyder stepped down CBS had a chance to have Jon Stewart and choose Craig Kilborn instead.

 

When Jon was announced as Kilborn's replacement he even mentioned the irony of his replacing Kilborn after Craig got the job Jon was seemingly being prepared for.

[King Kamala 0]

The only way the Late Late Show could have had a chance to compete with Conan is if they hired Jon Stewart.......of course they hire Craig Killborn and Craig Ferguson. I actually enjoyed Ferguson on The Drew Carey show and the I Love The specials, but he just doesn't have it as a talk show host.

[The Mandarin 0]

Last night's Conan repeat was abysmal. James Spader just isn't funny.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Craig Ferguson is the epitome of "funny person, bad talk show host." I love him in everything else I've seen him in, but as a talk show host he's just sort of "meh."

 

Carson will definitely not take over for Conan. They're not that stupid.

 

Indeed. Carson Daly replacing Conan O'Brien would be a complete and utter disaster because people watch late night talk shows looking for humor and Carson Daly, on his own, is about as funny as dirt (the most I can say for him is that, well, he tends to have good chemistry with Conan as a guest, but that's it).

[the max 0]

It's hard for someone to not have good chemistry with Conan.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I actually like Ferguson, even as a host, but you guys are right he can't compete with Conan.

 

So Jon Stewart was supposed to get the CBS show? I also heard about Kilborn supposde to be on the Daily show, but that might be a rumour.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Never say Ferguson's show.

 

Don't care for Letterman.

 

Haven't seen Leno in at least a year.

 

I watch Conan on CNBC once in a while. He makes me laugh.

 

Sorry I can't do more with this, but working 6:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. limits my late-night viewing pleasures...

[razazteca 0]

What about Jimmy Kimmel?

[UZI Suicide 0]

Well Comedy Central and CBS are both under the Viacom wing, plus Stewart just seems like the logical replacement, so that's why I named him. He's now garnered enough popularity and name value to take over for Letterman.

 

I doubt Kilborn would replace him, I just don't see why they'd bring him back and why he'd want to go back. I think that job will definitely belong to Colbert.

 

I only listed Carson as a replacement for Conan because they seem to be trying to make his show "bigger" now. They moved him out to LA and gave him this big fancy new set, etc. but yeah, him and his show just aren't funny at all.

 

Forgot to mention Jimmy Kimmel before.. I think he's a funny guy and his writing team is excellent but something about his show is off, I just can't figure out what it is. Maybe it's just the fact that it's still hard to picture him as a legitimate late night talk show host.

[King Kamala 0]

I think he's improved since the early days but he's nothing special and his guest list is shit.

[UZI Suicide 0]

Sometimes Kimmel will get a big name (well not a huge megastar, but like a Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell level guy). But I think the idea with a lot of his guests are that he gets guests he thinks younger people will relate to more instead of a lot of bland hollywood stars just plugging shit - like he gets Mike Tyson, who never appears on any other talk shows, various music artists (Slash, Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Snoop Dogg, etc.) And I know those guys play music on other shows, but rarely actually sit on the sofa and talk to the host.

[Guest El Satanico]

I never liked The Tonight Show, even with Johnny. I have always been a Letterman fan, but he's not as good as he use to be and I only occasionally watch. I turn Letterman off once the show gets to the guests, unless one interests me.

 

I try to watch Daily Show every night, and I watch Conan on a semi regular basis. DS and Conan are the only shows where I will usually watch the guests segments.

[Gary Floyd 0]

I'm always going to love Letterman. Sure, Conan's funny, but he can sometimes get on my nerves. Plus, I don't think he's a very good interviewer.

 

Kimmel's show has gotten better, but it still needs some work.

 

Leno and Ferguson I don't really care for.

 

I'm honestly suprised Carson Daily's show is still on the air.

[Placebo Effect 0]

Kilborn will never replace Stewart. Kilborn has absolutely no sense of politics, and his Daily Show was UFO, conspiracy theory bullshit.

[razazteca 0]

I think a team of Mo Rocca and Max Kellerman would be a great team for a late night show.

[pochorenella 0]

I know it's still very early to mention this but I'm a bit worried about Conan taking over the Tonight Show, being that the earlier timeslot could prove a bit detrimental for Conan's comedic style. He's edgier than Leno (who just sucks IMO) so maybe they won't allow him to do some of the stuff he does now. Conan's always been my favorite of the Late shows and it'd be a shame if they cut his wings, so to speak, for the Tonight Show audience.

