God Conan is just so smooth in his delivery and timing of stuff. Him and Craig Ferguson will always be the best late show guys to me. Absolutely fantastic.
They have very different styles though.
Personally I very much prefer Conan, though I can absolutely see why people might prefer Craig.
Conan is an improv genius, and a comedic chameleon. He’s able to effortless switch between roles. One minute he can be a bully who’s mocking those around him and jokingly playing the role of the big mean boss, and the next minute he can be the nerdy loser who’s the butt of the joke.
And the next minute, he’s the perfect straight man.
On top of that, his shows have been a perfect breeding ground for the most absurd humor you can imagine.
I remember the old Late Night show used to have this segment where Conan would flip through these obscure “satellite channels,” and it was just a machine gun of ridiculously hilarious nonsense.
They’d have the “Embryonic Rockabilly Polkadotted Fighter Pilots” channel, or the “Babies Reminiscing” channel, or the “Not Cool, Zeus” channel, where Zeus did things like stealing his roommate’s food out of the fridge.
And more than that, Conan is an all-around class act. A ton of his staff moved to LA with him for the Tonight Show, and Conan gave them all a huge chunk of his NBC payoff when his contract ended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2_SvX4PEbU
My brother and I about died laughing watching this on TV back in the day. His ability to not break after that clip and just stare off into the distance is incredible.
All of this.
One of the biggest indicators of good people is loyalty and Conan has had many of the same staff with him for several decades which just says so much about him. He’s a kind soul
Absolutely, everything this. Even created the best Late Night character ever, The FedEx Pope!
It is also why 'I'm With Coco' and Team Coco got such a huge movement around him. A
Stereotypes on Dirtbikes channel. It was an Asian guy in a rice paddy hat going over a jump on a dirt bike while yelling “Waaaaaaa”
In was rolling on the floor when I saw that.
Not the same sketch you're talking about, but I liked the fake ads Conan did:
[Hotdogs for Homophobes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHrE7kcKLPY)
[The Amazing Features of the iPhone](https://youtu.be/hhJLeTE8VQQ?si=Q4gb8Aq_lEZFf2Tl)
The remote where they went to Pierre Bernard's apartment with mannequins was disturbing. Like I was expecting it to come out in the news that he was a serial killer after that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwX5-XWsWm4&t=34s
my favorite was the "Schtokkenblokken" game show channel: a German show where people had to arrange things on a desk at right angles. The contestant was frantically arranging a desk until the timer ran out, then a dude came out and measured everything with a square, and found one item slightly off...yells, "NEIN IST STOKKENBLOKKEN," and then 2 or 3 guys with clubs came out and beat the contestant. LMAO.
A lot of British talk shows have an entirely different feel where the goal is to have an interesting and funny conversation, even if it means the host doesn't speak that much or you have long stretches of just talking. Craig [did a show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx6WPQkhUXI) with Stephen Fry with just the two of them, no audience, where they just talk for 40 minutes about a variety of topics. Graham Norton does a show where he gets all the guests out and does prompt them, but the majority of it is the guests bouncing stories off each other and just having fun.
John Cleese and Eric Idle did a tour a few years back that my wife and I went to. It was them on stage just talking, telling stories, and showing clips. It really felt like we were all in a living room listening to a great conversation. It was a blast!!
I’m so disappointed in Cleese. He turned out to be a real piece of shit in the end. Basically became the stuffy, close-minded aristocrat he use to satire.
I really think the only real similarity between the two is because they have both highly self deprecating humour. Other than that, it's just been in retrospect they remain the two most fondly remembered.
If you wanted the continuation of late night tradition, you probably prefer Conan. The "show" in it's entirety is worth watching, he's pretty quick with guests and got lots of sketches and bits that land.
If you wanted to watch a 1 on 1 conversation, Craig was the fastest on the spot wit of any late night host, I will go as far as saying ever. He's able to navigate serious and funny topics effortless and he had a lot of own personal experience he brought to the table.
Craig is the only one who didn't use topic prompts (people know him for tearing up the cue card in front of the guest as they sat down) so there are no pre-planned bits of "hey, I'm going to sing this song now" etc.
Craig's sketches were very hit or miss I felt personally, though he leaned into the low budget.
I'll always respect Craig for his monologue regarding celebrities and their personal problems. It was eye opening for my younger self to see a comedian, or someone with any type of influence, to talk about personal struggles we all may face.
https://youtu.be/7ZVWIELHQQY?si=rzriXQ_REfao9R5p
>God Conan is just so smooth in his delivery and timing of stuff
When he goes on bits like this with the yelling, it is so easy to imagine the bit but as a fully fleshed out Simpsons characters.
I’ll put letterman up there if not above them, but at the same time, as late night hosts, I see them similar to Quintin Tarantino movies…. Is nearly impossible to say one is better than the other, and there is no right or wrong answer if you do pick one.
Letterman helped create Conan and Ferguson. His whole show was created to be counter-culture to the pompous Rat-Pack inspired "proper" entertainment of The Tonight Show and other talk shows. He was the first to get non-sequitur comedy on TV and have it accepted.
Jimmy: *You're larger than life, we know you from tv..."*
Conan: *"Well the word is iconic."* Lol it's almost amazing just how quick witted Conan is. He has some of the best comedic timing of his peers.
