SweetPetes_66

CptlA

My breakdown:

Johnny Carson = Late Night King, shows were unpredictable

Jay Leno = Funny guy, nice guy, shows were too predictable

Conan O'Brien = Different. Tries to be funny, and succeeds 55% of the time.

David Letterman = eh.

Jay's stand up and monologue were great, but his sometimes his humor would get tiring night after night. I'm a younger guy (late 20's) and I don't "get" Conan most of the time.

1inxs

Conan is off the wall. I think he'll surpass Leno. Conan's not as political focused and a lot of us enjoy that fact.

Orrymain

No one was like Johnny. He'll never be matched. Leno survived somehow. Sometimes he was funny. The last show had a couple of really nice funny moments, but 1/4th of it was just a commercial for Conan and that means NBC is scared stiff. Johnny did zero promotion for Leno and he certainly didn't have him on his last show. It was pathetic. Conan will not survive the 11:30pm time block. I think he'll be gone in 5 years, if not less. Unless he grows a funny bone that is appropriate for an earlier audience. I don't like Letterman anymore than I like Leno, but he got a raw deal from NBC and everyone knew it, including Leno.

SweetPetes_66

I seem to remember I sorta liked Conan on that show during the first year or so maybe, then he just kinda left me behind, I guess......dunno??? It's kinda the same with Craig, whatever that guys name is, on after Letterman. I kinda enjoyed him at first, and now....to me.... it's just kinda stupid. Leno's a good guy it seems, kinda funny, but I was kinda upset at first that he got that spot, but I guess he either grew on me, or I just got used to him. I think I'm gonna have trouble getting used to Conan. I agree with Cptla, only to me Conan hits the mark a little less than 50%. I just a country boy, not quite hillbilly truck driver, so what I think about it all don't mean much of nothin. Anyways, we'll see how he makes out........

Jay

Johnny was irreplaceable. His interviews, monologues, and skits were great! CptlA hit the nail on the head, Carson was unpredictable. He was a master at being funny during unscripted moments too.

I've always considered Jay more of a comedian. If anything was ever tiring about his show, IMHO, it's that his interviews with celebrities rarely strayed from the typical nice guy mentality that he's known for. His last show on May 29th, was classy and impeccable, which was to be expected.

I don't mind Conan so much but I just don't get the "hip" and "smart" stigma that's been attached to his comedic style. Is it because he's a younger than Jay Leno or David Letterman because I just don't see it in his monologue...

I'll give Conan a try this next week, but he's got some big shoes to fill on "The Tonight Show":

Steve Allen (1954–1957)
Jack Paar (1957–1962)
Johnny Carson (1962–1992)
Jay Leno (1992–2009)
and now Conan O'Brien (2009-?)

Piggie

I was too young to remember Steve Allen on, but I remember Jack Paar and how my Aunt that loved the tonight show. I can clearly remember her falling in love with Johny immediately. She thought Jack Paar was downhill from Steve Allen, which I can understand as I loved Steve Allen's stand up routines on early TV in the 60's. But when Johnny took over she was saved!

Now seems I am the odd guy out here. I always liked Letterman's humor, and like Craig Ferguson even more. Leno got boring to me a long time ago. I did switch it off between Carson and Letterman, but once Leno took over it was Letterman if I was going to watch that type of show late.

I mean you have to like Craig, who else has dinosaur and shark puppets with sparklers in the mouths on late night TV?

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1inxs

Now your starting to date yourself

Orrymain

Carson's ability to make a bomb into a huge round of laughter was awesome. He also was able to do something that neither Leno nor Letterman could ever do -- take a nothing guest and turn the tables. Leno and Letterman have never been able to take a bum guest and make it worst. They don't know how to handle the unexpected and the bomb, not like Johnny did.

Piggie

But did he ever have a dinosaur and shark puppets singing and holding sparklers in their mouths?

__________________
The more I understand, the less I know.