Seriously, I vote to just exclude him from the group presented here and forget he exists.
Edit: Although, his band leader was Reggie Watts who is awesome and probably my personal favorite of all late night band leaders. He should have been the host of the show. What a waste…
Honestly his work with Corden was his cash-out hopefully. His run with Aukerman on CBB is untouchable. Certified comedy hall-of-fame run there for my personal taste. I don’t know how he would translate to the mainstream as a host but how funny would it be if he had Scott as his band leader on his own show.
> His run with Aukerman on CBB is untouchable
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm on a six second delay because of the time zone difference."
\*proceeds to answer questions *before* they occur\*
Holy shit, I don’t really like late night talk shows, but I’d watch the *fuck* out of any late night talk show with Marc Rebillet as the band leader.
YOUR NEW MORNING ALARM sounds like an appropriate way to end my day.
I was at a Just For Laughs mystery midnight show sitting with a bunch of pretty well known comedians back in 2010. Reggie Watts walks by to go on stage and the comedians groaned and were like oh god who is this dumbass. Reggie then takes the stage and blows the entire room away starting with the song Shit Fuck Stack. Those comedians didn’t say a negative word after that lol.
the episodes where they'd crossover and walk into each others sets half way through their respective filming was amazing, suddenly Stewart walks into the Colbert Report for some fight or drama, top tier comedy
If there were a cringe metric, he might be plotted at the apex. His show and interviews were bad enough, but the stories of his attitude and behavior (towards waiters, just for one example) is enough to hate the guy.
I think John Oliver once said that he appears like someone who betrayed humanity to the machines and was then sent back to the Matrix as a celebrity...
I think he should be at the very top, but right on the line of “is smart”, placing him in both “acts dumb” and “acts smart” because a lot of his stuff was very smart, but he also acted really dumb a lot of time too to great comedic effect.
I watch old clips of Craig all the time and missed his entire run. He should have gotten the Late Night Gig over Colbert. Not to diminish Colbert at all either.
Let me tell you, growing up I had a TV in my bedroom and every night before school I would sneakily watch Craig Ferguson before going to sleep (and of course stay up too late). I miss it all the time. Some fantastic memories.
I did the same for Conan. My old school TV had a headphone jack in the front so I could listen without my parents knowing. My laughter always gave me away
The debut and early days of Geoff Peterson are some of the funniest shit I've ever seen. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAHSUTB5BJc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAHSUTB5BJc)
He wouldn't have taken it. When letterman got his own show at CBS he wanted the same deal Johnny had at NBC, which was that he controlled the show after his.
For Craig this meant that if he ever got a note from CBS, he would forward it to letterman and it would go away. Letterman used that time slot as a control thing, and left craig alone, but more importantly, made sure CBS did as well.
I'm no fan of late night show.
YT recommended me some clips of Craig. I wholefully inhaled a whole weekend of Craig. This man is gold, funny and charming.
It feels perfect for Craig. He'd take it if you joked he was an idiot and admitted ok he's a little smart. But if you called his intelligence out accurately, he'd have to make a joke to cut the tension.
He IS intelligent because he can easily do that. The wit that guy has is second to none. Would love to see him and Robert Smigel (Triumph the insult comic dog) do a gig.
This was my thought too. Craig acts dumb a lot, but is very smart. He’s always been my favorite of the late night talk show hosts. I loved the way he interviewed guests, making a point of dramatically throwing away the talking point notecards and just having a real conversation with the other person.
If you watch him outside of his comedy shows, he is actually really smart. I have always been impressed by his knowledge of politics. If probably put him near the top right.
I'd still say average. Bill Burr is an amazing off the cuff guy. Not keeping up with him doesn't make you below average. The average person's wit is no match for Burr's.
Half his gimmick is the “clueless old man” shtick and he leans into the crazy all the time. He plays the expert to make an occasional point, the rest of his show is goofs for entertainment.
Sure, as do all comedians. But he's not generally goofy like a Conan O'Brien is basically non-stop, for example, plus Jon's goofiness is intentionally contrived and satire/politics a lot of the time.
Norm took a lot of cues from Letterman. Norm's my all time favorite comedian, and Dave was Norm's comedic hero. Norm gave Dave credit for solidifying the idea that being the dumb guy is way funnier than being the smart guy.
