Now that legends of late night like David Letterman and Jay Leno have moved on, the present crop of late night hosts have had to bring in their A-game and sharpen their satirical skills just to outlive the competition and to keep churning out good ratings for their host networks. Even the lock down has not prevented them from being able to do their jobs.
Jimmy Fallon has been hosting “The Tonight Show” in front of an iPhone around his home with his family, as have Samantha Bee and Conan O’Brien. AirPods can be seen sticking out of the ears of Stephen Colbert on earlier at-home episodes and guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live like Jerry Seinfeld, Kerry Washington, and Mark Hamill.
Here we take a look at some of the late night TV hosts that are on top of their game this season.
The Late Show (Stephen Colbert)
The Late Show With Stephen COLBERT is officially number one. For the first time since he took over from David Letterman in 2015, Colbert and his CBS late-night show topped NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Stephen Colbert has been a staple on prime time TV for a long time now, making him one of the most well-liked and respected people in the business. He is likely best known for his nearly ten year run hosting The Colbert Report, which was a Daily Show spin-off that parodied modern news reporting. In early September 2015, he took over as the host of The Late Show, succeeding the wildly popular David Letterman.
The Tonight Show (Jimmy Fallon)
On April 3, 2013, following a period of speculation, NBC announced that Fallon would succeed Jay Leno to become the sixth permanent host of “The Tonight Show” following the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Aside from hosting NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” he’s also a New York Times best-selling author of children’s picture books. His first two books for parents and kids to enjoy together before bedtime — “Your Baby’s First Word Will Be Dada” and “Everything Is Mama” — were both number one in the New York Times.
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Before his career as a big time talk show host, Jimmy Kimmel worked in radio for a number of years and starred in Comedy Central shows such as Win Ben Stein’s Money and The Man Show. Then, in 2003, Kimmel left The Man Show permanently to host his own all-new talk show called Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The show has been going strong ever since, with a widely devoted fan base who regularly tune in. As a result of this show, he has become a massive celebrity, earning him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013.
He is proof that watching celebrities being made fun of never gets old. He always pre-films a lot of skits to share on social media.
Late Night (Seth Meyers)
Late Night with Seth Meyers is an American late-night and news satire talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC.
Meyers was likely best known as a head writer and occasional performer on the hit show Saturday Night Live. In 2013, after being on the show for over a decade, it was revealed that Seth Myers would take over for Jimmy Fallon on Late Night. However, in February 24th, 2014, he assumed his role as the host of Late Night with Seth Meyers and officially joined the ranks of talk show hosts. The show is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television.
Conan (Conan O’Brien)
Conan is a late-night talk show airing each Monday through Thursday on TBS in the United States. The hour-long show premiered on November 8, 2010, and is hosted by writer, comedian and performer Conan O’Brien. Describing itself as a traditional late-night talk show, Conan draws its comedy from recent news stories, political figures and prominent celebrities, as well as aspects of the show itself.
The show typically opens with a monologue from Conan O’Brien relating to recent headlines and frequently features exchanges with his sidekick, Andy Richter, and members of the audience.
Trevor Noah (The Daily Show)
The Daily Show is a nightly news parody that takes a reality-based look at news, trends, pop culture, current events, politics, sports, entertainment and the media. In each show, Trevor Noah and a team of correspondents comment on the day’s stories employing actual news footage, tapes field pieces, in-studio guests and on-the-spot coverage of important news events.
The South African native has become one of the most REFRESHING voices in comedy since he took over Comedy Central’s Emmy-winning satire The Daily Show in 2015. Of course, given the state of politics at the time, Trevor Noah did, and still has, some very accessible material to work off of, but his approach is what keeps him fun to watch