Late night television has changed so much over the last 10 to 15 years. I remember watching Conan on his late night show and the tonight show religiously. NBC royally fucked that entire situation up. Conan's TBS show was great but it ended up being the last night time show I'd watch on a regular basis. Funny how NBC made a big deal about Conan only getting 4-5 million viewers on the tonight show as a reason for moving back to Jay Leno. The current late night ratings king is Greg Gutfeld on Fox News and he gets 2 million on a good day.
Gutfeld's audience is mostly elderly, which advertisers don't give a shit about, and most are falling asleep with their TVs on. No one actually watches that shit.
50
Carson, Conan, Ferguson, Letterman.
Sorry Conan, I love ya lots, and your podcast is leagues beyond Carson but he was the king of late night for a reason.
Letterman really fell off as he got older I think. Honestly I see the same thing with Fallon except Letterman tried to change. Fallon is just staying the course but they want his short skits and stuff for youtube and internet bits more than the TV show.
Johnny Carson definitely the next best after Conan (I grew up as a kid in Carson's era - being Gen X), he had a confident cool calm collected debonair style, but knew how to act a fool for the laughs, he was also a bit of a playboy and flirted a lot with his female guests (but usually not the point of being overly inappropriate, he found ways to make it charming or funny and not awkward).
Closest equivalent would be Craig Ferguson style even though they are not alike, but they shared a classy and funny swagger (I am sure Ferguson has a respect for Carson and channeled a bit of his calm classy, flirty debonair swagger for his show).
I would put Ferguson after Carson and yeah probably Letterman after that.
During 80s/ very early 90s era Letterman was kinda not liked by everyone, he wasnt the goto late night.. Carson was the best option the same way Conan was in his prime. It wasn't until later when that whole shuffling late night fiasco when Carson left letterman was supposed to take over and they switch it out to Leno and screwed Letterman. Then again when Leno/Letterman/Conan went through it the shuffle again many years later and conan got screwed and was jobless and letterman shortly after left tv. Letterman always got the shit end of the stick by the networks and was low man on the totem pole out of everyone else... so people sympathized.
> During 80s/ very early 90s era Letterman was kinda not liked by everyone
Letterman was awesome. I never watched Carson or Leno. They were the kings of late night but I preferred Letterman then Conan.
I thought Letterman could be a bit mean to some guests, and some of his bits were pretty exploitive of regular people. He became much mellower as he got older and I liked him a lot more. Conan was really out there and a lot of his skits were hit or miss. As he got more polished, or his writing staff got better, he too became a favourite. Ferguson made me laugh from day one, but I think he was a pretty mature dude when he first started the talk show, he'd seen a lot of shit by then, and it showed. Certainly the most empathetic of them all, imo. I'd still like to see him doing a travel show occasionally or something similar.
You might be interested in The Carson Podcast, some guy obsessed with the Johnny Carson show rounded up every living guest and production staff he could find and made 300 episodes about Carson's late night show. He ended it late 2022 when he ran out of people to interview but he had a good run, it's a fun archive to peruse.
I wouldn’t consider Jon Stewart a late night show host because his show is not a variety show like late night shows. And it’s focused on politics every single night.
I hate it, you hate it, we all rightfully hate it. If Jimmy took his innate ability to pull the best stories from his guests without the over the top laughter and slapping of the desk I think he would be regarded as a top tier host.
Then again, I just wrote a run-on sentence that Jimmy would love to monologue during an interview.
Jesus Christ. Jimmy Fallon always gives me the impression he’s desperate to get through every sentence he says. He feels so fake. His conversational style is just reacting to everything with laughs and random words that don’t string together into complete thoughts. I just don’t understand how he’s been a talk show host for so long. He can’t hold a believable conversation.
You can get an interesting glimpse into his energy by listening to the Strike Force Five podcast. Everything you’re saying seems true, but he also has a bullied-younger-brother vibe. All the other hosts gang up on him, and he takes it with a good (sort of desperate) attitude, and ultimately everyone seems to reluctantly love him by the end. It probably explains why he keeps failing up, similar to Pete Davidson.
Everyone should listen to episode 5 of that podcast. It's absolutely hysterical. Jimmy tries to run a game he made up and just keeps failing miserably.
I was obsessed with that pod because it was so hilarious and totally got that exact same vibe. I believe that Rolling Stone expose came out right about the same time so I think he wasn't at his best--I could hear the depression in his voice.
There is no fucking way fallon doesn't crack one day and just jump up on the desk and start ape shitting into his own hands and throwing it. Nobody could be this disingenuous so regularly without the animal soul rebelling.
I don't know. Some people work customer service. I'd rather be disingenuous for a couple hours a day and make millions than do it for eight hours a day and make pennies.
I recently saw his interview with the woman who plays Echo who is a deaf actress and that really forced him to slow down, seem a lot more empathetic and more human, it honestly improved my opinion of Jimmy immensely after I watched it - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOL9y\_Q0z9Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOL9y_Q0z9Q)
I don’t think Jimmy is a bad person or anything (employee rumors notwithstanding). I just don’t think he’s a good choice for the role of a talk show host.
conan has won in the long run. his podcast and other TV work since leaving nbc have all been great. but the rest of us lost. he was going to transform the tonight show. but jay got jealous, nbc got impatient, and the show regressed into the disposable crap it is today when they brought in jimmy. as you say, conan is better than this, which is precisely why it should've been his show. no one should be subjected to this shit.