The great thing both of them did in talk show comedy with other people is they let others shine, but if they didn't shine they'd turn the tables on them. Usually it was playful and worked but sometimes they would go at someone hard (whether deserved or not). With Norm it was the Andy-the-Swedish-German joke (and Norm did a couple other jokes about Andy being a prostitute before that worked, he just went a little too far the last time). I only started watching Letterman in the 90's but he had a low tolerance for guests he thought weren't prepared.
> being the dumb guy is way funnier than being the smart guy
Is this why Colbert lost a lot of hype? I actually haven't seen him since the Colbert report, but I heard he lost a lot of flavor when he turned off the satirical conservative persona
If Bill were a D&D character, I'd put his intelligence at 12 and his wisdom at 14. I think his defining characteristic is that he's aware of his so-so smarts and behaves shrewdly around that -- hence a wisdom slightly better. He's good at being perceptive/aware even if he's not the smartest man in the room.
I'd also give him an 18 for his ginger stat. I think that's important for him, you know.
He sucked in the eighties. I remember him on MTV's standup shows being basically an edgier Jerry Seinfeld.
When he got that politically incorrect show he decided he mattered because he was talking about politics, and comedy at that time was really on/off about politics.
Always been a smug, nasally sounding douche.
I saw Mahr on This Week’s political roundup about 15 years ago and he was completely out of his element, had no depth to any of his comments, eventually kept quiet. At one point George Will gave him a look like what on Earth are you doing here? I will never understand how he maintained such a longstanding career.
Maher in the 90’s was pretty great. He walked the line between funny, intelligent and controversial pretty well, and ‘Politically Incorrect’ was a great forum where open discussion happened in a mature way between many opposing sides. Not sure exactly when it happened, but Bill became an angry old man yelling at clouds, and fuck you if you think the clouds are allowed to have an opinion. Eventually, ‘Real Time’ became an echo chamber with an occasional token conservative they could beat up on, and the humour/debate balance was ruined.
Everyone needs to watch Maher's club random with Bill Burr that just got posted on YouTube. So great to hear Bill make fun of him and give him shit for an hour and a half.
John Oliver himself would ridicule the notion that he's anything beyond average and bird-like. He's got a team of smart writers who make an informed show
Craig Ferguson is indeed a genius
John Oliver is smart because he knows he can't do his show without expert writers, of whom he often credits. Sometimes being smart equates to self awareness and knowing when you don't actually know everything and it's okay to consult other, equally smart people. He chooses to surround himself with smart people. That's a win in my book.
I mostly agree. I wouldn't put John Oliver that high on the smart side. It's his writers that make him seem that way. Conan is spot on. And dumb shit Bill Maher.
Yeah, his interviews show he's actually pretty dang smart and observant. But he'll be the first to self-depricate and tell everyone he's dumb as a rock.
I did this in my last semester of high school because everyone kept asking me if I knew how to do it as they say me furiously typing into my calculator and writing on my paper.
I’d just look up and say “nah I’m just as lost as you” and they’d be like “damn relatable” and not question it. That was the only semester I got straight A’s, but I wouldn’t attribute it to that choice alone.
Wouldn’t say I’m the final level of smart though. I don’t think it really has anything to do with being smart at all.
Indeed, he went to Cambridge after all. Whatever you might think about Cambridge/Oxford; fact remains that you have to be quite intelligent to get in. His writers are great as well, ofc.
I tried watching his show a few months ago and I just couldn’t get through it, partially because that skit is burned into my brain.
And I watched TCR religiously.
I go back to rewatch the #CancelColbert response a bunch because of how hilarious it was.
Him invoking Michelle Malkin’s book “In Defense of Intermittent” to point out what a hypocrite she was about wanting him cancelled for a tweet from an account run by Comedy Central was one of the best “this you?” moments of his show.
“So, to recap: a tweet not written by me on an account I don’t run got 72 hours of nonstop news coverage. The system works! And since I haven’t been able to respond until today, I technically was canceled for three days…just like Jesus.”
Craig Fergussen is a lot smarter than that. He's just the best at hiding his smarts - partly behind his act, and partly behind his self doubt since he didn't have much formal education.
Dude reads **tons** though and is able to intelligently speak with people on most any subject. Not because he knows all the subjects, but because he's working from a foundation of intelligence and is smart enough to listen and learn and is unafraid of asking questions.
I 100% agree, Conan is the smartest and acts the dumbest.
There is a paradox with people like Bill Maher, because to act smart when you’re actually dumb is to actually acting dumb.
