Tuesdays are Top 10 Tuesdays where I count down a topic in the TV realm. This week is Top 10 Late Night Shows!
Close Calls
Jimmy Kimmel Live
The Colbert Report
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
I think there is a lot of value to what Jimmy Fallon does in late night and I think there are times he's gotten unfair press. He's not a good interviewer, that's for sure. But he's very good with games and viral bits and he plays to his strengths.
9. Mad TV
The show that wasn't Saturday Night Live was very inconsistent (yes, even more than SNL) but it had a nice stretch early in its run that introduced some very funny recurring characters like Stuart & Doreen, Ms. Swan, Lorraine and the Vancome Lady. It was very inventive at times and not afraid to lean into truly odd characters.
8. The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
I always felt like Craig Ferguson never got the respect he deserved for his show but that's probably because it was so delightfully weird. In later years, he especially leaned into the weirdness and his monologues were rambling and hilarious streams of consciousness.
7. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert really shined in the Trump era but now in the Biden era, I find myself not all that interested in his show again. Even before COVID, he was never much into the typical trappings of a late night show and that's fine when he can give really stinging political thoughts and be a great interviewer of political guests. But it's a mixed bag with him that relies a lot on the current news cycle.
James Corden has taken the best elements of Jimmy Fallon and done them even better. He is the king of viral videos. I know his Carpool Karaoke has gotten the most attention but the Crosswalk Musicals have been my favorite recurring bits from him. I think he has gotten better as an interviewer as well.
5. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson ranking here is my acknowledgment of his impact on the genre and his legendary run but I'm too young to actually remember the Carson era and many of the clips I see now seem very dated. If I was making a list of the most important late night shows of all time, this would of course be higher. He was the only game in town for a long time.
4. Late Night with Seth Meyers
Seth Meyers is my favorite current late night host but it's primarily because of his "Closer Look" segments that are the perfect mix of humor and pointed commentary. Some of his other bits don't work so well but he has also gotten significantly better as an interviewer over the years. He's very underrated in the late night realm.
3. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Oh how I miss Jon Stewart and how I wish he had been doing his show over the last 4-5 years. It was often reported that young people got their news from The Daily Show and not traditional outlets. While Jon Stewart is a comedian, there could be worse sources for news because his analysis was always so spot on even if it was dripping with sarcasm. And when he needed to, he could cut anything down with a knife.
2. The Late Show/Late Night with David Letterman
It might be cheating to lump these together because the two shows were quite different but David Letterman's CBS years are what I remember but I recognize his NBC years are regarded as his best. The most interesting figure in late night, it was famously said that people watched Leno because of the guests and Letterman because of Dave. Dave was a pioneer with gimmicks and bits that would have become viral if that was such a thing in the 1980s but when he took his place as the elder in the field, he was at his best when he just chatted with the audience (his riffs on NBC's Conan/Leno debacle are worth watching again on youtube).
If I was just considering Saturday Night Live in its current form, it would be lower on this list. I don't want to be one of those "SNL used to be so much better" guys but I do think it has gotten more inconsistent and lazy in recent years. However, looking at the body of work going back to the 70s, it is iconic. It's always been an up and down show but the highs have been incredibly high at times. It is a star-making show with more pop culture references that have become part of every day conversation that probably any show in history. It is an iconic piece of entertainment that is worth watching regularly just to catch genius when it appears (the most recent great sketch was the Muppet Show one on the Keegan-Michael Key episode).
Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at 1989 flop Chicken Soup!
Next Tuesday: Top 10 Sitcom Series Finales!
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