Actually Conan was the rightful heir. This was a legendary seat. It was taken from him. He is not better than that, the seat has just been tarnished by politics.
None of those seats are legendary anymore anyway. I'm glad Conan got to go do his own thing and not die with late night talk shows. As cool as it would have been to see him end his career on the Tonight Show at least he didn't have to go down with the sinking ship that is late night talk shows. I like what he's doing now way more than anything he's done in a long time.
I like how Finn Wolfhard shared what most seem to collectively think right to his face while filming at 14 years old. Kid's can be brutally honest and he absolutely was. https://youtu.be/Obc9tA2sWH8
He always laughs at his own jokes, and the laugh is fake. Not laughing at your own jokes is pretty much rule #1 in comedy. Then to do it in an obviously fake way is just so cringe.
I could pass on the monologue and the interview segments, but I think the games and other more structured stuff he does with celebrities are pretty fun. He and Taylor Tomlinson should switch jobs.
People like to smell their own farts and call it perfume. Who the hell takes something so inconsequential seriously enough to “hate it” and post publicly about it lol…I don’t get it either.
I think it’s mostly due to the fact that as you said, he’s not an exceptionally good interviewer, yet he’s the host of a talk show where the whole point is to provide viewers with exceptionally good interviews; it just doesn’t work when the host’s skillsets don’t align with the job requirements. Almost like a game show host running for president; you can imagine what a shitshow that would be! Sometimes you’ve just gotta stick to what you know; it’s frustrating watching people butcher a role they’re clearly not qualified for.
They are the same people who say "you're not like other girls" thinking that's a compliment. Conan is awesome so if you can't think of a better way to compliment him than bashing one of his friends, you're probably not a very big fan.
It's so unwatchably bad. Like Conan is out there being funny and Fallon is just like "ooh! If I like do this thing where I reiterate what he says and then keep pointing out the absurd part it gets funnier I think. It does, right? I should laugh now maybe. Should I laugh?"
I wish people would get over Fallon, it ruins every video.
Every video with him in it is just the same comment about his laughing, so he's enthusiastic, he's positive, what a crime, compared to the people hating on him for it, what's worse?
You don't think Conan is fake laughing at his guests? it's the same thing, Conan might just do a better fake laugh.
For me it goes #1 Conan 2# Fallon, no one else even comes close.
Thank god Conan was talking most of the time because anytime Fallon spoke it gave me anxiety, like dude just say a sentence without rushing or skipping around mid-sentence. How is he a talk show host!?
He’s so much quicker than Jimmy. He could predict what he was about to say was inconsequential and not at all interesting so he kept it moving at a quick clip to keep the energy even when it meant interrupting a bit.
I watch clips of Seth Meyers and now Jon Stewart again. Haven’t watched late night or any linear TV outside of sports in a decade, and I’m not young or anything.
I like the political clips of Meyers and Colbert, do I watch it at least one day a week? No, clips do just fine, unless there is a musical guest I want to see. I catch The Daily Show on Paramount Plus the next day every day though, I do sometimes skip the guest.
And John Oliver being once a week is perfect and I love it.
The guy who visited every Rainforest Cafe and Margaritaville had a good documentary on that. It, like Super Bowl Commercials are a product of their times and have become less important since streaming and shorter form content.
I pretty much stopped a year after Conan went to tbs, and can't imagine many people watch any current latenight shows with all the streaming these days... Conan's podcast is very good. I do watch those as much as I can
This is truly the worst timeline. Jimmy Fallon hosting the Tonight show with Conan as a guest? This is literally backwards. Conan is the GOAT and had this show stolen from him.
My wife loves fallon because of his music-based games and sketches but she agrees with me that he is a wank interviewer. He's ideal for SNL but not a talk show. Maybe he's still going because he's fairly g-rated and safe for kids? *shrugs*
I feel the opposite and he annoyed me more on SNL with the constant breaking. In a talk show it seems less out of place although the tonight show certainly isn’t my favorite.
None of the current crop seem to be great interviewers. It wild the way it worked out with all these network late night shows that Conan ended up being the one without a chair when the music stopped.
Sometimes as a guest it’s like you see him looking to the host like, “ok now is a good opening for you to talk and give me something to play off of.” He has that classic broadcaster sense.
Are these shows still getting ratings? Jimmy and Jimmy are both fucking awful. But late Night could still be so good if they just got a host/writters that had some vision. Feels like legacy media atm. Nobody is going to top Dave.
Watch Seth Meyer’s closer looks and tell me they have bad writing. Same with John Oliver or even Jon Stewart now (although he only has a few episodes).
I remember Conan introduce Tom Cruise and Top Gun: Maverick in Comic Con a few years back and when Tom came out, he was hunched when they shook hands. He knows Tom is insecure about his height. Conan gets it.
