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Rating Late Night Talk Show Hosts, Past and Present


Monologue:
1. Johnny Carson
2. Jay Leno
3. Seth Meyers

Interview:
1. Tie--Johnny Carson / David Letterman
2. Craig Ferguson
3. Jimmy Kimmel

Comedy Bits / Skits
1. Tie: Johnny Carson / David Letterman
2. Jimmy Fallon
3. Conan O'Brien

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Johnny Carson will always be my number one: best in all these categories plus having the best guests (heck, everyone wanted to do the Carson show!) There was a huge hole in late night TV when he retired and I never found anyone who could fill it.

Jay Leno was OK, but I felt his monologues became more vulgar once Johnny left; this may be just my imagination, but it's how I felt back then. I just never felt compelled to watch him like I had with Johnny. I thought Jay's interviews came across as artificial, contrived - just stick to the notes, OK? Jay Walking is the only bit I remember; amusing, but it sure left us shaking our heads at how uninformed young people are.

I enjoyed Craig Ferguson's crazy sense of humor (the Geoff Peterson bit was a hoot) but his time slot was too late to watch regularly. I liked his interviews because he tossed away the notes at the start of each interview (yes, it was his 'thing') and went his own way with his own questions. His interviews were more like a conversation, and I liked that.

David Letterman was OK too, but sometimes I just didn't 'get' his humor. Oh well, that's on me, I guess. And more than once I thought he was downright mean to a guest.

I've never watched any of the others on your lists so I can't comment on them (no TV for the last eight years).

My combined (unsurprising) ratings:
1. Johnny 👍👍👍👍
2. Craig 👍👍
3. Jay
4. Dave

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I used to watch Johnny and Letterman.

I don't watch any of the new guys, I don't find them interesting or amusing.

Time and pop culture has passed me by.

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1. Johnny
2. Dave
3. Craig
4. Jimmy (Kimmel)


😎

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