Kilborn was a college basketball player, six-five, chiseled, and confident - Jon Stewart once described him as “Aryan” - who became Comedy Central’s biggest star when it was still airing crap like Gallagher specials and Win Ben Stein ’ s Money. Yambo! Talk-show hosts aren’t supposed to be blond. He was a master chef who opened a Burger King.” As Leno might point out, Burger King sells a lot of hamburgers. Jimmy Kimmel once said that Leno fans were “the stupid group,” and he summed up the argument against Jay: “He totally sold out. Leno’s fans point to his endurance (22 years!) and popularity, but ask them to name a great show or moment and their eyes go blank. He was congenial without being charming, funny without being clever. Simpson and Lindsay Lohan jokes helped Americans nod off, like comedy chamomile. But in Johnny’s chair, Leno became a consensus comedian whose O.J. Leno began, in the 1970s, as a revered stand-up “the best ever that I saw,” Letterman once avowed. Howard Stern called him an “ass-kisser” George Lopez labeled him “two-faced” and “the worst interviewer on TV” and Arsenio Hall, Dennis Miller, and Craig Ferguson all mocked him. For these two cutthroat moves, Jay Leno is despised by many comics. Then he ceded the throne to Conan O’Brien in 2009, only to return a few months later, when Conan’s ratings were iffy. It does not, however, include John McEnroe, Magic Johnson, or Tony Danza make no mistake, that was a conscious decision.įirst he elbowed aside David Letterman in order to inherit The Tonight Show from Johnny Carson (who clearly preferred Dave) in 1992. Our ranking includes some hosts who are entirely fictional, others who’ve expanded the job’s original boundaries through podcasting and satellite radio, and those who turned daytime TV into must-see entertainment. After a long period of late-night firing, retiring, and hiring, it’s time to quantify the monologues and interviews, and crown the all-time kings (and a few queens) of talk. (That joke is our tribute to Johnny Carson.) The final piece falls into place tonight, when Colbert makes his CBS debut in Letterman’s old chair. Lately, networks have been changing talk-show hosts faster than Zsa Zsa Gabor changed husbands. In with Trevor Noah, James Corden, Larry Wilmore, and Stephen Colbert. Out with David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Craig Ferguson, and Stephen Colbert. Photo: Illustration: Maya Robinson and Photos by Comedy Central, CBS and NBC
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