Late Night With Conan O'Brien

Before Conan O'Brien took over for David Letterman on Late Night at NBC, I was not really aware of late night talk shows. That year, after the transfer, I saw some for the first time. It was not a habit forming experience exactly. I watched a good number of episodes of Letterman when I was able to be up for them (I similarly developed a fondness for Mash, as the Phoenix CBS station used to air reruns of it in between Letterman and Tom Snyder).

So that first year I saw an episode of Conan's show which failed to make an impression on me. I started watching it on a semi-regular basis a few short years later, and it was akin to a religious experience. Andy Richter, Carl "Oldy" Olsen, Abe Vigoda, Pimpbot 5000, and on and on. The years up until the exit of Richter were unparalleled. Even after, Conan has been fantastic. It felt at least a little special to watch the last episode of Late Night with him at the helm. On the 2nd of next month, Jimmy Fallon takes over. I'll give him a shot, but if he hasn't got it, my loyalty at that hour will be with Craig Ferguson, who is a thing distinct from the likes of Letterman, Leno or Conan. Ferguson is not worse than the others, but what his quality is I'm not able to articulate exactly as yet.

I never cottoned to Craig Kilborn. I didn't get into the Daily Show until he left that. I was too young for Tom Snyder, but I think I might have liked him had I been more mature. Leno has some fine "found humor" bits (i.e. Headlines, his 99 Cent Store bit), but there's much about him I don't care for. Letterman's really my guy as far as that goes.

I haven't really watched much of Jimmy Kimmel. I appreciate that he has, as the others do, his own distinct quality. He really uses Hollywood and LA. I really don't know about Leno as far as that goes. Ferguson kind of does, as least in his penchant for W. Hollywood gay jokes.

Johnny Carson? Really before my time. He went out just before I became aware.

So we'll just see how things go.