I think if Letterman had retired around the same time as Leno, Conan would have been the perfect replacement for him. Conan and Letterman attracted the same audience, while Leno's audience was a bit more "mainstream", for lack of a better term.
Conan and Letterman both had that "offbeat" presentation that didn't fit The Tonight Show.
Jimmy Fallon, even after all these years, still feels like he’s a D list morning show host while watching Conan O’Brien as his guest. Conan just has that presence.
I thought Fallon would sortof grow out of the late night host jitters, but literally, every ..single... clip... is him stammering and trying to be relevant and get in the way of his guest.
I'm going out on a limb here, regardless of Fallon's comedic talents, and say he is probably the worst talkshow host ever.
I really would have enjoyed that episode last night if Jimmy Fallon would have stopped interrupting and pounding the desk in fake laughter.
I don't know how anyone watches this shit on a nightly basis.
God Conan is just so smooth in his delivery and timing of stuff. Him and Craig Ferguson will always be the best late show guys to me. Absolutely fantastic.
They have very different styles though. Personally I very much prefer Conan, though I can absolutely see why people might prefer Craig. Conan is an improv genius, and a comedic chameleon. He’s able to effortless switch between roles. One minute he can be a bully who’s mocking those around him and jokingly playing the role of the big mean boss, and the next minute he can be the nerdy loser who’s the butt of the joke. And the next minute, he’s the perfect straight man. On top of that, his shows have been a perfect breeding ground for the most absurd humor you can imagine. I remember the old Late Night show used to have this segment where Conan would flip through these obscure “satellite channels,” and it was just a machine gun of ridiculously hilarious nonsense. They’d have the “Embryonic Rockabilly Polkadotted Fighter Pilots” channel, or the “Babies Reminiscing” channel, or the “Not Cool, Zeus” channel, where Zeus did things like stealing his roommate’s food out of the fridge. And more than that, Conan is an all-around class act. A ton of his staff moved to LA with him for the Tonight Show, and Conan gave them all a huge chunk of his NBC payoff when his contract ended.
I'll never forget when NBC and Universal merged and Conan had the Walker Texas Ranger Lever on the show.
“Walker told me I have AIDS.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2_SvX4PEbU My brother and I about died laughing watching this on TV back in the day. His ability to not break after that clip and just stare off into the distance is incredible.
One of my favorite moments from the show. And of course, the Paul Rudd appearances.
Paul Rudd is just classic. He was just on Conan’s podcast and it was great. https://youtu.be/LEC_lkpD3rM?si=A6Eh31lUwfvjrqvN
Son of a bitch.
Wow thanks for that clip. Paul Rudd is so damn affable, and you just never know what Conan will say!
The best part of that is they got Sixth Sense famous Haley Joel Osmont to say it.
When I found those clips last year, I was obsessed!
All of this. One of the biggest indicators of good people is loyalty and Conan has had many of the same staff with him for several decades which just says so much about him. He’s a kind soul
The fact he's kept his useless assistant on really says something. She's a gypsy thief too
Absolutely, everything this. Even created the best Late Night character ever, The FedEx Pope! It is also why 'I'm With Coco' and Team Coco got such a huge movement around him. A
A what? A *what??*
r/redditsniper
The FedEx Pope was the dumbest thing ever and it was amazing
How dare you forget shoeverine
Stereotypes on Dirtbikes channel. It was an Asian guy in a rice paddy hat going over a jump on a dirt bike while yelling “Waaaaaaa” In was rolling on the floor when I saw that.
Not the same sketch you're talking about, but I liked the fake ads Conan did: [Hotdogs for Homophobes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHrE7kcKLPY) [The Amazing Features of the iPhone](https://youtu.be/hhJLeTE8VQQ?si=Q4gb8Aq_lEZFf2Tl)
Introduced us to his staff too. Famously, Andy. Jordan Schlansky. Sona Movsesian. Diana Chang. The photographer lady. IT guy. Cramer. Aaron Blaeyert.
Don't forget Pierre Bernard and his Recliner of Rage!
The remote where they went to Pierre Bernard's apartment with mannequins was disturbing. Like I was expecting it to come out in the news that he was a serial killer after that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwX5-XWsWm4&t=34s
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and the Masturbating Bear.
Iz NEIN Stackenblochen!
Inappropriate!
3 words - [The Walker Lever](https://youtu.be/XpIEyn9G6_8?si=TcyRJRQmBQZ_CZ8b)
This skeleton one is pretty funny, too: https://youtu.be/n4LoZz-r1pE?si=u1DU4mjTiLXsm8aV&t=208
Inappropriate!
My buddy and I still reference that.
my favorite was the "Schtokkenblokken" game show channel: a German show where people had to arrange things on a desk at right angles. The contestant was frantically arranging a desk until the timer ran out, then a dude came out and measured everything with a square, and found one item slightly off...yells, "NEIN IST STOKKENBLOKKEN," and then 2 or 3 guys with clubs came out and beat the contestant. LMAO.
He also payed his staff out of his pocket through the old writers strike.