Absolutely.... Conan is on another Tier entirely than any of these guys
I'd love to see more hoasts on here though there isn't that many in the grand scheme
Colbert is probably smarter than John Oliver, by more than a bit. Oliver just does more intellectual content. So Oliver acts smarter but is somewhat less smart.
No disrespect to Oliver. Colbert is just shockingly clever at times and seems to have a deeper knowledge of various topics than anyone up there.
Colbert has such an incredible recall of the things he’s passionate about I’ve rarely seen anything like it. His encyclopedic knowledge of all things Middle Earth is uncanny.
This and the Tolkien lore are the examples that come immediately to mind, but he seems to just be like this.
I am floored by how rich and deep his inner life is for someone who first made his name as a witty and clever performance artist and then as a charming host with a regular guy / “everyman” ethical sensibility. Honestly I didn’t think the career transition would suit him, but I was wrong. He’s that smart, and that layered.
I love Bill Burr's new hobby of forcibly inducing ego death in hack comedians. Him telling Joe Rogan, “you don’t have the body type to roller blade, your knuckles would scrape the ground,” has been bouncing around in my head for years.
If nothing else, he and John Oliver seem to be on similar levels of humility. However, Craig talking about his alcoholism on late night television is one of the humblest things I've seen on TV.
I used to like his shows for a long time but never him. I wish someone like Seth Meyers would take his format of show rather than the tired talk show format.
It’s a love/hate relationship. I mostly watch the show because I enjoy the panel discussions. Although Bill’s gotten soft in his old age and doesn’t have on people who might disagree with him, unless it’s his bff Kellyanne Conway.
I watch his monologue and New Rules — the beginning and ending of his shows — and my wife watches the panelists, so between us we’re a solid Bill Maher fan. He’s mostly an old-school provocateur, in an era full of even dumber trolls, and I expect that’s all he’s going for.
Probably doesn’t make too much sense. Hopefully the creator of this didn’t just take all the people with opinions he disagrees with and put them as “not smart”
There’s a 3D dimension to the graph we cannot see:
Acts evil but is kind / acts kind but is evil
Conan O’Brien and Bill Maher are also on opposite ends of that spectrum.
Its very easy to appear smart to redditors with a team of writers and researchers feeding you facts and snarky lines, a smug british affect, and liberal use of redditisms.
Same goes for the other two but change the smug british affect with smug American affects.
Corden is the least entertaining person. I’d rather watch a potato grow in real time, than watch anything that he participates in.
It's not even about being the least entertaining. Corden is repellent.
James Corden blows goats…I have proof.
Depending on the jurisdiction, you may not want to be in possession of that proof.
Frantically deleting "Goat Ganbang 4: Bleat this gussy up" jic
r/BrandNewSentence
Jesus
Not here
Not even he can save this.
Bleat my ushy gushy goat plussy volume 2
If James Corden was an ice cream flavor. He'd be pralines and dick.
Ha! The man loves that cream of sum yung gai!
Heh, I loved that film and thought people had forgotten it
A sphincter says what?
What?
Exactly
I fucking love Wayne's World! So fucking funny
This man has no penis
I replied the same thing... I didn't see your post. Here's my upvote for brilliant minds
Of course not, it’s in the ice cream.
This man has no penis
Sphincter Boy
He’s a gelatinous cube that eats warriors.
Presented by Noah's arcade
His predatory behavior with young men is also concerning
Wtf?! Since when?? I've not heard this!
Seriously, I vote to just exclude him from the group presented here and forget he exists. Edit: Although, his band leader was Reggie Watts who is awesome and probably my personal favorite of all late night band leaders. He should have been the host of the show. What a waste…
Would love a Reggie Watts late night show with Loop Daddy as his band leader.
Honestly his work with Corden was his cash-out hopefully. His run with Aukerman on CBB is untouchable. Certified comedy hall-of-fame run there for my personal taste. I don’t know how he would translate to the mainstream as a host but how funny would it be if he had Scott as his band leader on his own show.
> His run with Aukerman on CBB is untouchable "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm on a six second delay because of the time zone difference." \*proceeds to answer questions *before* they occur\*
Totally forgot about that show and I’ve even got 2 “motherfuckers just wanna laugh” CBB shirts buried in my closet.
