Rating the Late Night Hosts

[Perfection]

Seven past 11: A critic's guide
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
If you want TV at its best these days, it helps to stay up late.
 
Latest news with. . . The Daily Show's Jon Stewart mixes politics with humor — and more humor. 
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An ever-evolving (or sometimes just revolving) part of the day, late night is probably at a momentary apex. There are some great shows running after 11 — and the ones that aren't great are still, for the most part, capable of providing the kind of easy-to-take entertainment that people crave at the end of the day. As for the one awful show — well, it's also the most popular, so it's obviously pleasing someone.

As usual with TV, this golden era won't last. Some hosts will leave, and some who stay will grow bored. We may even lose an entire show: Ted Koppel retires from Nightline and ABC in December, and it's unclear what will happen to his show when he goes.

We figured the time had come to take a late-night snapshot, now that the newest hosts have had a little time to settle in and the oldest are still in place. So what follows is a critical guide to the seven most important shows running in the most competitive time slots. (If you're still up for NBC's out-there-on-its-own Last Call with Carson Daly, you're on your own, too.)

Robert Bianco loses some sleep to bring you his take on late night's big entries (listed in order of preference, best to worst):

Have a good night.

1. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET/PT
Late grade: Stay up late, and if you can't, tape it

Are your kids getting their news from Jon Stewart's Daily Show? Hey, they could do worse.

Obviously, they won't get all the facts or both sides of an issue; The Daily Show is a comedy show, not a newscast. But they will get a daily dose of current events that might inspire them to turn to an actual news source for more details.

And if not, they'll still get a lesson in comedy from Stewart, whose aghast-but-bemused mockery of the conventions of TV news and the nonsense spouted by news-makers is one of TV's funniest and most accomplished acts. Stewart and his show can sometimes be irreverent for irreverence's sake alone. But the humor also can be joyously pointed, a sharp-witted attack on pomposity and hypocrisy.

Blessed with impeccable timing and a good grasp of shtick, Stewart is the ideal star for The Daily Show. He is neither a talk host nor an anchor, though he plays at both roles. He's a thoughtful, clever comedian with a knack for pulling off gently mocking interviews with news-makers, most of whom either don't realize he's making fun of them or feel compelled to play along. That's not an act that would travel to, say, Nightline.

2. Nightline

ABC, 11:35 p.m. ET/PT
Late grade: Stay up late, and if you can't, tape it

As it approaches its 25th anniversary, Nightline remains perhaps our best daily network news broadcast ever. Naturally, its future is in doubt.

The show's quality has never wavered. Ted Koppel remains one of TV's strongest and most straightforward interviewers, and the show's introductory pieces are usually the best-produced news stories you'll see all day.

The problem is that the show's viewers are older than ABC would like, which is why the network may consider dumping an invaluable news outlet that draws a larger audience than any cable rival. My fear is ABC will chase away the current audience without attracting a new one. My hope is that the network will leave the format alone and turn the show over to CNN's Anderson Cooper, who could put his own dryly witty stamp on the show. My advice? Watch while you can.

3. Late Show with David Letterman
CBS, 11:35 p.m. ET/PT
Late grade: Stay up late, and if you can't, tape it

If you don't like Letterman now, you probably never will, because he has never been better.

Even at his best, Letterman will never be to everyone's taste. Where most late-night hosts are modeled after Johnny Carson, Letterman is the heir of Jack Paar: edgy, volatile and capable of working with every nerve ending exposed.

Yet without sacrificing any of what makes him so special as a TV presence, Letterman has become unusually comfortable and relaxed of late. Where other long-running hosts seem to have checked out, he seems more engaged than ever.

He's not a stand-up, and he knows it: His monologue goes by quickly and relies on humorous understatement. (Letterman on Michael Jackson: "I'm beginning to think this guy is weird.") And while he has his favorite bits, he isn't overly reliant on them. The driving force for the Late Show is, as it has always been, Letterman reacting to doing the Late Show.

4. Late Night with Conan O'Brien
NBC, 12:35 a.m. ET/PT
Late grade: Watch if you're up anyway

If Nightline is the past and Letterman is the present, O'Brien is the future.