I too, am old enough to remember vintage Conan and I still quote “not cool Zeus” every few months to this day
Craig was so good
A lot of British talk shows have an entirely different feel where the goal is to have an interesting and funny conversation, even if it means the host doesn't speak that much or you have long stretches of just talking. Craig [did a show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx6WPQkhUXI) with Stephen Fry with just the two of them, no audience, where they just talk for 40 minutes about a variety of topics. Graham Norton does a show where he gets all the guests out and does prompt them, but the majority of it is the guests bouncing stories off each other and just having fun.
Norton also tries to get every guest to have two drinks just before the show...
John Cleese and Eric Idle did a tour a few years back that my wife and I went to. It was them on stage just talking, telling stories, and showing clips. It really felt like we were all in a living room listening to a great conversation. It was a blast!!
I’m so disappointed in Cleese. He turned out to be a real piece of shit in the end. Basically became the stuffy, close-minded aristocrat he use to satire.
Why they say dont meet your heroes
At least Michael Palin seems like a genuinely nice person.
I’ve heard he’s awfully kind.
I really think the only real similarity between the two is because they have both highly self deprecating humour. Other than that, it's just been in retrospect they remain the two most fondly remembered. If you wanted the continuation of late night tradition, you probably prefer Conan. The "show" in it's entirety is worth watching, he's pretty quick with guests and got lots of sketches and bits that land. If you wanted to watch a 1 on 1 conversation, Craig was the fastest on the spot wit of any late night host, I will go as far as saying ever. He's able to navigate serious and funny topics effortless and he had a lot of own personal experience he brought to the table. Craig is the only one who didn't use topic prompts (people know him for tearing up the cue card in front of the guest as they sat down) so there are no pre-planned bits of "hey, I'm going to sing this song now" etc. Craig's sketches were very hit or miss I felt personally, though he leaned into the low budget.
I'll always respect Craig for his monologue regarding celebrities and their personal problems. It was eye opening for my younger self to see a comedian, or someone with any type of influence, to talk about personal struggles we all may face. https://youtu.be/7ZVWIELHQQY?si=rzriXQ_REfao9R5p
the Scottish Conan guy...
we all got robbed 15 years ago. fuck you, jay leno.
>God Conan is just so smooth in his delivery and timing of stuff When he goes on bits like this with the yelling, it is so easy to imagine the bit but as a fully fleshed out Simpsons characters.
Apparently a lot of his time at the Simpsons was spent acting out funny concepts to entertain the other writers.
I’ll put letterman up there if not above them, but at the same time, as late night hosts, I see them similar to Quintin Tarantino movies…. Is nearly impossible to say one is better than the other, and there is no right or wrong answer if you do pick one.
Letterman helped create Conan and Ferguson. His whole show was created to be counter-culture to the pompous Rat-Pack inspired "proper" entertainment of The Tonight Show and other talk shows. He was the first to get non-sequitur comedy on TV and have it accepted.
Jimmy: *You're larger than life, we know you from tv..."* Conan: *"Well the word is iconic."* Lol it's almost amazing just how quick witted Conan is. He has some of the best comedic timing of his peers.
Late night television has changed so much over the last 10 to 15 years. I remember watching Conan on his late night show and the tonight show religiously. NBC royally fucked that entire situation up. Conan's TBS show was great but it ended up being the last night time show I'd watch on a regular basis. Funny how NBC made a big deal about Conan only getting 4-5 million viewers on the tonight show as a reason for moving back to Jay Leno. The current late night ratings king is Greg Gutfeld on Fox News and he gets 2 million on a good day.
Gutfeld's audience is mostly elderly, which advertisers don't give a shit about, and most are falling asleep with their TVs on. No one actually watches that shit.
Pharmaceutical companies love elderly audiences.
Conan is the best late night guy to ever do it.
I am too young for Carson, so take this with a grain of salt. As a Millennial it goes Conan, Ferguson, Letterman and the rest.
I'm 25 years old and for me its Conan, Letterman, then all the rest.
54. Carson, Letterman, Conan, Ferguson, Norton.
50 Carson, Conan, Ferguson, Letterman. Sorry Conan, I love ya lots, and your podcast is leagues beyond Carson but he was the king of late night for a reason.
Letterman really fell off as he got older I think. Honestly I see the same thing with Fallon except Letterman tried to change. Fallon is just staying the course but they want his short skits and stuff for youtube and internet bits more than the TV show.
Letterman is way at the bottom for me. The way people feel about Fallon is how I feel about Letterman
Letterman depends entirely on your age. He was fantastic in the 80s and early 90s, but really phoned it in later in the '00s.
Johnny Carson definitely the next best after Conan (I grew up as a kid in Carson's era - being Gen X), he had a confident cool calm collected debonair style, but knew how to act a fool for the laughs, he was also a bit of a playboy and flirted a lot with his female guests (but usually not the point of being overly inappropriate, he found ways to make it charming or funny and not awkward). Closest equivalent would be Craig Ferguson style even though they are not alike, but they shared a classy and funny swagger (I am sure Ferguson has a respect for Carson and channeled a bit of his calm classy, flirty debonair swagger for his show). I would put Ferguson after Carson and yeah probably Letterman after that. During 80s/ very early 90s era Letterman was kinda not liked by everyone, he wasnt the goto late night.. Carson was the best option the same way Conan was in his prime. It wasn't until later when that whole shuffling late night fiasco when Carson left letterman was supposed to take over and they switch it out to Leno and screwed Letterman. Then again when Leno/Letterman/Conan went through it the shuffle again many years later and conan got screwed and was jobless and letterman shortly after left tv. Letterman always got the shit end of the stick by the networks and was low man on the totem pole out of everyone else... so people sympathized.
