I grew up watching Carson, and remember when he handed the reigns over to Leno, in a very public snub to Letterman (who’s show followed right behind The Tonight Show). Jay struggled when he first started out, and wasn’t nearly as good as he is now. This was shown last fall during the writers strike, when NBC decided to run some of the early Jay Leno shows. Jay’s presence in front of the crowd for the monologue was stressful, almost painful to watch. And his interviewing skills were horrendous. However, with time, Jay has developed into the best available host for late night talk shows.
Letterman took his quirky Late Night format to CBS and continued it. That’s why it continues to suffer, and is the same reason that The Tonight Show will suffer with Conan O’Brien as host. While I do believe that Conan is talented as a comedy writer, his presence as talk show host, along with the stupid skits, antics, etc., is a real turnoff.
While I am not a prude, and have had more than my share of crude jokes and humor, I don’t believe that this type of material has a place on ANY of the late night talk shows. Sure, something humorous can be said about Sen. Larry Craig’s bathroom adventure, or about Britney showing her private parts to all who want to view them, but can’t they spend the time to write humorous material about everyday matters that we can all relate to?
Seriously, Jay Leno is just as funny joking about President Bush’s latest misstep as he is joking about public school teachers having sex with their students. But there is too much sexual material being spoken about, that it is feeling really filthy. If we are laughing at the fact that another Catholic priest molested an alter boy, what does that say about us as a society?
One of the best and newest (at the time) talk show hosts who had promise, but lack of support, was Arsenio Hall. He was new, fresh, entertaining, and knew how to interview people. It’s too bad that one of the networks doesn’t offer him another gig on late night TV.
The only other talk ‘person’ I can think of who would be a good replacement for Leno is…Jon Stewart, of Comedy Central. He is genuinely funny, and can deliver a joke with the proper timing to make it funny. He also has excellent interviewing skills. I think a Jon Stewart replacement for Jay Leno would be the best thing that NBC could do to retain the crown of top rated late night TV show.
Bottom line: Jay Leno is the best talk show host out there right now. Jay can read the phone book and make people laugh. The others (Conan, Carson Daily, Kimmel, Ferguson) are all second rate.
