TVSquad

Conan O'Brian will rule late night in 2009. Much funnier than Letterman and Leno combined. Carson Daily is on at 1:30 at night and there is a reason for that: he sucks.

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LMAO! Couldn't agree more! I don't think I"ve even watched a whole Tonight Show since Leno took over. Can't get past the monologue snoozefest.

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I completely agree. Since I'm under 40, "The Tonight Show" is a program starring Johnny Carson, which left the air 15 years ago. Its rich history of hosts before Johnny was admirable; the Leno 11:30 show cannot be considered part of that history. The sad thing is that before he started there, Leno was a pretty good cutting-edge angry comic who made many funny appearances on "Late Night with David Letterman". It's a shame he became a complete hack after inheriting a grand television tradition, and effectively burying it.

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Thank you, Bob. I'm glad you didn't go soft on this one, because it deserves to be said. Letterman may be getting rusty, but I still enjoy his "old crank" routine 20 times over Leno's hackneyed appeals to the lowest common denominator. Bring on O'Brien!

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#3 Scott - I'm with you! But, to be honest Bob, I was really hoping the replacement would have a been a female - it would be refreshing to see someone else, rather than the same old late night d**s. How about Joan Rivers (I heard she used sub for Johnny), Oprah, Martha Stewart, Katie Couric or Sarah Silverman? Oh, and Rosie's looking for work these days...

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I look forward to Leno's retirement as well. Conan in LA will be weird though. LA audiences don't laugh, they "woooooo". Annoying as hell.

Conan simply has better writers.

Joan Rivers???? Pass. Sarah Silverman wouldn't compete against Kimmel but she's be a great 12:30 AM Conan replacement. I'd also like to nominate Stephen Colbert. His interviews are a lot more fun than Jon Stewart who has decided to take himself far too seriously.

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Look, I'm no "big fan" of the current "Tonight Show", but I do watch it. The monlogue jokes are hit-and-miss and the interviews aren't anything to write home about, but the viewers are there (and always have been), and you can't argue with that. I still enjoy watching his show for the Headlines segment, certain celebrity guests, the stand-ups (when he bothers to have them on), and some of the field pieces which feature some top-notch comedians.

My personal ranking of the late night shows/hosts goes O'Brien, Ferguson, Letterman, and Leno as far as humour and what I get out of the show. But Jay Leno as a person is a stand-up guy (as are the other 3, really) and I have to say that I really enjoyed myself when I saw "The Tonight Show" live and in person 4 years ago (and made it on national TV).

It may not be Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" (which is impossible, because nobody will ever be that good) but it's still deserving of the name, and when Conan takes over in '09 and brings his style of comedy to the show, the Leno years will hold their unique spot in the history of the show.

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How could someone not love Leno?! Like when they take Jay's face and plaster it onto Donny Osmond's body? HILARIOUS! It's so fresh and creative...I can't believe someone out there doesn't enjoy that.

*sigh*

Two more years of blinding pain before the true Tonight Show host steps into the spot he was born to host.

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Thanks, Bob, for saying what so many of us think about this insipid fool.

I agree with #3, Scott, its harder to take since the guy used to be a comedian of some caliber. Remember when he used to go on Letterman and read the tv guide? Hilarious.

Leno is the personification of the word sellout. Its called "anything for a paycheck." Feeling like crap because you did yet another show to please the old folks in Toledo? Buy another car.

The sad thing is that he still leads in the ratings. Talent never has anything to do with anything in this country. Look who we just anointed the lastest Amerian Idol. Look who we elected for a second go round in the White House. We have to make sure we dumb everything down so even the lowest forms of life can have something to appreciate.

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Replace "Leno" with "Letterman" in this post, and I might agree. As for Conan, I can't sit through more than five minutes of his spastic antics before I want to break something. Leno's the only late-night talk show host I actually find enjoyable, and I will be quite sad when he's no longer the Tonight Show's host. (I never actually saw it when Johnny Carson was host, but the clips I've seen bore me to tears)

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I love Conan and I love Letterman. My only problem with Conan is that he does a lot of the same bits repeatedly and not just the same segments but the exact same joke. How many times are they gonna do that park ranger bit? I wouldn't mind but they never acknowledge it. At least when Letterman does the same thing he kinda plays up to it. Will it float is stated to be hated by everyone but him but he works with that.