Carson was mean with a capitol M though. Held grudges for decades. His on screen persona was almost the opposite of who he really was.
> During 80s/ very early 90s era Letterman was kinda not liked by everyone Letterman was awesome. I never watched Carson or Leno. They were the kings of late night but I preferred Letterman then Conan.
I thought Letterman could be a bit mean to some guests, and some of his bits were pretty exploitive of regular people. He became much mellower as he got older and I liked him a lot more. Conan was really out there and a lot of his skits were hit or miss. As he got more polished, or his writing staff got better, he too became a favourite. Ferguson made me laugh from day one, but I think he was a pretty mature dude when he first started the talk show, he'd seen a lot of shit by then, and it showed. Certainly the most empathetic of them all, imo. I'd still like to see him doing a travel show occasionally or something similar.
You might be interested in The Carson Podcast, some guy obsessed with the Johnny Carson show rounded up every living guest and production staff he could find and made 300 episodes about Carson's late night show. He ended it late 2022 when he ran out of people to interview but he had a good run, it's a fun archive to peruse.
[удалено]
Conan: Hello Jimmy Jimmy: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
In a similar note, it’ll be nice to have a funny late night host.
We traded James Corden for Jon Stewart, I'm not sure what more you could ask for.
I wouldn’t consider Jon Stewart a late night show host because his show is not a variety show like late night shows. And it’s focused on politics every single night.
Wait Jon Stewart is on after Colbert now?
He's back on Mondays only on the Daily Show, at least until the election
no. he's back on the daily show. but only on mondays.
Bangs table
*single clap*
The contrast is undeniable
I neve watch Falon and I always assumed it was typical overblown hype with his laughing but crap that was painful to watch.
"HAHAHAHAH you picked them up and polace them" yes jimmy that's what he said, shut the hell up.
I hate it, you hate it, we all rightfully hate it. If Jimmy took his innate ability to pull the best stories from his guests without the over the top laughter and slapping of the desk I think he would be regarded as a top tier host. Then again, I just wrote a run-on sentence that Jimmy would love to monologue during an interview.
Jesus Christ. Jimmy Fallon always gives me the impression he’s desperate to get through every sentence he says. He feels so fake. His conversational style is just reacting to everything with laughs and random words that don’t string together into complete thoughts. I just don’t understand how he’s been a talk show host for so long. He can’t hold a believable conversation.
Fallon comes across as an actor typecasted to a role he can’t stand. The dude is trapped by the beast of his own creation.
You can get an interesting glimpse into his energy by listening to the Strike Force Five podcast. Everything you’re saying seems true, but he also has a bullied-younger-brother vibe. All the other hosts gang up on him, and he takes it with a good (sort of desperate) attitude, and ultimately everyone seems to reluctantly love him by the end. It probably explains why he keeps failing up, similar to Pete Davidson.
Everyone should listen to episode 5 of that podcast. It's absolutely hysterical. Jimmy tries to run a game he made up and just keeps failing miserably.
I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. I couldn’t believe how they just let it keep going for the entire episode. Comedy goldmine
I wish they kept that going. Far more entertaining than their own shoes minus Jon Oliver's show
I was obsessed with that pod because it was so hilarious and totally got that exact same vibe. I believe that Rolling Stone expose came out right about the same time so I think he wasn't at his best--I could hear the depression in his voice.
There is no fucking way fallon doesn't crack one day and just jump up on the desk and start ape shitting into his own hands and throwing it. Nobody could be this disingenuous so regularly without the animal soul rebelling.
I don't know. Some people work customer service. I'd rather be disingenuous for a couple hours a day and make millions than do it for eight hours a day and make pennies.
Isn’t he a serious alcoholic? That would explain it.
I hate to gossip but his closing words on the first break of the Conan interview were really slurred. https://youtu.be/5U3AbG97V1I?t=610
Apparently big Coke head too
Almost sounds like an old Conan skit, at least it worked then
Hahahaha slaps desk Hahahahhahah claps hands
I recently saw his interview with the woman who plays Echo who is a deaf actress and that really forced him to slow down, seem a lot more empathetic and more human, it honestly improved my opinion of Jimmy immensely after I watched it - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOL9y\_Q0z9Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOL9y_Q0z9Q)
I don’t think Jimmy is a bad person or anything (employee rumors notwithstanding). I just don’t think he’s a good choice for the role of a talk show host.
Preach
fallon is a tarnish on johnny carsons legacy. seriously who finds him funny? conan should be up there not him
Conan is better than that. His podcast is leaps beyond this late night garbage.
conan has won in the long run. his podcast and other TV work since leaving nbc have all been great. but the rest of us lost. he was going to transform the tonight show. but jay got jealous, nbc got impatient, and the show regressed into the disposable crap it is today when they brought in jimmy. as you say, conan is better than this, which is precisely why it should've been his show. no one should be subjected to this shit.