If things go as planned, O'Brien will take over TheTonight Show when Jay Leno retires in 2009. But there's no need to wait that long to watch him. In late night, only The Daily Show is more consistently funny than Late Night, and when O'Brien is at the top of his game, no one is funnier. O'Brien has created a gleefully original comic character out of his professed insecurities.

So why a second-tier grade? He still tends to push too hard when his pre-planned bits aren't working (and sometimes even when they are), and he has yet to learn how to handle a bad interview.

Still, he has until 2009 to learn. He already is better than Leno. Master a few more skills, and he may rival Carson.

5. The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
CBS, 12:35 p.m. ET/PT
Late grade: Watch if you're up anyway

Surely there's a place in late night for the pleasantly inoffensive.

The newest host of the group, Ferguson also is the least likely: a Scottish actor with no prior hosting experience. Which is why his show, as he announces almost every night, is still a work in practice.

Ferguson is a naturally funny man, but he's not a comic, and when the show tries to force him into that role, the results can be painful. But when left on his own, he has great reserves of charm.

6. Jimmy Kimmel Live
ABC, 12:05 a.m. ET/PT
Late grade: Watch if you're up anyway

To those who are surprised to hear that Jimmy Kimmel is still on the air, I'll add even more surprising news: He's not bad. With O'Brien and Kimmel, you get the twin poles of current American comedy. O'Brien is the ironic, Harvard Lampoon wiseguy. Kimmel is just "the guy" — affable, if a little insensitive.

When he began, there was too much of The Man Show in him, and those rube roots can still show when he's around pretty girls or star athletes. But to his great credit, he has come up with one of late night's better bits, an opening routine built around TV clips. It may owe something to The Daily Show, but it stretches beyond newscasts to make fun of everything from Nancy Grace to WB's The Starlet.

7. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
NBC, 11:35 p.m. ET/PT
Late grade: Forget it, get some sleep

Is it 2009 yet?

That's the date set for Leno's retirement, though you'd never know, since he seems to have retired already.

Granted, I've never been a fan. Leno's monologue has always struck me as repetitive and pointless. And while all the shows make Michael Jackson jokes, Leno's are the most numerous and tasteless.

Never a good interviewer, Leno has somehow managed to become even worse. Now and then, someone seems to catch his interest. But far too often, this talk host doesn't actually talk to his guests at all. He just feeds them a cue for some prepackaged anecdote and lets them ramble on.

At that rate, it's going to be a long four years.

[A-Trak]

nice read. but Conan is #1 in my books.

[411]

nice read. but Conan is #1 in my books.

then comes Jimmy

[eS El Duque]

I dont even stay up late enough to watch these shows..but i have Letterman, Conan, Jimmy as my top 3....I dont know how people like Jay Leno

[Ðøšïå]

only show i watch outta those is the daily show. that shit is funny as hell.

[-CaliKid-]

nice read. but Conan is #1 in my books.

[Wild_Elmo]

nice read. but Conan is #1 in my books.

then comes Jimmy

[Juronimo]

nice read. but Conan is #1 in my books.

Hell yeah. Those bits were he's making fun of Arnold Schwarzenneger and the ones with John Kerry and George W Bush were just hilarious.

[Rampant]

1. Conan
2. Jon Stewart


And at the very last....leno

[Wild_Elmo]

i didnt think that jayo leno was THAT bad, but after reading what he said about him i noticed it was true

[hisairness]

I don't like Leno's jokes, and, now that I know about how he conducts his interviews, I don't like that either.

THe only part I like about Leno is that Jaywalking segment.  It's amazing how many people think Abe Lincoln was the first president of the United States.  Lol.

My favorite late night hosts are Letterman and Conan. 

[Sikotic™]

Conan is top dog. Leno lost it, plus he just rips other peoples ideas off anyways.

[Shahizzle]

yeah conan is the man

[ShadyGuru]

conan is my first choice

[Da WCC Hopar!]

u guys are fuckin crazy man Jay takes my #1 spot man then maybe conan