Anyone else dissatisfied with Late Night Chat?

I was just watching some clips of Craig Ferguson on YouTube and it brought home how much I miss the previous roster of Late Night hosts. Ferguson and Letterman were my favorites, because they were the most irreverent. I liked Leno because I thought he was genuinely funny. Conan has lost his edge since getting bum's rushed to basic cable, and Jimmy Kimmel, though he's had a few moments, has never been consistently funny or entertaining.

Yet flaws or not, I'd take all of them over the new guys. Jimmy Fallon comes across like a fanboy who just wants to get stars' autographs and play pin the tail on the donkey with them. Seth Meyers just does Weekend Update with guests every night. The best thing about Late Late Show with James Corden is everybody but James Corden. And I've hated Stephen Colbert since he was Jon Stewart's stooge. Now he's just a stooge with Letterman's old job.

Anybody else feeling the same kind of late night malaise I am?

 

The problem with late night chat shows is that they are all the same. Nothing interesting or unusual happens. It's been the same shit for decades now. It's boring and unimportant. It's the same thing night after night, show after show; the host chats with a star who is there to promote a film or show or album. They smile, make jokes and the host fawns over them for a few brief moments before moving to the next guest.

The reason Craig Ferguson was so endearing was that he really didn't give a FUCK about any of that. He was there to have fun--period. Whether the guest's project got promoted or not was a mere afterthought. He took the entire format and turned it sideways.

Now? We're back to the same old thing. Let's face it, no one is really a big fan of James Corden; he's not that interesting. BUT, he managed to do something different with Car Pool Karaoke; it got people's attention. A little attention is all it takes to be considered a successful chat show. Jimmy Fallon is indeed a fawning fanboy, but he gets the stars to play these ridiculous games and the audience gets to see their favorite stars in way they've never seen them before.

I like Stephen Colbert but I liked him better when he had something to say, on The Colbert Report. Shows like Samantha Bee's Full Frontal, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Show, Larry Wilmore's Nightly Show and even The Daily Show, actually have something to say--some point of view--and are something more edgy, more risk-taking--making these empty-headed chat shows seem all the more dull in comparison.

That's my take on it, anyway. Your Mileage May Vary.

 

Craig Ferguson didn't give a fuck, but still cared about the guests. He made a lot of friends and it showed, but even most of the ones he didn't know well still were fuck to watch. He was crazy, he was fun and he was different.

I love Steven Colbert, but there is almost no difference between his old show and his new one, and it's just too old. It's a bunch of white guys asking stupid shit to movie stars and botching about Trump and Bernie Sanders supporters. They really just need to get some decent talkers and just talk. Just have fun. Jimmy Fallon has his stupid games and singing things, which are really quiet fun, he just sucks! He acts like a 20 year old playing beer pong for the first time.

So really the problem is the lack of personalities on late night that are fun, edgy, but not mean, who can carry a conversation and ask different things mixed with someone who can think of new games to play and something never before seen, like a gay robot skeleton and puppets.

 

To be fair, the Tonight show didn't start out that way.

In its first season under the venerable Steve Allen it was pure variety. When guests came on they were there to perform and entertain, not just to plug something. Interviews really started when Jack Paar took over, but even then, Paar was actually interested in engaging his guests in conversations that went beyond the business and the latest project, and he took the show on several interesting remotes.

It wasn't until Johnny Carson took over that the Tonight Show evolved into what we recognize today, and unfortunately Carson made such a success of it that it became the template for the rest of network late night chat. That's why no matter how different the new hosts try to be, the overall format shakes out to be the same. Frankly, I can live with that as long as I like the hosts. I just don't like them much anymore.

 

I've seen Leno in person, and that was quite the experience. Opened my eyes as to how everything is produced.

But yeah, I generally agree. I think it has a lot to do with the chemistry between the guests and the hosts. Some of them you get the impression they're having a lot of fun, but others seem more like they're going through the motions. Robin Williams was always one of my favourite guests as you never knew what to expect out of him. I've tried to like Fallon, but I find him too hyperactive. I also did really like Craig Ferguson.

