- 6 months ago
From Faye Emerson to the late-night wars of today... Join us as we explore the fascinating evolution of late night television! We'll trace how these shows transformed from variety acts to political platforms, featuring legends like Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Stephen Colbert. How did late night become such a cultural institution, and where is it headed in the future?
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00:00I've never seen our audience so well-dressed.
00:02Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're discussing the history of the late-night talk shows that
00:07shaped and will continue to shape TV.
00:09They made one mistake.
00:12They left me alive.
00:18The Dawn of Late Night
00:20As Americans welcomed television into their homes after World War II,
00:24there was a demand for friendly entertainment.
00:26CBS first experimented with adapting radio discussion shows for the new format with
00:30the Housewife-targeted Vanity Fair in 1948.
00:33They then brought Art Linkletter to the screen in 52 and ran House Party on Daytime for 27 years.
00:39Sure, nice to hear that applause, isn't it, Lucy?
00:41Because that tells them that they love you.
00:43But every Sunday, many spent the night catching up on pop culture and music with Toast of the Town.
00:48After the title was changed to The Ed Sullivan Show in 1955,
00:52it became one of the most sought-after platforms in entertainment.
00:56So here is Dr. Jive.
00:58I want you to meet this young disc jockey from WWRL.
01:02NBC competed with Texaco Star Theater,
01:05which earned host Milton Berle the moniker Mr. Television.
01:08Networks quickly wised up to the market for visual vaudeville with a charismatic presenter.
01:12If such shows could successfully close out primetime Sunday night,
01:16why not every weeknight?
01:17Thus, the late-night time slot was created to house comedy variety shows.
01:21The sun may have set on the vaudeville craze,
01:24but that's right when this new genre was warming up.
01:26Now that our show is through,
01:29may I say God bless you and you and you and you.
01:31And so, farewell.
01:33It's been swell being here.
01:37Early late-night.
01:39Late-night talk shows started like many great entertainment institutions,
01:42with overlooked women.
01:44Starting in 1949,
01:46CBS and NBC filled 15 minutes of the new time slot with The Faye Emerson Show.
01:50How are you boys?
01:51Oh, fine.
01:52Thanks for the boys.
01:54The witty showcase of entertainers and musicians lasted just one season,
01:58but established the hosting skills that would earn Faye Emerson the nickname
02:02the First Lady of Television.
02:03And here's something that anybody can appreciate, artist or not.
02:06One can just as easily call her the first host of Late Night.
02:10Maury Amsterdam, Jerry Lester, and Dagmar got more attention for NBC's Broadway Open House,
02:15though the one-hour chaotic cavalcade also ran for one year.
02:18You haven't got a full-length coat like that, have you?
02:22Power!
02:24Still, it was successful enough for network president Sylvester Pat Weaver
02:27to continue these costly experiments in variety programming.
02:31Dagmar headed the short-lived spinoff Dagmar's Canteen,
02:34and two years later, Weaver found his legacy with Tonight.
02:37Are you finished?
02:38It's not definite.
02:39Monopolizing the genre
02:42Musician, comedian, and writer Steve Allen was practically a one-man variety show.
02:48He was certainly the right man to turn NBC's Tonight into an institution,
02:51even with a nightly runtime of 105 minutes.
02:54Boy, we've been making last-minute changes around here.
02:58Over the course of three years, Allen bantered with the likes of Joan Crawford,
03:02Judy Garland, Duke Ellington, and Roy Rogers.
03:04You folks who have just joined us, some of the stations,
03:07having been away for one minute, have just come back with us.
03:11You didn't miss anything particularly.
03:13We had Clark Gable here.
03:16Celebrities and political figures were eager to engage him in natural dialogue
03:19that humanized them with their fan base.
03:21Of course, guest hosts like Ernie Kovacs showed that the brand was hot enough
03:25to survive with a new face.
03:27From 57 to 62, Jack Parr presented from the same studio
03:31as Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater.
03:33His personality was such an asset that when he decided to step down from Tonight,
03:37NBC gave him the Jack Parr program.
03:40This late, late-night show aimed to globalize the host's brand,
03:43presenting imported film clips like one of a band of four youngsters
03:46from the humble English town of Liverpool.
03:54NBC perhaps put more stock in Tonight's hosts than the show itself,
03:59while rival networks offered no rival programming.