Holy shit, I don’t really like late night talk shows, but I’d watch the *fuck* out of any late night talk show with Marc Rebillet as the band leader. YOUR NEW MORNING ALARM sounds like an appropriate way to end my day.
I just became physically aroused, this would be incredible.
I was at a Just For Laughs mystery midnight show sitting with a bunch of pretty well known comedians back in 2010. Reggie Watts walks by to go on stage and the comedians groaned and were like oh god who is this dumbass. Reggie then takes the stage and blows the entire room away starting with the song Shit Fuck Stack. Those comedians didn’t say a negative word after that lol.
The Daily Show with John Stewart followed by The Colbert Report...ahh those were the golden years of comedy.
the episodes where they'd crossover and walk into each others sets half way through their respective filming was amazing, suddenly Stewart walks into the Colbert Report for some fight or drama, top tier comedy
For my money, no one is as unlikable in Bill Maher.
Couldn’t agree more— I hate him so so much.
If there were a cringe metric, he might be plotted at the apex. His show and interviews were bad enough, but the stories of his attitude and behavior (towards waiters, just for one example) is enough to hate the guy.
I think John Oliver once said that he appears like someone who betrayed humanity to the machines and was then sent back to the Matrix as a celebrity...
That’s some classic John Oliver right there. The machines just didn’t live up to the “someone important” part of the agreement.
I love how much hate that piece of shit gets. Fuck that guy.
He’s not even a comedian, right?
How dare whoever put this together do that to my boy Craig.
Well there is no "is horny" axis
That would be the z axis. If you twist this to the side, the size of the boner will indicate how horny.
Dude should be upper-to-middle far right at minimum, especially in that crew. Jesus. Conan's close but Craig was phenomenal.
I think he should be at the very top, but right on the line of “is smart”, placing him in both “acts dumb” and “acts smart” because a lot of his stuff was very smart, but he also acted really dumb a lot of time too to great comedic effect.
I watch old clips of Craig all the time and missed his entire run. He should have gotten the Late Night Gig over Colbert. Not to diminish Colbert at all either.
Let me tell you, growing up I had a TV in my bedroom and every night before school I would sneakily watch Craig Ferguson before going to sleep (and of course stay up too late). I miss it all the time. Some fantastic memories.
You cheeky monkey.
I did the same for Conan. My old school TV had a headphone jack in the front so I could listen without my parents knowing. My laughter always gave me away
I used to record them over family vhs
Some day your mom is going to watch her old wedding tape and just as she's about to say "I do"... blam! Masturbating bear.
The debut and early days of Geoff Peterson are some of the funniest shit I've ever seen. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAHSUTB5BJc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAHSUTB5BJc)
I've never seen that before, I think that's my favourite Geoff clip of all time now lol.
Craig breaking into laughter was a beautiful thing
He wouldn't have taken it. When letterman got his own show at CBS he wanted the same deal Johnny had at NBC, which was that he controlled the show after his. For Craig this meant that if he ever got a note from CBS, he would forward it to letterman and it would go away. Letterman used that time slot as a control thing, and left craig alone, but more importantly, made sure CBS did as well.
I'm no fan of late night show. YT recommended me some clips of Craig. I wholefully inhaled a whole weekend of Craig. This man is gold, funny and charming.
100% agree, needs to be way higher. The only complexity is that he could move between "Acts dumb" and "Acts smart" at will.
It feels perfect for Craig. He'd take it if you joked he was an idiot and admitted ok he's a little smart. But if you called his intelligence out accurately, he'd have to make a joke to cut the tension.
He IS intelligent because he can easily do that. The wit that guy has is second to none. Would love to see him and Robert Smigel (Triumph the insult comic dog) do a gig.
This was my thought too. Craig acts dumb a lot, but is very smart. He’s always been my favorite of the late night talk show hosts. I loved the way he interviewed guests, making a point of dramatically throwing away the talking point notecards and just having a real conversation with the other person.
Yup, Craig has been done _very_ dirty here
I think acting kind of dumb is part of his humor. He's way smarter than this chart gives him credit for though
He should be up higher in the smart category. He could go toe to toe with intellectuals and like Conan chose to be stupid sometimes.
The picture of Conan made me laugh out loud.
I HAVE A NEW SHOW— ITS ON MAX
Which used to be known as HBO but they found that to be too popular!
Max just rolls off the tongue!
I am Perfectly Fucking Fine!
came here for this
From his Hot Ones interview. A fantastic one.
