In American television, the late-night talk show is a specific kind of comedy-oriented talk and variety show that airs late at night. Characteristics of the genre include topical monologues in which the host makes fun of the day's news, comedy sketches, celebrity interviews, and musical performances. The late-night talk-show format was popularized, though not invented, by Johnny Carson with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on NBC. Unlike other kinds of talk and variety shows, late-night talk shows always feature a desk behind which the host sits to interview guests and present comedy bits. Most programs also have an old-fashioned prop microphone on the desk, which some hosts often use as a comedic device.
The popularity of late night shows in America has been cited as a key factor why Americans do not get the requisite seven to eight hours of sleep per night.[1]
Late-night talk shows compete for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series.
Late night talk shows, for the most part, do not exist in other parts of the world. Shows that loosely resemble the format air in other countries, but generally air weekly as opposed to the nightly airings of Americans. They also generally air in time slots considered to be prime time in the United States.
Most late night talk shows are normally recorded during the day and afternoon for late night airing. Thus, during taping, references such as this evening and earlier today are made.
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Late-night talk shows had their genesis in early variety shows, such as The Ed Sullivan Show (originally known as Toast of the Town), which aired on CBS Sunday nights from 1948 to 1971 and was hosted by Ed Sullivan, and Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle, which aired on NBC from 1948 to 1956. These shows aired once a week in evening time slots that would come to be known as prime time. The first show to air in a late night time slot itself, Broadway Open House, aired on NBC in 1950 and was canceled a year later. The first version of The Tonight Show, Tonight Starring Steve Allen, debuted in 1954 on NBC. The show created many modern talk show staples included an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, comedy bits, and musical performances.
The success of the show led Allen to get another show, entitled The Steve Allen Show which would compete with The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights. Meanwhile, hosting duties of The Tonight Show were split between Allen and newcomer Ernie Kovacs. Both Allen and Kovacs departed from the show in 1957 in order to focus on Allen's Sunday night show. After the two left, the format changed similar to that of The Today Show and was renamed Tonight! America After Dark and was hosted first by Jack Lescoulie and then by Al Collins while interviews were performed by Hy Gardner, and a house band led by Lou Stein. The show was not popular leading to many NBC affiliates dropping the show. The show returned to the original format that year and was renamed The Tonight Show, after Jack Paar was named the new host, but was simply referred to as The Jack Paar Show. The success of the show resulted in many NBC affiliates re-airing the show. Paar introduced another talk show staple, the idea of guest hosts, whom his regular guest host was Johnny Carson, who would go on to replace Paar as host of The Tonight Show in 1962. Paar also engaged in a feud with radio host Walter Winchell as well as Ed Sullivan, the feud which indirectly ended Winchell's career. Paar left the show in 1962 citing the reason he could not handle the work load of The Tonight Show (at the time, the show ran 105 minutes a day, five days a week).
After Paar's departure, hosting duties were filled by Groucho Marx and Mort Sahl. Longtime guest host Johnny Carson took over as host of The Tonight Show in 1962 and the show was renamed The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Ed McMahon served as Carson's announcer while Doc Severinsen served as bandleader with the NBC Orchestra. The show originated from NBC Studios in New York City but moved to Burbank, California in 1972.
Much like Paar, Carson became tired of fulfilling the workload of 525 minutes a week, so as local newscasts expanded, The Tonight Show was shortened to 90 minutes and again to 60 minutes by 1982. In 1973, NBC launched The Tomorrow Show hosted by Tom Snyder immediately following Carson's Tonight Show at 1:00 am. The show was different from The Tonight Show. For instance the show featured no studio audience while Snyder would conduct one-on-one interviews with a cigarette in hand. The show was cancelled in 1982 and was replaced by Late Night with David Letterman that aired at 12:30 am immediately following Carson. During his tenure as host of The Tonight Show, Carson became known as The King of Late Night. While numerous hosts (Merv Griffin and Dick Cavett being the best-known) attempted to compete with Carson, none was ever successful in drawing more viewers than Carson did on Tonight. Because of a lack of competition, Carson was free to take time off (Carson, by 1982, was only hosting three new shows a week) and invite guest hosts to host the show on a weekly basis, including Joey Bishop, Joan Rivers, David Letterman, Bob Newhart, Jay Leno, and Jerry Lewis. Throughout the 1980s, Rivers served as Carson's permanent guest host. Many in 1986, including top executives at NBC, thought it was possible that Johnny Carson would retire after reaching his 25th anniversary on October 1, 1987, as it was such a logical cut-off point. In Spring 1986, a confidential memo between top NBC executives listing about ten possible replacements in the event of Carson's retirement the next year was leaked. When Rivers saw it, she was shocked to see that she was nowhere on the list despite the fact that she had been The Tonight Show's permanent guest host since 1983. In 1986 Joan Rivers joined the Fox network where she would host her own late-night talk show, The Late Show which competed directly against The Tonight Show. Clint Holmes served as Rivers' announcer while Mark Hudson served as bandleader. Rivers left the show in 1987 after abysmal ratings and a battle with network executives, leading her to be replaced by Arsenio Hall. Hall performed extremely well in the 18–49 demographic, however Fox had already greenlit The Wilton North Project to replace The Late Show, leading to Hall hosting his own late-night talk show in syndication after The Late Show was cancelled in 1988. The Late Show continued with many unknown hosts, leading to its cancellation in 1988. Hall's syndicated show, The Arsenio Hall Show, began in syndication in 1988, becoming more popular among younger viewers than Carson. The last network attempt at a Carson competitor, CBS's The Pat Sajak Show, lasted one season, debuting in 1989 and being canceled in 1990.