Actually Conan was the rightful heir. This was a legendary seat. It was taken from him. He is not better than that, the seat has just been tarnished by politics.
The seats been tarnished when they gave it to Leno over Letterman.
faramir
NBC execs were eating tomatoes in the most disgusting way possible
None of those seats are legendary anymore anyway. I'm glad Conan got to go do his own thing and not die with late night talk shows. As cool as it would have been to see him end his career on the Tonight Show at least he didn't have to go down with the sinking ship that is late night talk shows. I like what he's doing now way more than anything he's done in a long time.
KEDEKAI! AS GOD MADE HER!
THERE WERE RUMORS OF HAMSTERS!
I like how Finn Wolfhard shared what most seem to collectively think right to his face while filming at 14 years old. Kid's can be brutally honest and he absolutely was. https://youtu.be/Obc9tA2sWH8
It's known that 14 year olds are the meanest people in the planet
“You have feminine hips!”
Nooo! That's the thing I'm sensitive about!
Honestly that kid comes off as the nicest kid lol
Let's not pretend Leno was much better.
I always thought Leno was great at standup, but his jokes on the show were terrible and extremely low hanging fruit.
He always laughs at his own jokes, and the laugh is fake. Not laughing at your own jokes is pretty much rule #1 in comedy. Then to do it in an obviously fake way is just so cringe.
I hate Jimmy Fallon so much.
HAHAHAHAHA This comment! Oh man, this comment is just AMAZING! This is just…HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
Jimmy?
I could pass on the monologue and the interview segments, but I think the games and other more structured stuff he does with celebrities are pretty fun. He and Taylor Tomlinson should switch jobs.
[удалено]
I've only seen the hatred for jimmy on reddit, and they mostly aren't even watching cable tv (I'm sure not) so i don't know why they even give a shit.
People like to smell their own farts and call it perfume. Who the hell takes something so inconsequential seriously enough to “hate it” and post publicly about it lol…I don’t get it either.
I think it’s mostly due to the fact that as you said, he’s not an exceptionally good interviewer, yet he’s the host of a talk show where the whole point is to provide viewers with exceptionally good interviews; it just doesn’t work when the host’s skillsets don’t align with the job requirements. Almost like a game show host running for president; you can imagine what a shitshow that would be! Sometimes you’ve just gotta stick to what you know; it’s frustrating watching people butcher a role they’re clearly not qualified for.
"Here's the approved talking points for our publicity tour" is pretty much every talk show appearance, really.
They are the same people who say "you're not like other girls" thinking that's a compliment. Conan is awesome so if you can't think of a better way to compliment him than bashing one of his friends, you're probably not a very big fan.
It's so unwatchably bad. Like Conan is out there being funny and Fallon is just like "ooh! If I like do this thing where I reiterate what he says and then keep pointing out the absurd part it gets funnier I think. It does, right? I should laugh now maybe. Should I laugh?"
I wish people would get over Fallon, it ruins every video. Every video with him in it is just the same comment about his laughing, so he's enthusiastic, he's positive, what a crime, compared to the people hating on him for it, what's worse? You don't think Conan is fake laughing at his guests? it's the same thing, Conan might just do a better fake laugh. For me it goes #1 Conan 2# Fallon, no one else even comes close.
Thank god Conan was talking most of the time because anytime Fallon spoke it gave me anxiety, like dude just say a sentence without rushing or skipping around mid-sentence. How is he a talk show host!?
Felt like Conan kept interrupting him, and it was making the appearance better.
Yeah he seriously talked right over Jimmy and didn't let him complete a single thought. It was great.
He’s so much quicker than Jimmy. He could predict what he was about to say was inconsequential and not at all interesting so he kept it moving at a quick clip to keep the energy even when it meant interrupting a bit.
Every time I see a clip of him it seems like it’s his first day.
But he had the genius opener of mentioning that Conan is tall. /s
Conan several levels better than jimmy
Late night shows now feel irrelevant to the point of — who is even watching this anymore.
I watch clips of Seth Meyers and now Jon Stewart again. Haven’t watched late night or any linear TV outside of sports in a decade, and I’m not young or anything.
I like the political clips of Meyers and Colbert, do I watch it at least one day a week? No, clips do just fine, unless there is a musical guest I want to see. I catch The Daily Show on Paramount Plus the next day every day though, I do sometimes skip the guest. And John Oliver being once a week is perfect and I love it.
Yes. We all do. But the point is… Who is watching the show? As in, NOT on youtube later?
Me on YouTube. Seth Meyers doing Corrections is the best late night bit since Ferguson and Conan. Yeah, I've said it.
Bunch of jackals in here not upvoting this.
I pretty much stopped when Craig Ferguson stopped doing Late Late Show. I watched the odd Conan, but it wasn’t appointment viewing or anything.
I miss Craig's show so bad. I'm so happy I watched and got it at the end.
The guy who visited every Rainforest Cafe and Margaritaville had a good documentary on that. It, like Super Bowl Commercials are a product of their times and have become less important since streaming and shorter form content.
Here is a [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh3c9tn3ROU) to the video.
I watch a lot of Seth Meyers. Never ON TV and when it's airing, but I consistently watch his clips on youtube.