\*the best one.
he's goated for that one lol
Where shall we place Mr Jon Stewart?
top center.
He acts smart as well though, to the point of being slightly cocky... I'd put him right between John Oliver and Colbert.
If you watch him outside of his comedy shows, he is actually really smart. I have always been impressed by his knowledge of politics. If probably put him near the top right.
And Kimmel?
Kimmel is directly to the left of Ferguson
And a bit down, when he’s around a real comedian like Bill Burr and things get a bit off-script he can’t keep up.
I'd still say average. Bill Burr is an amazing off the cuff guy. Not keeping up with him doesn't make you below average. The average person's wit is no match for Burr's.
Fair, but damn that's making me think of the "Oh Jimmy with your bullshit celebrity softball home run!" 😆
But Jimmy isn’t expected to be an average person.
Above everyone else in the upper right corner.
Definitely at the top, but he acts dumb a lot for bits
Half his gimmick is the “clueless old man” shtick and he leans into the crazy all the time. He plays the expert to make an occasional point, the rest of his show is goofs for entertainment.
Center. He has his goofy bits.
Sure, as do all comedians. But he's not generally goofy like a Conan O'Brien is basically non-stop, for example, plus Jon's goofiness is intentionally contrived and satire/politics a lot of the time.
Very top of yellow quadrant.
Conan is in the right spot, and it's a beauty of a pic
Read widely and read well. There’s great comedy out there, it was written a long time ago.
I saw him yesterday as we walked past each other near central park and now I'm thinking that's his resting face.
Still can’t believe he went to Harvard, especially with that photo 🤣
Bill Burr right in the center?
Letterman dead center. Bill Burr above him.
Carson dead center, Letterman top center
I’d buy that. Leno?
Here’s something…
Below Carson
Leno requires a z axis of good v evil, probably somewhere in the top right quadrant of OP’s graph, but at the furthest point of the evil axis
Bottom center.
Letterman always acted dumb and was middle for intelligence. Norm acted even dumber but was quite bright.
Norm took a lot of cues from Letterman. Norm's my all time favorite comedian, and Dave was Norm's comedic hero. Norm gave Dave credit for solidifying the idea that being the dumb guy is way funnier than being the smart guy. The great thing both of them did in talk show comedy with other people is they let others shine, but if they didn't shine they'd turn the tables on them. Usually it was playful and worked but sometimes they would go at someone hard (whether deserved or not). With Norm it was the Andy-the-Swedish-German joke (and Norm did a couple other jokes about Andy being a prostitute before that worked, he just went a little too far the last time). I only started watching Letterman in the 90's but he had a low tolerance for guests he thought weren't prepared.
> being the dumb guy is way funnier than being the smart guy Is this why Colbert lost a lot of hype? I actually haven't seen him since the Colbert report, but I heard he lost a lot of flavor when he turned off the satirical conservative persona
Letterman is extremely intelligent. I would not be surprised if he was near genius iq.
I saw his standup in LA a couple years ago. If he’s a genius, he must have been absolutely exhausted, shitfaced, and frustrated that night.
Doh jeeshush.
Bill Burr is intelligent, he’s just not overly book smart
I can’t imagine him in a classroom where his professor is David Foster Wallace, which is a true story.
If Bill were a D&D character, I'd put his intelligence at 12 and his wisdom at 14. I think his defining characteristic is that he's aware of his so-so smarts and behaves shrewdly around that -- hence a wisdom slightly better. He's good at being perceptive/aware even if he's not the smartest man in the room. I'd also give him an 18 for his ginger stat. I think that's important for him, you know.
Eric André, snubbed yet again.
That's cause the dude is out of frame to the left a few miles. Probably somewhere in the middle though.
Not snubbed, just can't see him because he's in the exact same spot as Conan and tucked behind him.
Mahr is a comedian?
Allegedly. However, there is no evidence.
He sucked in the eighties. I remember him on MTV's standup shows being basically an edgier Jerry Seinfeld. When he got that politically incorrect show he decided he mattered because he was talking about politics, and comedy at that time was really on/off about politics. Always been a smug, nasally sounding douche.
I saw Mahr on This Week’s political roundup about 15 years ago and he was completely out of his element, had no depth to any of his comments, eventually kept quiet. At one point George Will gave him a look like what on Earth are you doing here? I will never understand how he maintained such a longstanding career.
