What was the worse change of late night hosts of recent times

[TMC]

The transition from Conan O'Brien to Jimmy Fallon or the transition from Craig Ferguson to James Corden. Fallon depending on who you ask, is just disingenuous whereas Corden is just unfunny.

[AMackII]

Ferguson to Corden: Corden incarnation of the Late Late Show was completely different than the Ferguson Era was

[TMC]

Jimmy Fallon Is the Worst Late Night Host

I have never thought of Greg Kinnear as particularly dishonest, but on a recent episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon he lied out of his a**. When speaking about his experience free diving amongst sharks off the coast of Cuba, he mentioned that every human has electricity inside of them that can potentially attract predators. Offhandedly, he also said, “Jimmy Fallon has electricity, and I think America knows that.” The crowd broke into applause.

Jimmy Fallon does not in fact have electricity. Watch any clip of him interviewing a celebrity on the Tonight Show and you’ll see that what he has is a somewhat keen ability to imitate charisma. This is done through a combination of laughing too hard at things that aren’t funny, pretending a banal anecdote is the most interesting thing he’s ever heard, and forcing his guests to play silly games with him. It is exhausting to watch.

When Fallon was hired as a late night host in 2009, it was amidst the notorious time slot battle between Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno. Fallon found comfort in being the ignored one, and spent the time turning Late Night with Jimmy Fallon into a bubbly variety show that New York Magazine called “a very modern antidote to free-form irony.”

You might remember that this era of Fallon’s career brought us such indelible classics like “6bee,” a Glee parody featuring the cast of Parks and Recreation that ended in Fallon singing Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” and the “History of Rap” sketches, in which Fallon and Justin Timberlake would perform a medley of rap hits. It’s funny because they’re white guys in suits, do you get it?

In that New York profile of Fallon, much is made of the fact that his strength actually lies in the fact that he was, at that point in time, allowing himself to have fun.

“If other late-night shows have come to feature a familiar crankiness — directed at politicians, our trashy culture, or rival talk-show hosts — Fallon, by contrast, now presides over a goofy, raucous, playful, innovative hour of shameless shenanigans,” Adam Sternbergh wrote.

Being cranky, tiresome as it may be, implies that one might have an opinion about something, a trait that has been a requirement for most late night hosts throughout history. Fallon, an innovator in the space, has never had an opinion on anything, and his show suffers because of it.

While the other late night hosts working right now have carved out some semblance of a personality — Kimmel is sardonic, Colbert is intellectual, Seth Meyers is kind of dorky, and James Corden can sing — Fallon is just happy to be there. Every story told to him by a guest is “awesome” or “amazing.” His method of interviewing is most comparable to a high schooler who hasn’t done any of the reading. If he had F. Scott Fitzgerald on the show, he might say something like, “Gatsby man, so that guy, he’s great, right?”

Taylor Lautner recently appeared on the show and told Fallon that his friends will occasionally call him and his fiancée (also named Taylor) “girl Tay, boy Tay.” Based on Fallon’s reaction, you would have thought he was seeing Richard Pryor at the Apollo. “Oh my god,” he said through a cackle and a clap, barely able to keep it together.

It’s hard for me to watch late night shows without thinking about David Letterman. Specifically, I think of when he interviewed Paris Hilton in 2007 after her brief stint in jail for violating her probation. Hilton is ostensibly there to talk about her latest fragrance, but Letterman keeps swerving back to her time in jail, despite Hilton’s obvious discomfort with the subject.



Fifteen years after the fact, it’s easy to watch this clip and think that Letterman crossed some kind of line. He was pressuring a young woman who had already been thoroughly publicly humiliated to talk about the one thing she didn’t want to talk about. While this would probably be frowned upon today, especially coming from a man, it’s important to note that, unfortunately, it’s really funny.

You would never see Fallon willingly make someone with any level of celebrity this uncomfortable for the sake of hitting a punchline. Moreover, you would never see him turn himself into the fool, as Letterman does at the end of the interview when he takes the cap off of Hilton’s new fragrance and begins chugging it. When Paris Hilton visited Fallon in January, she brought along photos from her wedding (“Wowzers,” he exclaimed, showing them to the audience) and introduced him to her Bored Ape NFT. “We’re part of the same community,” he responded, showing off his own.



To call what Fallon does “comedy” is rude to an art form that has already taken quite a beating in the last few years. Yes, he is there reading jokes, but try to recall the last time you heard him tell a particularly good one. Fallon’s actual skill, for people that find it in themselves to tune in, is to make celebrities seem fun and relatable. For his peers this is an annoying but mandatory part of the job; for him it’s where it stops. It’s a compelling approach, one that might make you think that Zoey Deutch knowing Yiddish is more interesting than it actually is. However, if you watch enough Fallon, it gets old fast. If every guest is the funniest, most interesting person alive, none of them are.

The viewing public seems to agree. At the end of the 2020-2021 season, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert became the most-watched late night show for the fifth season in a row, and for the first time ever, Jimmy Kimmel Live! earned more viewers than the Tonight Show, placing Fallon in third place in the 11:30 p.m. slot.

A few months before those ratings were released, however, Fallon’s contract was renewed for another five years at NBC, where he also produces That’s My Jam and Clash of the Cover Bands (on NBC Universal-owned E!). In the former, famous people try to remember song lyrics out of fear of getting sprayed with water, and in the latter, non-famous people cover famous songs and get judged by Meghan Trainor. What brilliant idea will he have next?