04:02That all changed with Johnny Carson.
04:04And now, here's Johnny!
04:15The Kings of Late Night
04:17Despite CBS cancelling the Johnny Carson show over low ratings,
04:21NBC took a big risk bringing him onto the newly rebranded The Tonight Show.
04:25Stay where you are, and we'll be with you in just one minute.
04:33The risk more than paid off.
04:35The show was retooled to precede celebrity interviews
04:38with Johnny Carson delivering a stand-up comedy monologue on current events,
04:42often followed by a skit.
04:43Beside him was his trusty announcer, Ed McMahon,
04:46to enhance the routine with banter and his distinctive laugh.
04:49Got anything?
04:49The show was a hit, soon landing recurring guests like Sarah Vaughn,
05:01Ava Gabor, and Woody Allen.
05:03It also launched the stand-up careers of George Carlin and Joan Rivers.
05:06And she spoke at seven months, which is incredible.
05:09Her first words were, would you shut up already?
05:11Starting in 1964, other networks finally joined the trend.
05:17ABC had Nightlife with Les Crane, then The Joey Bishop Show.
05:21CBS revived NBC's short-lived daytime show with Merv Griffin
05:24for a new time slot to usher in the 1970s.
05:27ABC followed suit by reformatting The Dick Cavett Show for the end of the day.
05:31Do you generally believe in astrology?
05:35Hands.
05:36He really looks like a lion, doesn't he?
05:38Cabot and Griffin would lead Late Night in New York City quite successfully.
05:44Meanwhile, the undisputed king of Late Night moved the genre westward,
05:48refining the format.
05:50After 10 years in the RCA building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza,
05:54The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson was one of the biggest programs on TV.
05:58It was thus relocated to NBC Studios in Burbank, California,
06:01to be closer to the Hollywood superstars.
06:03It is good to see you again.
06:05It's good to see you.
06:06What's up, somebody leave a pin on the seat?
06:07The move was also credited with triggering a mass migration
06:11of aspiring stand-up comics to Los Angeles.
06:14Everyone wanted to sit across from Carson,
06:16from the world's biggest stars to the animals of celebrity zoologist Jim Fowler.
06:19One of their defensive tactics will suddenly start spinning.
06:23It's also one of mine.
06:25Back in New York, CBS dropped The Merv Griffin Show to first-run syndication,
06:30and later briefly acquired Dick Cavett before he took his bow in 1975.
06:34NBC was so dominant in this genre that news anchor Tom Snyder could host the more seriously topical
06:41The Tomorrow Show following Carson from 73 to 81.
06:44You know something?
06:45I walked in here tonight, and I told a story that I thought was humorous.
06:49The franchise was not only a singular force on late night,
06:52but was cultivating TV's stronghold in Hollywood.
06:55This would, of course, open the doors for the genre in subsequent decades,
06:59with few shows sticking the landing.
07:00The Fall of the King
07:05By the 1980s, there was still no competing with NBC's late-night block.
07:10Tonight continued establishing big names like Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, and Jerry Seinfeld.
07:14But that's a tough decision, you know, when you try on shoes,
07:16because you've got to walk around that store kind of like a zombie.
07:19You know, you try on shoes, and you just kind of walk around,
07:21yeah, these are good.
07:23Yeah, I like these.
07:24Jay Leno was such a hit that he substituted Carson in more than 300 episodes.
07:28After Snyder left tomorrow,
07:31Late Night with David Letterman kept audiences laughing on NBC.
07:34And there they stayed after the launch of Later with Bob Costas in 1988.
07:38Given who you are, obviously you could have attracted just about anybody,
07:42but you made a conscious decision not to go with big names.
07:46Elsewhere, the Merv Griffin show ended in 86,
07:48while the syndicated Thick of the Night and CBS's The Pat Sajak show failed historically.
07:53But it was at this time that NBC began strategizing around the prospect of Carson retiring after his 25th season.
07:59They considered many potential successors for Tonight,
08:02but precariously excluded popular guest host Joan Rivers.
08:05She thus took the new network Fox up on their offer to become the first female late-night host since 1952.
08:11And I am just so, so happy to be here, and I thank you all so much.
08:15Although The Late Show with Joan Rivers didn't last long,
08:19fill-in host Arsenio Hall, the first Black presenter of the genre,
08:23had an iconic run on syndication from 89 to 94.