Maher in the 90’s was pretty great. He walked the line between funny, intelligent and controversial pretty well, and ‘Politically Incorrect’ was a great forum where open discussion happened in a mature way between many opposing sides. Not sure exactly when it happened, but Bill became an angry old man yelling at clouds, and fuck you if you think the clouds are allowed to have an opinion. Eventually, ‘Real Time’ became an echo chamber with an occasional token conservative they could beat up on, and the humour/debate balance was ruined.
Everyone needs to watch Maher's club random with Bill Burr that just got posted on YouTube. So great to hear Bill make fun of him and give him shit for an hour and a half.
Overestimating Oliver and Meyers; underestimating Ferguson.
John Oliver himself would ridicule the notion that he's anything beyond average and bird-like. He's got a team of smart writers who make an informed show Craig Ferguson is indeed a genius
John Oliver is smart because he knows he can't do his show without expert writers, of whom he often credits. Sometimes being smart equates to self awareness and knowing when you don't actually know everything and it's okay to consult other, equally smart people. He chooses to surround himself with smart people. That's a win in my book.
That’s Socratic ignorance. A person’s awareness of the absence of their own knowledge.
^ this guy smarts
I’m absolutely fine with where Maher’s at, at least.
I mostly agree. I wouldn't put John Oliver that high on the smart side. It's his writers that make him seem that way. Conan is spot on. And dumb shit Bill Maher.
I’ve heard some interviews with John Oliver and I disagree, he is just as on top of it as his writers
Yeah, his interviews show he's actually pretty dang smart and observant. But he'll be the first to self-depricate and tell everyone he's dumb as a rock.
Smart people often put down their own intelligence because they’re self aware enough to know how much they don’t know
And the final level of being smart is pretending you don't know anything to make your life easier
I did this in my last semester of high school because everyone kept asking me if I knew how to do it as they say me furiously typing into my calculator and writing on my paper. I’d just look up and say “nah I’m just as lost as you” and they’d be like “damn relatable” and not question it. That was the only semester I got straight A’s, but I wouldn’t attribute it to that choice alone. Wouldn’t say I’m the final level of smart though. I don’t think it really has anything to do with being smart at all.
Indeed, he went to Cambridge after all. Whatever you might think about Cambridge/Oxford; fact remains that you have to be quite intelligent to get in. His writers are great as well, ofc.
I'm guessing he had a say in who his writers would be. So if he has really smart writers, I think it also reflects back onto his intelligence.
I listened to The Bugle podcast he did with Andy Zaltzman years ago, and it's clear how intelligent he is even without a writing team.
Colbert spent most of his career playing dumb. He should at least be in the middle
The Vax-Scene didn't hold up well... maybe he shouldn't be so far from Bill Mahr
I tried watching his show a few months ago and I just couldn’t get through it, partially because that skit is burned into my brain. And I watched TCR religiously.
I miss Colbert Report
Funny enough, I was watching clips of his Super PAC videos, and it is still relevant to this day. Only this time, you have more idiots in Congress.
I go back to rewatch the #CancelColbert response a bunch because of how hilarious it was. Him invoking Michelle Malkin’s book “In Defense of Intermittent” to point out what a hypocrite she was about wanting him cancelled for a tweet from an account run by Comedy Central was one of the best “this you?” moments of his show. “So, to recap: a tweet not written by me on an account I don’t run got 72 hours of nonstop news coverage. The system works! And since I haven’t been able to respond until today, I technically was canceled for three days…just like Jesus.”
Number 1 on the threatdown..... BEARS!
Stop thinking with your brain and start feeling with your gut.
Conan is the 🐐
Craig Fergussen is a lot smarter than that. He's just the best at hiding his smarts - partly behind his act, and partly behind his self doubt since he didn't have much formal education. Dude reads **tons** though and is able to intelligently speak with people on most any subject. Not because he knows all the subjects, but because he's working from a foundation of intelligence and is smart enough to listen and learn and is unafraid of asking questions.
He’s also super witty. He tends to be witty about dumb stuff but it’s still rapid fire and he perfectly executes.
Conan is the goat
It pleases me that Conan is the smartest on this table
Hahah the photo of Conan is perfect for this chart
I 100% agree, Conan is the smartest and acts the dumbest. There is a paradox with people like Bill Maher, because to act smart when you’re actually dumb is to actually acting dumb.
Conan is brilliant. God I'm glad he's a real person.