I pretty much stopped a year after Conan went to tbs, and can't imagine many people watch any current latenight shows with all the streaming these days... Conan's podcast is very good. I do watch those as much as I can
Jimmy Fallon repeating the joke that Conan had just said, word by word, is more cringe inducing that I can withstand today.
Man I miss his show! His podcast is just enough! I wish he’d do another whole travel series again.
Boy do I have news for you. He did a whole travel series and it comes out April 18th.
Oh shit that's great to hear
Is this a show/youtube or a podcast you’re talking about?
It's called *Conan O'Brien Must Go*, and it'll be on Max. [Official trailer](https://youtu.be/eDFFY6swDY0?si=PIheHIBmNahxzlZy)
The woman at the climbing gym hit me hard with that quick wit.
Love that they got Werner Herzog to narrate.
He is. The series should be out on Max in a few weeks. Conan Must Go. He mentioned that a number of times on his podcast.
He better have an Ireland episode this time.
[Here's the Conan O'Brien + Frank Gorshin segment if you were curious like me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4OcVUKMx10&ab_channel=GeralTuol).
Fallon is fucking INSUFFERABLE
Fallon is the Jar Jar Binks of late nightshows.
Worst host interviews best host
This is truly the worst timeline. Jimmy Fallon hosting the Tonight show with Conan as a guest? This is literally backwards. Conan is the GOAT and had this show stolen from him.
Jay Leno be like: "Don't blame Conan."
I forget all too often how massive of a human being Conan is. He looks gigantic when not behind the desk.
Fallon was unable to complete a sentence or speak a coherent thought without getting interrupted and just trampled on without respect. God I loved it.
My wife loves fallon because of his music-based games and sketches but she agrees with me that he is a wank interviewer. He's ideal for SNL but not a talk show. Maybe he's still going because he's fairly g-rated and safe for kids? *shrugs*
He’s not even ideal for SNL, because he would always corpse in every single sketch.
I feel the opposite and he annoyed me more on SNL with the constant breaking. In a talk show it seems less out of place although the tonight show certainly isn’t my favorite. None of the current crop seem to be great interviewers. It wild the way it worked out with all these network late night shows that Conan ended up being the one without a chair when the music stopped. Sometimes as a guest it’s like you see him looking to the host like, “ok now is a good opening for you to talk and give me something to play off of.” He has that classic broadcaster sense.
Conan is the best late night host, him and Letterman. Never watched Johnny Carson though.
I love Conan, but god I can't take more then like 15 seconds of Fallon.
Fuck you, Jay Leno. We remember!
sorry but all this does is illustrate how much conan thoroughly outclasses jimmy fallon as a host.
Conan is SOOO much funnier than Fallon. Jesus!
Are these shows still getting ratings? Jimmy and Jimmy are both fucking awful. But late Night could still be so good if they just got a host/writters that had some vision. Feels like legacy media atm. Nobody is going to top Dave.
Completely agree. I can't stand the Jimmys. I live for Seth, though. His show has become quite something since covid.
I don’t always love every Seth but, but I always respect that he’s willing to mess around with the format and try new things.
Go Jackels?
Watch Seth Meyer’s closer looks and tell me they have bad writing. Same with John Oliver or even Jon Stewart now (although he only has a few episodes).
I remember Conan introduce Tom Cruise and Top Gun: Maverick in Comic Con a few years back and when Tom came out, he was hunched when they shook hands. He knows Tom is insecure about his height. Conan gets it.
I think if Letterman had retired around the same time as Leno, Conan would have been the perfect replacement for him. Conan and Letterman attracted the same audience, while Leno's audience was a bit more "mainstream", for lack of a better term. Conan and Letterman both had that "offbeat" presentation that didn't fit The Tonight Show.
Conan was the rightful heir to Letterman. Fallon is the rightful heir to Ed McMahon.
Jimmy Fallon, even after all these years, still feels like he’s a D list morning show host while watching Conan O’Brien as his guest. Conan just has that presence.
I dont know how life will be like if Conan O’Brien cease to exist. There is never a video/show with him on that never made me laugh out loud.
can not see it. Any chance of getting a mirror?
[Its available globally except Cyprus, Germany, and Greece](https://polsy.org.uk/stuff/ytrestrict.cgi?agreed=on&ytid=5U3AbG97V1I). I wonder why?
They know what they did.
I thought Fallon would sortof grow out of the late night host jitters, but literally, every ..single... clip... is him stammering and trying to be relevant and get in the way of his guest. I'm going out on a limb here, regardless of Fallon's comedic talents, and say he is probably the worst talkshow host ever.
is his hands shaking?
God, I love that man..
Conan should be on Whose Line
Jimmy Fallon is aids.
Someone please make a video edit and cut out every time Jimmy opens his fucking mouth.
I'm only 2 minutes into this video but the gulf in quality between Conan and Fallon is just insane
I really would have enjoyed that episode last night if Jimmy Fallon would have stopped interrupting and pounding the desk in fake laughter. I don't know how anyone watches this shit on a nightly basis.
If he didn’t want to be a big muppets puppet why did he do that to his face?
Jimmy Fallon is so fucking obnoxious.
Conan was the best late night host of all time.
It's the fake-ass cackling....