Which late night talk show do you prefer?

By Tony Black | Sunday, January 10, 2010, 04:17 PM

Jay Leno

It looks like NBC finally figured out that moving Jay Leno to 10 p.m. was a bad idea. Too bad they didn’t realize the reason wasn’t the time slot.

Jay just isn’t that great, in my opinion. I have tried to watch his show, the old version and the new one, and it couldn’t keep me entertained.

Conan O’Brien

NBC will move Jay back to the 11:35 p.m. time slot for a half-an-hour show after the Winter Olympics. The plan is to have Conan O’Brien’s show move to midnight and retain the “Tonight Show” label and Jimmy Fallon would move to 1 a.m.

I was once a big Conan fan, but the repetitive jokes and gags started to wear on me. And when he moved to his current, earlier time slot, he had to ditch a lot of the ‘inappropriate’ content which was where a lot of his show’s humor came from.

David Letterman

David Letterman isn’t my cup of tea either, but I think that isn’t a surprise since his show seems to be geared towards the 30-100 age demographic. He has nothing to worry about, however, since CBS appears to be close to signing him and Craig Ferguson through 2012.

When it comes to late night talk shows, I have 2 favorites: Jimmy and Craig. The 2 late night hosts keep things simple on their respective programs, and I like it that way.

Jimmy Fallon

What I like about Jimmy’s show:

Jimmy acts like a dork around celebrities. When he is a big fan of his guests’ work, he isn’t afraid to let it show. This makes Jimmy more personable.

Jimmy is big on interacting with the audience. He loves to play games with the audience and bring them onto the set in front of the camera, sometimes to interact with the celebrity guests. How cool is that?

The Roots. I am not big on the “music scene” and had never heard of this band before they were announced as Jimmy’s late night band. The opening they play for Jimmy’s show is full of energy and gets you pumped for the show.

The Real Housewives of Late Night. A comedic spoof of the “The Real Housewives” reality TV shows on Bravo where Jimmy and some of the crew dress in drag and pretend to be their own wives. It’s “season” ended recently, but I really hope it returns soon.

Craig Ferguson

What I like about Craig’s show:

The puppets. Craig likes to open the show sometimes with puppets. They even sing and dance. They even made their way into Craig’s new Hi-Def opening that they had to create when the show started broadcasting in HD in late 2009.

Craig’s interview process. Craig tears up his note cards before every interview and just “wings it.” Probably just a gimmick, but his questions are so random at times and conversational it feels like 2 people shooting the breeze and not a celebrity being interviewed by a talk show host.

Craig’s story.If you don’t know anything about Craig Ferguson, know that he has had a wild life. From drugs to alcohol, he’s done it all. Now he is sober with a family and his very own talk show. If that’s not an inspiring success story, I don’t know what is.

Craig’s impersonations. He’s Scottish, so he naturally does a really good impersonation of Sean Connery. His Prince Charles with a hideous comb-over is barely understandable through giant false teeth but you laugh at his slurred jokes anyway.

I’ve shared my late night favorites, now you do the same. Which late night talk show do you prefer? What makes it your favorite?

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