08:26By then, Carson had decided to leave The Tonight Show after three decades at the top.
08:31On May 22, 1992,
08:33some 50 million homes watched The King of Late Night's final show.
08:37The question now was of who could possibly claim his throne.
08:40So I bid you a very heartfelt good night.
08:48Letterman, Leno, and Conan
08:50It was widely assumed that late-night host David Letterman would move into the earlier time slot
08:55as tonight's fourth main host.
08:56Instead, the honor went to frequent guest host Jay Leno.
08:59Let's see how you all feel in 30 years.
09:04Even Letterman was frustrated by this,
09:06accusing Leno of making a backroom deal with NBC.
09:08It wouldn't be until the 2021 docu-series
09:12The Story of Late Night that this was confirmed.
09:14Having had a bitter relationship with NBC executives anyway,
09:18Letterman switched sides.
09:19CBS launched The Late Show with David Letterman in 1993,
09:23finally giving The Tonight franchise a formidable foe.
09:26If you think about it, all I really did was take the summer off.
09:30He was replaced on Late Night by acclaimed comedy writer Conan O'Brien,
09:34who bounced off the screen with energy and surrealist humor
09:37that quickly endeared audiences.
09:38Here's an advertisement from Newton, Massachusetts.
09:41It's for a miniature golf course.
09:43I want you to take a look at this.
09:45We found it here.
09:45Our staff, the ad reads,
09:46Bob's mini golf course.
09:48We are a really bad miniature golf course.
09:51You shouldn't come here.
09:54It took them longer to acclimate to Leno,
09:57but the personable charisma was accepted as a worthy successor to Carson.
10:01What the hell were you thinking?
10:02But was he the new king of Late Night?
10:09It's generally agreed that there were now three competing for audience favoritism,
10:13with their network's full support.
10:15Letterman personally co-created his follow-up program, The Late Late Show,
10:19which brought Tom Snyder back to CBS in 1995.
10:22Hey, my name is Tom.
10:23This is the simulcast out of TV City in Hollywood, California.
10:26The reliable veteran was still no match for the vibrant O'Brien,
10:29or Conan as he was popularly known.
10:31He, Leno, and Letterman would own the night for 30 years,
10:35but not without further competition.
10:36A new industry
10:45Pop culture's heightened edge and alternative content in the 90s
10:48invited a boom in talk shows.
10:51Network shows like Dennis Miller, Chevy Chase,
10:53and even Magic Johnson were more like bombs.
10:55At least Miller found the right platform for his lewd intellectualism on HBO,
10:59although Dennis Miller Live was a weekly affair.
11:02Why do you think people are so easily influenced?
11:04Besides being stupid, they're superstitious.
11:06Yeah, I mean, stupid is your core underlay,
11:09but what are some of the other things?
11:09They're superstitious.
11:10Yeah.
11:11Basic cable had more means than premium to sustain the nightly format.
11:15MTV's The Jon Stewart Show was the first cable program of its kind in 1993,
11:20followed by Comedy Central's politically charged The Daily Show three years later.
11:24Jon Stewart himself began anchoring the nightly news parody in 99,
11:28becoming a leader in political satire.
11:30When we see that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho,
11:34we will not pass to the other side.
11:40For the other side may have two wounded travelers, for all we know.
11:46Can't take care of them and cut taxes.
11:48I mean, come on.
11:49The first host, sports commentator Craig Kilbourne,
11:52held his own on CBS as the host of The Late Late Show until 2004.
11:56So, too, did his outrageous successor Craig Ferguson.
11:59What else do you want to talk about?
12:02Ever been fishing?
12:06The networks knew they had to adapt to the internet ages competition for viral recognition and youth appeal.
12:12The writing became punchier and more gag-driven.
12:15In 2002, NBC replaced the later franchise with Last Call with the radio DJ Carson Daly.
12:21Late Night Now had something for everyone, though not so much for ABC.
12:25Their nightly adaptation of Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect was canceled
12:29after host Bill Maher criticized U.S. foreign policy in the wake of 9-11.
12:33Jimmy Kimmel of Comedy Central's The Man Show would be his raunchy replacement,
12:37eventually establishing himself as the fourth superstar of Network Late Night.
12:41He turned out to just be the first in a new crop.
12:44And at 11 percent, yours truly. Thank you.