The best thing about Letterman and Conan is that they try things. Letterman has been really refreshed the last 6 months or so, all these odd things just happening out of no where. Some work, some don't but it's different. I've only ever watched a handful of Leno shows but I can't seem them ever being any different from each other ie lame.

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The Tonight Show hasn't been funny since Leno has been there, and I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels that way. What a dull, unfunny guy.

Letterman is currently the funniest guy on late night, followed by Conan.

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Anyone who can say that Leno is the best, over Letterman, Conan, and, most especially Carson, is someone who will, sadly, never get it.

To call Johnny Carson boring is incomprehensible. There was no one before him, and no one since, who possessed his knack for drawing people out Unlike talk show hosts today, it wasn't his schtick that carried him alone; you actually looked forward to the interview. When he retired, this country lost an absolute institution.

As for Leno and Letterman, a lot of the goofy behavior done by Leno and Conan was first done by Dave. In the early 80's, his zany brand of adventure was new to the late night format. Johnny was funny, but Dave was physically funny and bombastic. While he no longer does most of it, he was utterly unique, and many of us appreciate his dry, acerbic sense of humor. He was the real late night king after Johnny, but wasn't dull or safe enough. Thus, we got stuck with Leno.

Conan can be pretty funny, but I agree he repeats himself. But hey, anything has to be better than this dullard I can't wait to see make his exit in 09.

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You know, it is so fashionable to take a shot at Jay Leno. Look, the fact is the man is out there every bloody night with fresh material and he's charming.

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Obligiatory Ferguson for the win post here :)

I've watched Jay (usually when Letterman was on vacation, or when a guest he had made it worth checking out) and I think what's wrong with Jay Leno's tonight show is what's wrong with comedy in general these days. Lowest common denominator stuff that expects nothing from the audience except laughing at the equivalent of fart and poop jokes.

I watched Conan a couple of times recently (once when my brother's band was on, and once just because) and I didn't understand what everyone sees in him. He's marginally better than Leno but he still apes at the camera and can't interview his way out of a paper bag.

I like Letterman a lot, and while I agree with the criticisms that the late show is not nearly as brilliant as the late night show was, it still caters to an audience that enjoys more than pork rinds and jokes about brittany spear's cooter. (although you'll find those as well ;-) )

I really like Craig Ferguson at the 12:30 spot, and have similar dumbed-down-by-network-notes worry that happened to letterman with the move to 11:30, but I'd love to see him guest-host for letterman a couple of times and see how it goes.

Craig for his part has said he prefers Jon Stewart for The Late Show rather than himself, but that might be a bit of scottish humble.

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Someone needs to put an unlabled list of jokes told the same night in the monologues.

Better still have someone repeat those jokes on a YouTube vid. You'd have to take out all the mannerisms and "Isn't that right, Paul?" and "Don't look at me, Jay", crap.

A few of those would be interesting -- without the audience, which monologue jokes are better... if you didn't know which was which? Could you really tell which set of jokes came from which set of writers?

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Conan's interviews and bits are often brilliant. His trips to other cities/countries are usually extremely funny...Conan is very quick on his feet.

Too bad Conan is on at the same time as Ferguson...because Ferguson is great too. I wish both weren't on the same time-slot.

I sometimes watch Leno for the monologue but it is often very painful...and even the "interesting" guests turn out to be real bores on his show.

I was never able to watch the "early" Letterman years because I was too young and I also used to live in another country. The guy is a great interviewer with his quick quips and wit.

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I couldn't disagree with you more. Jay Leno rules and if he wasn't such a nice guy, he would never have given up his throne to the unfunny and limited audience getter that conan O'brien is. Let the ratings speak for themselves -- all you letterman lovers, there are more people who LOVE jay Leno and I would appreciate it, if all you Tonight Show with Jay Leno enthusiasts -- please stand and speak up. No reason to be so negative about a funny late night guy who will be sorely missed by many.

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Peter Griffin said it best: ""If Jay Leno makes you laugh, chances are I don't care for you as a person."

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P.S. Yes, Leno leads in the ratings. And Wal-Mart is the No. 1 retailer in the U.S.

Lowest common denominator, indeed.

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