Carson retired as host of The Tonight Show in 1992 following his thirty-anniversary as host. This garnered major media attention, resulting in who would replace Carson. The two candidates were David Letterman (host of Late Night since 1982) and Jay Leno (Carson's regular guest host since 1987). Leno was eventually chosen leading to Letterman leaving the network to create his own late-night talk show, Late Show with David Letterman on CBS in 1993. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno debuted in 1993 as well. Letterman was replaced by newcomer Conan O'Brien as host of Late Night. Hall lost numerous affiliates after Letterman's debut and his show was canceled one year later. Fox returned to late-night television in September 1993 with The Chevy Chase Show hosted by Saturday Night Live alumni Chevy Chase. However, due to sagging ratings the show was cancelled the following month. Even MTV entered the late-night contest when it debuted The Jon Stewart Show, hosted by Jon Stewart and running until 1995. Letterman initially won the late-night ratings battle with Nielsen but fell behind Leno in 1995; Leno has generally remained in first place ever since. To combat with NBC's Late Night, David Letterman created The Late Late Show to follow Letterman at 12:37, the first host was former host of The Tomorrow Show Tom Snyder whom hosted the show until 1999 when he was replaced by Craig Kilborn. Kilborn had previously served as host of The Daily Show, a late-night satirical news program on Comedy Central, and upon Kilborn's departure, Stewart replaced him on that show.
Many late-night talk shows went off the air following the September 11 attacks in 2001. Letterman was the first to return on September 17, which he addressed the situation in his opening monologue. The show featured Dan Rather, Regis Philbin, and a musical performance from Tori Amos. The Tonight Show returned the following night featuring John McCain and a performance from Crosby, Stills, and Nash. ABC created its own talk show entitled Jimmy Kimmel Live! following its longstanding news program Nightline at 12:05 am, as the show became an instant hit.
Craig Ferguson succeeded Kilborn as host of The Late Late Show in 2006, renaming it The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: An American/British talk show. TBS entered the late-night scene in 2009 when they debuted Lopez Tonight hosted by comedian George Lopez. On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of The Tonight Show's debut, NBC announced that Jay Leno would be succeeded by Conan O'Brien, in 2009. Leno explained that he did not want to see a repeat of the hard feelings and controversy that occurred when he was given the show over David Letterman following Carson's retirement.[2][3]
It was announced on July 21, 2008 that Jay Leno would host his final episode of The Tonight Show on Friday, May 29, 2009 with Conan O'Brien and James Taylor as his guests.[4] O'Brien took over hosting duties commencing the following Monday, on June 1, 2009. On December 9, 2008, it was announced that Jay Leno would be hosting a new nightly show in September, 2009, which aired at 10 pm EST, during the network's prime time period. The Jay Leno Show ended after a short run on February 9, 2010.[5]
On January 7, 2010, multiple media outlets reported that effective March 1, 2010, The Jay Leno Show would be moved from the 10 pm (Eastern/Pacific Time) weeknight time slot to 11:35 pm and O'Brien's The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien would be moved from 11:35pm to 12:05am.[6][7][8] On January 12, 2010, O'Brien publicly announced in an open letter that he intended to leave NBC if they moved The Tonight Show to 12:05AM ET/PT in order to accommodate moving The Jay Leno Show to 11:35 pm Eastern/10:35PM Central.[9] After several days of negotiations, O'Brien reached a settlement with NBC that allowed him to leave NBC and The Tonight Show on January 22, 2010.[10] Leno began his second tenure as host of The Tonight Show on March 1, 2010, after the 2010 Winter Olympics.[11] The show now originates from Studio 11 in Burbank, the former home of The Jay Leno Show, with a similar set of The Jay Leno Show. After leaving NBC, O'Brien began hosting his own late-night talk show, Conan, on TBS.