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 My primary Writing.com blog. |
 Day 3956: On this day in 1954, Late night talk show "The Tonight Show," hosted by Steve Allen, premieres on NBC-TV. Steve Allen, is credited with pioneering many elements of the modern late-night talk show format., The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 2010–2014), Conan O'Brien (2009–2010), and Jimmy Fallon (2014–present). Did you know The Tonight Show is the world's longest-running talk show and the longest-running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States? Are you a fan of late-night talk shows? Which of the six hosts did you watch from the Tonight Show? I grew up in the Jay Leno era of The Tonight Show (his first time around). I stuck around for Conan's short stint, and then stopped watching late night programs with any regularity after Leno took over again for the second time. I've watched quite a few episodes of Fallon's version of the show over the years, usually when there's a guest on that I particularly want to watch or, more likely, when there's an especially good monologue or bit that I'll watch on YouTube. I liked his "Slow Jam the News" sketch, and loved his "Classroom Instruments" sketch where they perform hit songs using grade-school instruments like the kazoo, recorder, etc., and "Lip Sync Battle" was amazing before it was spun off into its own show. Late night shows are something that I really respect as an art form, but I don't really pay that much attention to myself. I think it's a great place for comedy writers to get their start, somewhere that can really do a lot of social commentary on the stories of the day, and which is fun and entertaining to watch. That said, the sheer number of late night programs and the tendency to have the same format (monologue, interview, musical guest, a couple of special segments sprinkled in) kind of burned me out after watching so many episodes growing up, so it's not something that I go out of my way to watch regularly anymore. Ironically, the host that turned me off of late night shows was Jay Leno during his second time hosting The Tonight Show. Part of it was the perceptions around Conan getting kicked off the show (although I don't think Leno was ever definitively proved to be involved in those decisions; it just seemed like it since he was the direct beneficiary of those decisions). Also, when I first started watching late night shows, I got the sense that a little light roasting of people in the news (celebrities, politicians, etc.) was just the "format" that the shows used. And I'm certainly someone who can appreciate a risqué or off-color joke, but I just found Leno's brand of humor to be particularly sexist and mean-spirited toward certain people, often grasping at the lowest-hanging fruit in an effort to get a quick laugh. Even other comedians commented on it, like when Patton Oswalt was quoted as saying, "Comedians who don't like Jay Leno now, and I'm one of them, we're not like, 'Jay Leno sucks' ... it's that we're so hurt and disappointed that one of the best comedians of our generation willfully has shut the switch off." I do think that the late night space is fascinating, and there's a ton of history in it, especially in who's hosted over the years, which shows have competed for audiences against one another, etc. And the current HBO comedy Hacks does a great job of making stand-up comedy, and late night show-hosting a central element of its overall story, which has rekindled my affection for the format. |
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