TVSquad

I think the difference is Dave Letterman is actually a funny person, whereas Jay Leno THINKS he's a funny person. He giggles at himself throughout his entire monologue. YOU'RE NOT FUNNY JAY.

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Conan all the way! I say everyone should take a brief nap and then wake up to watch Conan after Letterman/Leno.

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I'd take Craig Ferguson on "The Late Late Show" over either of them.

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I usually watch Leno's monologue and then shift to Letterman(unless there's a guest on Leno I really need to watch...even then the interviews are horrible).

I love Letterman's jokes but there are so few. But now I'm completely switching over to him....Leno's jokes are getting worse by the day.

Do you think there's a reason Leno has never hosted a show like the Oscars and/or Emmys? It's because people in showbiz don't really respect him that much. Even Conan has hosted the Emmys(and he's doing it again this year).

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I think Letterman is second because Leno gets better guests and a lot of people are just lifetime Tonight Show watchers. Personally I think Leno is unwatchable, and was a great standup comic I loved before he took the gig.

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I think Leno is better than Letterman. I don't find him that funny, I find him a bit smug with his self importance and his belief and that of many others, that his humor is so much more highbrow and snappier than Lenos.

Give me a man who likes to laugh with you any day over one that laughs at you.

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Letterman has a horrible show. His monologue is horrible, 4-5 jokes - 1 thats funny? Paul butts in all the time is his annoying style. They both have trouble getting a sentence out. Letterman has awful skits. He wastes time with boring stories and making up 'mindless garbage'. 'Our friend, Joe, we met at your wedding Paul'....'oh yeah, Joe, oh yeah'...'he got the 2000 census and some fun facts'...'the 2000? census'...'yeah, Joe'. Letterman is bad with female guests, he just stares and stutters. His only decent interview was with Bill O'Reilly.

Hollywood folk are boring, Letterman's grilling style isn't interesting with Ricky Gervais or Tom Cruise - they have nothing interesting to say.

Leno has a great monologue, some simply funny skits and a nice on-air presence - that is why his show is better. Sure, he is kinda boring with guests and cracks a few not-so-funny jokes but these people are just boring anyway - Adam Sandler tells some boring story and promotes a movie, big woop.

Conan trumps them all in guest area, because he is funny - he can makes jokes about himself, he actually has a personality and can make what is a rather boring idea (get some hollywood somebody to come and blow their own horn) work.

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i second that emotion!

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I dont watch either Leno or Letterman at all. I watch a little show called Late Night with Conan O'Brien, you might of heard of him. Conan starts off with a Fantastic monologue, and the rest is history. Guests feel like themselves when they are interviewed by Conan. I'm counting down the days til 2009, Conan is going to kick ass on the Tonight Show...

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All aboard the Conanmobile! I have no choice but to agree with what has been said about Conan. Both Leno and Letterman are nearly unwatchable for me. Conan is consistently funny. So is Craig Ferguson.

Why do the great hosts get the crappy time slots?

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I think Letterman is WAYYYY better then Leno... He's way funnier and i actuly like the whole Lettermen-Paul thing they got going... and also theire crazy games and the other stuff they do before the guests come out is as good as it gets for me!! :D
Here in Denmark at the moment they are only showing Lettermen, becaus the rateings for Leno sucked so they cancled it!! :D

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Letterman will be remembered as the king of late night for his era, not Leno. It's odd, of course, because Leno's ratings are almost always higher. But Letterman is the man, and when his show ends, he will be missed almost as much as Carson was. There are Letterman moments that will never be forgotten. His first CBS show. The first CBS Madonna interview. The Drew Barrymore birthday episode. The day he came back from heart surgery. The first show after 9/11. His tribute to Johnny Carson. He is America's host, even if more Americans watch Leno.

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This is my take:

1. Conan O'Brien - "anarchistic", unpredictable humor
2. Letterman - very solid, great delivery, great interviews
3. Leno - extremely repetitive, "safe", castrated jokes

Leno is an excellent stand-up comic and his talents go completely wasted on the Today Show where it seems the corporate line is to play it completely safe without offending anyone. It's kinda like NBC's general counsel wrote the whole script. His jokes are lame, and so predictable. You know the punchline already before the joke even begins.

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Conan rules! I am a bit worried though about Conan taking over in 2009...I have a feeling his show will be "watered" down a bit, and will become a bit too high-profile.

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First of all, who still watches the monologue? I'm a Letterman die-hard, but fast forward through the first 4 minutes every night. In a way, I feel like he only does it because history says he has to. This is exactly why I can't stomach Leno: his monologue is ENDLESS.

Of course, all of this is moot. People like what they like. That being said, I think a big difference between Leno's audience and Letterman's is the difference between people who like "Jokes" and people who like "funny ideas."

Leno is a show about Jokes. Classic jokes. Setup, punchline, setup, punchline. Letterman is about funny ideas (even if the ideas aren't really that funny-- you laugh because its just so absurd). Also, Letterman (like the now dead Arrested Development) rewards viewers for watching night after night. It's the only late-night show that actually has runners (sketches or premises that build from night to night). Obviously, I have no numbers to reference, but I wouldn't be surprised to discover that Letterman, while having fewer viewers than Leno, actually has more returning viewers night to night.

Oh, and one more thing. I appreciate Conan and his particular brand of randomness, but I have to admit taht his self-depreciating ticks grow more and more irritating with each passing day. A move to 11:30 in 2009 seems destined for failure.

RECOMMENDED READING: "The Late Shift" by Bill Carter adds some great perspective to this whole argument, even 10 years after the fact.

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Everyone knows Conan is the best of All host right now. I dont find letterman or leno even slightly funny and Craig...really..who hired him..i rather kilborn than him.

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Leno is the best late night host on television. I really don't get this absolute worship of David Letterman, he's okay -- but he's certainly not a great interviewer -- does he even do research on who he's interviewing? Many times it seems like he doesn't know the guests that he's interviewing! -- nor do i find his skits very funny (Does it float, anyone?)

compare that with real life humor such as jaywalking and headlines. Jay Leno is as underrated as Letterman is overrated and I really wish that Jay was not leaving to make room for Conan. Jay you are king and his consistent high ratings must be proof of that -- it's just that his fans are not as vocal as Letterman's I suppose.

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Its all demographics. Conan is popular on the net, since he is popular with 18-34's.

Letterman is more 'upscale' than Leno, so attracts those who read blogs and own computers...Leno is for mainstream people who at best can use Google.

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I used to watch Letterman when I was a teenager, then I grew up. His monologue isn't funny, his bits are stale, and his interviews and guests are almost always too liberal for my taste. I'll take Leno every time. His jokes are funny, his jabs are at both liberals and conservatives and he has better guests.

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Jimmy Kimmel Rules!!!!

OK, I think the gas fumes have cleared. I'm all better now. Sorry for the interruption.

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