12:57Even Chevy Chase got 12 percent.
13:01No, he did not.
13:02He did not.
13:03The War for Late Night and its Aftermath
13:05In 2009, Conan O'Brien ascended to the desk of The Tonight Show,
13:10while Jay Leno received a primetime talk show to save NBC's scripted drama budget.
13:15The deal years in the making seemed perfect for all parties.
13:18But with The Jay Leno Show's poor ratings and reviews,
13:21NBC decided to put it on Late Night with a reduced runtime
13:24and pushed Tonight to Midnight for the first time ever.
13:27In protest of this artistic and professional insult,
13:30O'Brien left the network and returned his show to Leno.
13:33His follow-up, Conan, would become a staple of the cable network TBS.
13:37Thank you and welcome to my second annual first show.
13:42But The Tonight Show with Jay Leno remained on borrowed time,
13:46whereas the new host of Late Night was the talk of the town.
13:49Beloved for his wholesome energy and modest charm,
13:52Saturday Night Live vet Jimmy Fallon was handed the reins of Tonight in 2014.
13:56Welcome.
13:56I'm Jimmy Fallon and I'll be your host for now.
14:01Two months later, David Letterman announced his retirement
14:04after hosting The Late Show for 22 years.
14:07The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ended that December.
14:10But really this show belongs to you.
14:12You know, it belongs to you and I hope you keep it because I'm done with it.
14:17It was a turbulent five years for Late Night,
14:20exposing network cynicism and the fragmentation of audiences due to DVR and the internet.
14:25The following years would be even more turbulent.
14:28Thank you and good night.
14:30The Political Era
14:31Late Night talk shows have long been growing more politically engaged.
14:35Aggressive satire of current affairs was big on the cable format
14:39and was a signature for Jimmy Kimmel Live by the 2010s.
14:42I even thought, hey, maybe we won't talk about Donald Trump much tonight.
14:46And then he opened his mouth and all manner of stupid came out.
14:49So when NBC gave Late Night to Seth Meyers,
14:54best known for anchoring the Weekend Update segment on SNL,
14:57he had unprecedented freedom with his progressive political commentary.
15:00That is a mortal sin in Chicago.
15:03That's like eating your pizza with a fork in New York City.
15:06Oh yeah, he did that too.
15:08CBS echoed this by giving The Late Show to Stephen Colbert,
15:11who spoofed conservative media as a correspondent for The Daily Show
15:15and host of the spinoff The Colbert Report.
15:17Mostly political monologues would be half of their show.
15:20That would be the heart of Comedy Central's left-leaning The Jim Jeffery Show
15:24and Fox News' right-leaning The Greg Gutfield Show.
15:26Things are going weird right now.
15:28I don't know where to go with this.
15:29For a time at least,
15:30there was still escapism in the fun-loving and politically neutral
15:33The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon.
15:35Actor-singer James Corden adapted the friendly group skit
15:38and discussion format of British chat shows
15:40during his stint on The Late Late Show.
15:41What did you think it was going to feel like in your head?
15:44I thought it'd feel like flying.
15:46I thought it was going to feel like,
15:47this is the most amazing feeling ever.
15:49Right.
15:50And instead it was like,
15:52I should get up now.
15:53Well, neutrality fell out of fashion
15:55after celebrity businessman Donald Trump's election
15:58to President of the United States in 2016.
16:01His heated antics and feuds with public figures
16:03were great fodder for political satire.
16:05He should change the hats to say,
16:07Make America Wine Again, Mawa, because...
16:09Oftentimes, talk show hosts were very serious
16:12about their opinions.
16:14Shows that used to bring Americans together
16:16were now dividing them among supporters,
16:18critics,
16:18and those who just didn't want to end the day
16:20with more politics.
16:21Ratings plummeted further under controversy
16:23and the streaming age's devastating impact
16:26on American television's network system.
16:28When you insult one member of the CBS family,
16:31you insult us all.
16:32Bazinga.
16:33All right?
16:35Looking Dark
16:35Late Night was struggling with programming
16:38and cultural relevance going into the 2020s.
16:41After 17 years of cult fandom,
16:43NBC replaced Last Call with Carson Daly
16:45with A Little Late with Lilly Singh.
16:47She lasted less than two years.
16:49Hey, middle America, I'm so glad you're here.
