It certainly seems many late night shows are now just used for cutting up clips and putting the highlights on YouTube. You no longer have to watch (and sit through the interminable commercials) in order to see the best stuff. 

RadioActive wrote:

It certainly seems many late night shows are now just used for cutting up clips and putting the highlights on YouTube. You no longer have to watch (and sit through the interminable commercials) in order to see the best stuff. 

This 100%, especially in the case of The Tonight Show, which very likely pays YT for prominent placement in every user's "recommended" lists.

Paul Jeffries wrote:

A lot of these late-night talk shows have probably cut their audiences in half with overly-preachy politics and pandering to the virtue-signaling crowd. (And no, I'm not saying this in support of The Orange Man, as I'm relatively neutral when it comes to U.S. politics).

Stephen Colbert spent four years droning on about Trump even when he wasn't in office. Personally, I find his monologues to be tedious and not particularly funny, like a bunch of bad dad jokes strewn together to get some kind of reaction. And lately he seems to think he's some kind of expert on Canadian politics, too. Just go away, please.

Someone once remarked that most people didn't know if Johnny Carson was a Democrat or Republican because he skewered everybody equally. I miss those days of late night.

PJ

Agreed. Conan, Letterman and Carson are my top 3 of all time. Those days are long gone, I have little to no interest in any of the current hosts. Even SNL (which I watched every week for 20 years) isn't worth watching anymore.
 

I find that Colbert isn't funny, his monologues are predictably political all the time.  He has too many politicians on as guests.  Why his show usually is number one for the late night talkers is beyond me, since his show is not that entertaining.  

Jimmy Fallon is down right annoying.  His ego is through the roof.  He does have some funny bits, but his constant dancing around the stage and playing air guitar like he is some kind of rock star is embarrassing to watch.  NBC seems to love him, and showcasing him in other prime time game shows, or specials which all bomb in the ratings.  But yet, here he is again, hyping another prime time special or new book.  Wish that he would take a page from Johnny Carson and let his guests talk and be the focus.  Fallon is always trying to upstage his guests and be the centre of attention. 

Kimmel I like sometimes, and other times find he asks stupid inane questions of his guests.  He is the most genuine of the hosts, but a lot of the bits on his show are not funny and sometimes kind of crude.  He has always had a bit of a fixation regarding Canada and talks about the country and politicians more than the other hosts.  Remember his months of talking about the late Rob Ford almost daily in his monologues? Or sending Guillermo and a crew to Dildo Newfoundland to interview the locals about Jimmy running for mayor.

Seth Meyers is my favourite, but some won't like his humour.  He is very political, however usually confines it to his very funny A Closer Look.  His bits and comments usually make me laugh.  Seth does a great impersonation of Trump in terms of the voice and mannerisms.  Since his show is on later, the program is a bit more laid back and the host not as charged up as Fallon and Colbert.   

Read the article folks it talks about late night's disappearing audience for the same reasons that Broadcast TV is losing their audience namely streaming, podcasts etc.. I like Kimmel, Seth Myers and John Stewart. I watch them but mainly through clips on YT. Their skewering of Trump is necessary and deserved. I mean with stuff like girls only need two dolls and not thirty, the jokes write themselves, A lot of what he says is ripe to be ripped in comedic fashion and other-wise.


 

I'd forgotten Craig Ferguson, definitely the most bizarre and best talk show satire ever. He would deliberately rip up his questions when a guest came on, he had a robot skeleton as his co-host and yes, of course, Secretariat - the pantomime horse - was always a highlight. 

What a great show and there's never been another one like it. Each show truly was a "great day for America." Amazing.

To me the golden age of late night shows was the era of Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin Joey Bishop and even Tom Snyder.
Guests were not stars from the latest comic book superhero movie, or some novelty politician who answered lightweight questions.
They were in fact deep thinkers like Gore Vidal, William F Buckley, Norman Mailer and Gloria Steinem.
Heck Cavett even once had a revealing interview with George Meanie, head of the AFL CIO union who got so mad he walked off the show.
And people watched those shows in droves.
And they actually knew who the guests were because they read newspapers and books.
These days you have a provincial premier the likes of Doug Ford who once suggested he would not know Margaret Atwood from a hole the the ground.



 

newsguy1 wrote:

To me the golden age of late night shows was the era of Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin Joey Bishop and even Tom Snyder.
Guests were not stars from the latest comic book superhero movie, or some novelty politician who answered lightweight questions.
They were in fact deep thinkers like Gore Vidal, William F Buckley, Norman Mailer and Gloria Steinem.
Heck Cavett even once had a revealing interview with George Meanie, head of the AFL CIO union who got so mad he walked off the show.
And people watched those shows in droves.
And they actually knew who the guests were because they read newspapers and books.
These days you have a provincial premier the likes of Doug Ford who once suggested he would not know Margaret Atwood from a hole the the ground.

Excellent point - guests these days are on just for clicks and likes, not necessarily for "discussion".