 

We've came off a strong period for talk. Jon Stewart and Colbert were great at their shows at Comedy Central. Stewart's satire delivered with passion really raised the ire of the right. I don't think Fox News is often mentioning Trevor Noah by name. And Colbert's fake punditry let his quick wit shine bright. I really liked before everyone caught on and they had some hilarious interviews with guests who didn't know better.

Conan was funny and irreverant at the late slot at NBC and Craig Ferguson had his laissez-faire turn at CBS.

But then Stewart and Ferguson quit, Colbert found it surprisingly hard to be himself, Conan lost some of that magic being ousted to basic cable, and likable stalwarts Leno and Letterman left after having become somewhat stale.

If nothing else, the late night guys have been returning to what they do best. Fallon never strayed far from his mainstream format and probably ushered in the rise of Youtube and social media synergy. He can be annoying but he does have enough talent to make it work a lot of the time. Seth Meyers starts the show from his (now properly-sized) desk while Trevor Noah stands. Colbert's show is even closer to The Report than ever.

Nowadays though I tend to watch the monologue and then only go to the guests I'm interested in. I do like Carpool Karaoke and when Corden does out-of-studio pieces. Seth Meyer's A Closer Look is a nice humorous digest of topical issues. John Oliver has ably filled in Jon Stewart's shows if only once a week.

If nothing else it's better than The Chevy Chase Show, The Pat Sajak Show and The Magic Johnson Show.

 

Full Frontal and Last Week Tonight are both terrific shows, and better successors to The Daily Show with John Stewart than the actual Daily Show these days. That's where actual innovation is happening in terms of talk shows right now; network talk shows are largely garbage.

 

I may have to give Full Frontal another chance, been hearing good things. I watched it when it debuted and didn't care for it but late shows often need to break in a bit.

 

I'd have to agree with you here. Compared to Last Week Tonight, The Daily Show just seems to have lost its bite.

 

The Daily show in recent weeks has been hitting its stride again I feel but lets face it the peak started and ended with Jon Stewart. I stopped watching Nightly Show and miss Colbert Report so much but Last Week Tonight & Full Frontal are leading the charge no doubt.

 

I gave up on late night a long time ago, but recently found Johnny Carson reruns on Antenna TV. It's hard to beat the original, and I can identify the decade by his tie and lapels.

 

Late night shows have been changed by the advent of YouTube. Now they are more about producing segments that can be clipped and viewed over and over again (along with ads!) than about making a coherent show.

 

Don't know if you've caught any of his cold opens such as Doctor Who or White Lines which were amazing spectacles of energy and insanity. Worth seeking out if you haven't.

 

That's a very valid point. We have the attention span of gnats; it's all about "the segment," not the entire show. Chat shows specifically only care about the individual segment because it will make a great video. Carpool Karoke is a great example of that. Most people have watched the videos but how many actually watch the show?

 

I thought Chelsea Handler's show wasn't too bad. She'd tried shaking things up a bit, and she does have some really good guests that make good points, but we've had to give up on her as her cussing was getting tiresome.

 

I have never watched an episode of the Late Late Show all the way through. But I looooovvvveeee Carpool Karoke. As for American's shortening attention spans - what were we talking about again?

 

Colbert has been off-the-charts, recently. I miss turning on "The Daily Show" and the "Colbert Report" after a bad day of news, and laughing, to make myself feel better. Their lineup just isn't the same, anymore. Jay Leno and David Letterman were never good. They did obvious jokes, not satire and social commentary. Bill Maher, a show I used to enjoy, called Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann the c-word one too many times, and the show's commentary became less balanced, and so I stopped watching. I have never liked Conan, ever. I liked Jimmy Fallon on SNL's Weekend Update, so my instinct is that it's not all that bad, but to be honest, I have seen 5 episodes in his time on the Tonight Show, and I haven't laughed all that much.

 

Never? I have to assume you mean Letterman on CBS. Because 1982-1993 on NBC, Letterman was as innovative and disruptive as anything on US network TV, ever. Conan, Stewart, Kimmel, Colbert et al have acknowledged that they have followed the trail he broke.

 

I haven't watched late night chat shows since the 1970s. I have watched Dr. Who and Second City TV in that time slot instead, but nothing now.