16:52The newcomers sure didn't stand a chance
16:55with the state of the whole entertainment industry.
16:57From 2020 to 23,
16:59the COVID-19 pandemic forced talk shows
17:01to drastically reformat
17:03to accommodate health and social distancing guidelines.
17:05It will not surprise you to know
17:06that I was aware you were at the inauguration.
17:11I heard about that.
17:13All the while,
17:14the American public grew more cynical
17:15about whom they trust as nightly guests in their home.
17:18This escalated as the Late Late Show franchise
17:20ended amid allegations of toxic behavior
17:23behind James Corden's wholesome image.
17:25The replacement after Midnight
17:26quietly ended after two seasons
17:28when Taylor Tomlinson decided
17:29that hosting her own talk show
17:30wasn't the right career move.
17:32Well, I did ask you to keep that between us, Paul,
17:35but that's okay.
17:37And if fans sought the wisdom of talk show legends
17:39like David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and Jon Stewart,
17:42they could be found on podcasts and streaming.
17:45Somebody's got to generate fodder
17:47that's better quality.
17:50And it feels like...
17:51So I guess what I'm asking you is,
17:52will you run that?
17:55In fact, weekly talk shows
17:57like HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher
17:59and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
18:01were gaining more attention in pop culture.
18:03All it takes
18:04is a few superficial labels and style choices
18:07to convince people
18:08that something with no real substance
18:09is actually meaningful and good.
18:11Or as it's known in America,
18:12the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
18:14Lockdown may have ended by 2023,
18:17but this industry was still in crisis.
18:19In 2024,
18:21all network late night shows shifted
18:22from a five-night weekly schedule to a four-week.
18:26Before we continue,
18:27be sure to subscribe to our channel
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18:37make sure you go into your settings
18:38and switch on notifications.
18:41Good night?
18:43Mainstream discourse
18:44over late night's declining ratings,
18:46backlash, and unprofitable budgets
18:47peaked after Donald Trump's return
18:49to the White House in 2025.
18:51It all began with his civil suit
18:53against CBS's parent company Paramount Global
18:55over defamatory coverage on 60 Minutes.
18:58Stephen Colbert referred to the $16 million settlement
19:01as a, quote,
19:01big fat bribe during a monologue.
19:04This all comes as Paramount's owners
19:06are trying to get the Trump administration
19:07to approve the sale of our network
19:09to a new owner, Skydance.
19:11Not the music I was expecting?
19:16Okay.
19:18And on July 17th, 2025,
19:20he announced that he would be leaving
19:22The Late Show with no replacement.
19:24Next year will be our last season.
19:27The network will be ending The Late Show in May.
19:30This sparked widespread accusations
19:43that Trump directly violated freedom of speech.
19:45Did the head of the U.S. government
19:47demand the show's cancellation
19:48as part of the Paramount settlement?
19:50Did he threaten to axe their $8 billion merger
19:53with Skydance Media?
19:54Many also suspect Occam's razor.
19:56The number one show on Late Night
19:58was still losing CBS $40 million annually,
20:01publicly criticizing its employer,
20:03and putting them at legal risk
20:05with powerful private citizens.
20:06Keeping Colbert just doesn't make good business sense.
20:09They pulled the plug on our show
20:11because of losses pegged between
20:12$40 million and $50 million a year.
20:16$40 million's a big number.
20:17I could see us losing $24 million,
20:20but where would Paramount have possibly spent
20:22the other $16 million?
20:24Oh, yeah.
20:26But ending the franchise after 33 years
20:29announces the end of an era at best.
20:32Could CBS be signaling the end of a format
20:34they and Faye Emerson began in 1949?
20:37It's far less likely that this means
20:39the end of valuable commentary, comedy, and fun.
20:42Market oversaturation and declining demand
20:44have threatened talk shows
20:45ever since Johnny Carson mastered the art.
20:48They have always been and always will be
20:50a leader in television's evolution,
20:52no matter when audiences tune in.
20:54We should lay a couple of things to rest
20:56before we start doing whatever
20:57we're going to do tonight.
20:58If you're in the area
20:59and would like to talk late night,
21:00come by in the comments below.
21:02This all comes as Paramount's owners
21:05are trying to get the Trump administration
21:06to approve the sale of our network
21:08to a new owner, Skydance.
21:10Because of the
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