We are stuck with Fallon until at least 2026. There will be many more years of him going through the motions, playing games like “Egg Russian Roulette,” and fawning over actors whose movies he hasn’t seen. Beaming with the eager eyes of a golden retriever, he can’t believe his luck — all these humans are so incredible.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by AMackII

Ferguson to Corden: Corden incarnation of the Late Late Show was completely different than the Ferguson Era was

I don't know or remember if this has been addressed before, but what is it with Jimmy Fallon and his obsession with games? Why does he always have to put his guest on the spot? This pretty much goes hand-in-hand with the notion that Fallon never really wants or is capable of evolving beyond his wholesome "goofball man-child" gimmick.

Basically, he's like that college buddy who's apparently never going to grow up. He gushes over his guests with absurd enthusiasm and plays ridiculous games and that was all fine and fun. But there comes a point in time in which it becomes hard to believe that he's a real, genuine person. His only identity if you want to call it that, is that he's like the ultimate fan who has landed his dream job but has nothing to offer or bring to the table outside of just being happy to be there.

[TMC]

Late night used to be a warm place in America's heart. What happened? And what are the core strengths that distinguish the best of these shows, from the formulaic and tired ones?

With everything happening in the world today, late night talk show hosts like Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert have not been able to record their shows in front of live audiences like normal. Instead they have pretty much become YouTubers - setting up cameras in their house to talk to and getting their families to participate as a stand in for crew members and famous guests. Now, I give them credit for trying to adjust and keep making content how they can, but come on. These hosts do NOT know how to YouTube. What do I mean? Listen up Theorists and welcome to This Time Today with MatPat.

[GentlemanJim]

Craig Ferguson, by a mile, was the only late night host, post Carson, that I enjoyed.

So you could literally have put Letterman in his prime, replacing Ferguson, and that would still get my vote.

Of course, that doesn't really include Dick Cavett, I put him on a special shelf

[TMC]

The thing with Jimmy Fallon is that his schtick only really works if you as his guest, play along with him even if it's reluctantly and awkwardly. He isn't exactly somebody like say David Letterman, who could strike a balance between poking fun at pop culture and just being silly while also not overwhelming his interviews like Fallon will by reacting wildly.

[Yong Fang]

For me the "King of Late Night" will always be Johnny Carson. He was just the undisputed master of his craft. Johnny was hilarious, engaging and very intelligent. Despite of what his private life was probably like, he was totally relatable to Middle America, and was a relatable person.

When Carson left in 1992, he wanted David Letterman to succeed him but the network hired Jay Leno instead. For me, obviously Leno was different than Carson but mostly kept the format. I thought he was an excellent interviewer, was smart, engaging and entertaining, and he himself lasted in the show about 25 years himself, not too much shorter of a tenure than Carson.

I do not really understood what happened with Conan O'Brien, but the guy wasnt pulling in the ratings, and NBC for some reason gave Leno a prime time show at 10:00/9:00 and cut back Conan and then NBC replaced Conan with Leno again. All I got from that fiasco was that Conan was drawing in the audience and Leno wanted the job back when asked so this is what happened. But I liked Leno a lot. He was corny though. I also think he was EXTREMELY LUCKY in his career, he was a fairly average comedian who took little risks. A lot of other comedians of his standing but not wealth and success have complained about him over the years. Even Johnny Carson didnt see him as worthy of his chair.

David Letterman I couldn't stand and don't really get why he was so liked. To me the guy was snarky and somewhat mean. To me, not relatable like Carson or Leno. Letterman and Paul Shaffer, just what an annoying, unfunny couple of jerks. Letterman's shows would have musical acts like rock bands on, and for some reason Shaffer's own "house band" would also play. To me it seemed that Shaffer didnt like other musical acts on "his" stage and his people just stand around. Like I said, I never liked Letterman but he has always considered himself to have been an outsider of the entertainment business and occasionally his obnoxious jerk personality worked, like with Madonna and Paris Hilton. Cher called Letterman an a-hole live after putting up with his banter way too long.

The three hosts now, I really do not know much about because I am not that interested. Colbert who replaced Letterman to me is insufferable, who always interjected his political views which was hate Trump for four years. Kimmel is about the same way. I am just not interested in celebrities (or even know most of them or care) and both of their political views are opposite of mine. Jimmy Kimmel? I dont know much of him but he has always somewhat comes across as an immature guy who never left high school, who has a talent and I think got lucky in life. Some people turn out that way. Again, Leno is way more talented and consider him fortunate too.

The only guy I like is Seth Myers. He is funny and engaging to me. His politics are different than my own and he does too much politics (like all of them). I have only seen him mostly through YouTube videos and he does a lot of "news desk" stuff, making fun of politicians and the World at at large. Sort of what John Oliver does on his show on HBO (I love Oliver, but again, has different politics than myself).

I wish Seth Myers could be the host of Tonight. He would be very good in it and better than the guy there now. But again, Seth and John Oliver are the only two I watch online.

[PaperClips]

Craig Ferguson. He's had so many failed game-shows since it ended, he might be ready to come back. Maybe Corden's spot, although I think the networks are dumping late-night shows and anything past 10 p.m.