[Jericholic82 0]

Sometimes Kimmel will get a big name (well not a huge megastar, but like a Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell level guy). But I think the idea with a lot of his guests are that he gets guests he thinks younger people will relate to more instead of a lot of bland hollywood stars just plugging shit - like he gets Mike Tyson, who never appears on any other talk shows, various music artists (Slash, Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Snoop Dogg, etc.) And I know those guys play music on other shows, but rarely actually sit on the sofa and talk to the host.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree, the guests on JKL are usually willing to talk and have fun rather than plug stuff. Btw for the wrestling fans like me here, Cena was on it last Friday and came across as a real wrestling fan and you can tell he loves what he does..

 

I like the show overall and it is the only show I will watch every night religiously (other than conan though its on at the same time so I have to catch the conan replay on cable the next day often) , regardless of the guests, cuz I usually enjoy his monolouge style and jokes (and the bits with Uncle Frank and Cousin sal of course).

 

I also hope NBC wont water down Conan when he gets the Tonight Show gig, though I do believe he deserves it. I dont really like Lenos show anymore and hardly watch it, save for "Headlines" segments.

 

Conan would likely also have to move to Cali for Tonight Show and I have a feeling that a lot of his humor wont appeal to the laid back LA audience and a lot of his stuff might even go over the heads of the people there (trust me I know from expereience)

[Art Sandusky 0]

Conan's gonna have to lay off the crank when he takes over the Tonight Show.

 

The Late Late Show needs to be what it was when Tom Snyder did it.

[Guest news_gimmick]

Thats what I worry about Conan, that he will be a bit watered down compared to what he is now. And thats what I love about him, his insanity and spontaneous nature. But thats just me.

 

 

Tom

[Mecha Mummy 0]

They moved him out to LA and gave him this big fancy new set, etc. but yeah, him and his show just aren't funny at all.

 

The thing about that show is that I don't think it's intended to be funny in the first place (I've watched like a grand total of one hour of his show in the past three years at the most, half an hour of that being the night that a band I was really liking in '03 was going to be on). He occasionally makes bad jokes or whatever but it's more of a show that focuses on the guests entirely rather than doing the monologue, skit, guest, skit, guest, musical performance format or whatever.

 

It's also pretty damn boring, but hey.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Comedy Central is swinging The Colbert Report into a full series of it's own, which will keep Colbert busy from Daily Show activities more often, I'd imagine.

 

Fine by me. Colbert is nowhere near as funny as Rob Cordry.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Crap. I forgot about Kimmel -- that ought to show what I think of his show.

 

How's it doing ratings-wise anyway?...

[King Kamala 0]

The Late Late Show needs to be what it was when Tom Snyder did it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If they wanted to do that, they should of tried to lure Charlie Rose away from PBS. That's not a bad idea IMHO actually, I think Charlie Rose would have been a good alternative to Conan.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

The majority of the humor on late night shows is pretty bad, but they can still be comfortable to watch. I'd rather watch Kimmel than the other ones.

 

I hope Colbert doesn't use his Daily Show correspondent act in his show, that would get very annoying. And I'm looking forward to what Adam Corolla's show will be like.

[slimm44 0]

I also fear Conan will be watered down when he takes over TTS. But who knows? I started watching the Late Late show when JKL was in reruns and now I watch ferguson more than kimmel. He's just so random, Kimmel gets annoying.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Comedy Central is swinging The Colbert Report into a full series of it's own, which will keep Colbert busy from Daily Show activities more often, I'd imagine.

 

Fine by me. Colbert is nowhere near as funny as Rob Cordry.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Blasphemy. Cordry WISHES he could be as good as Stephen Colbert.

[JasonX 0]

Regarding Kilborn going back to The Daily Show; won't happen for numerous reasons most notably being that John Stewart HATED the Kilborn era TDS and culled the show of all of the Kilborn era people behind the scenes (who saw the show as a tool to just make fun of celebrities) and replaced them with people who gave a damn about real news as opposed to making 22 minutes worth of celebrity scandal jokes. And given how much positive press Stewart and his people got with their direction, you'd think they'd let fratboy Kilborn come in and fuck things up?

[JasonX 0]

I actually like Ferguson, even as a host, but you guys are right he can't compete with Conan.

 

So Jon Stewart was supposed to get the CBS show? I also heard about Kilborn supposde to be on the Daily show, but that might be a rumour.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes and no; it was rumored in 2004 that Stewart was going to leave the show when his contract expired but he quickly signed a new contract. During that time, no word was given about Stewart getting Kilborn's show at all as he wasn't ever in the running/up for the show since Viacom felt Stewart was more fucking valuable to them on the high ratings getting, critically and culturally acclaimed TDS than doing a shitty late night talk show.