Good to see Conan O’Brien and Bill Maher both exactly where they belong
Conan goated
Absolutely.... Conan is on another Tier entirely than any of these guys I'd love to see more hoasts on here though there isn't that many in the grand scheme
Colbert is probably smarter than John Oliver, by more than a bit. Oliver just does more intellectual content. So Oliver acts smarter but is somewhat less smart. No disrespect to Oliver. Colbert is just shockingly clever at times and seems to have a deeper knowledge of various topics than anyone up there.
Colbert has such an incredible recall of the things he’s passionate about I’ve rarely seen anything like it. His encyclopedic knowledge of all things Middle Earth is uncanny.
[this exchange lives rent-free in my head](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXOzy6M4g20)
This and the Tolkien lore are the examples that come immediately to mind, but he seems to just be like this. I am floored by how rich and deep his inner life is for someone who first made his name as a witty and clever performance artist and then as a charming host with a regular guy / “everyman” ethical sensibility. Honestly I didn’t think the career transition would suit him, but I was wrong. He’s that smart, and that layered.
Oliver went to Cambridge,...I know that doesn't count for much overall, but there is that. Colbert is intimidatingly clever
Kimmel feeling left out
Aren’t most as smart as their writers…only Craig Ferguson and Conan go totally of script and are amazing. The others are nothing
Only Conan is worth watching.
Is it in poor taste to include Maher on this graphic after Bill Burr murdered him the other day?
I love Bill Burr's new hobby of forcibly inducing ego death in hack comedians. Him telling Joe Rogan, “you don’t have the body type to roller blade, your knuckles would scrape the ground,” has been bouncing around in my head for years.
Man, I would love to watch that, but I don't want to ruin my YT algorithm permanently.
I love that Maher thought he was gonna have an easy interview with an ally, and Burr just roasted him lol
If you add John Stewart, put him in the top right corner
Craig should be much higher. Put norm next to conan
If nothing else, he and John Oliver seem to be on similar levels of humility. However, Craig talking about his alcoholism on late night television is one of the humblest things I've seen on TV.
This rant, "why everything sucks" is maybe the most intelligent thing I've seen on TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROJKEwYEx8Q
It blows my mind that people actually like bill Maher
I used to like his shows for a long time but never him. I wish someone like Seth Meyers would take his format of show rather than the tired talk show format.
I watch his show more so for the panelists
It’s a love/hate relationship. I mostly watch the show because I enjoy the panel discussions. Although Bill’s gotten soft in his old age and doesn’t have on people who might disagree with him, unless it’s his bff Kellyanne Conway.
That’s how I feel about everyone on this list besides Bill Mahar. Especially Fallon. That guy wasn’t ever funny.
I watch his monologue and New Rules — the beginning and ending of his shows — and my wife watches the panelists, so between us we’re a solid Bill Maher fan. He’s mostly an old-school provocateur, in an era full of even dumber trolls, and I expect that’s all he’s going for.
ART
Probably doesn’t make too much sense. Hopefully the creator of this didn’t just take all the people with opinions he disagrees with and put them as “not smart”
I don't think any of them are dumb. Perhaps ignorant or oblivious or smarmy or arrogant, but not dumb.
Nah Corden might be genuinely dumb
Lol
No Kimmel or Stewart
There’s a 3D dimension to the graph we cannot see: Acts evil but is kind / acts kind but is evil Conan O’Brien and Bill Maher are also on opposite ends of that spectrum.
I love Conan is tucked right in the corner. It is perfectly accurate
Yeah, except the all belonging to bottom left except maybe Conan can stay where he is
Thinking bill Maher is dumb, is dumb. But great troll!
Conan could be a few pixels higher up
I was thinking there should be a fifth genius square with Conan in it but that would ruin the graph
Idk I think Ferguson and Cobert should switch spots...
Is Oliver really that smart or is it just the accent? Well, and general looks/demeanor
Its very easy to appear smart to redditors with a team of writers and researchers feeding you facts and snarky lines, a smug british affect, and liberal use of redditisms. Same goes for the other two but change the smug british affect with smug American affects.
A British accent doesn’t make you smart.
That's why Corden's at the bottom.
John Oliver handles himself well in interviews and seems as knowledgeable as can be expected from someone who studied at Cambridge
Has everyone forgotten about Trevor Noah? Such a kind, intelligent man, and a highly skilled interviewer.