Late Night Wars is ON, boys

hey did Fallon really book the Beibs all week? That's going to make Colbert's ratings a non-story and hurt momentum. Late night wars is ON, boys.

I;ll try to watch Colbert all week just to see. He's got Jeb Bush on first night and that's really going to set the tone if he's going to be an awful soft-ball interviewer (think Chevy....or fallon for that matter) or if he's going to try to be a more challenging type of talk show host (will be more divisive like Letterman and Stewart).

Anyway, i can't wait. There's been nothing to watch since Game of Thrones season five ended.

To set the tone of how I view hosts: I loved Letterman the most, I liked Stewart quite a bit. I got REALLY bored and tired of Colbert but he was in character so this could be totally different. I like both Kimmel and Fallon but can't bring myself ever to watch their shows. I hated Leno. I tried Seth once and gave up. I like Conan as a person but I just really never liked his show(s).

DISCLAIMER: Let's not make this a red vs blue thread PLEASE. We're just talking talk show hosts.

Fallon is literally the least funny man in America.

Fallon is more irritating than funny. I couldn't stand how he couldn't get through an SNL skit without looking at the camera and giggling. He got on my shit list in about 2005 and has managed to stay there.

I always liked Letterman the best; his material seemed the least sanitized and staged. I'm hoping we get that out of Colbert.

Stewart was in a league of his own, but that's a different kind of show.

I just watch late night highlights that come up on youtube, and the standup comedians on Conan. This saves me a lot of time.

It's cool to hate on Fallon right now, but he's changed late night shows entirely. He's the first original presence in the late night medium in ages, and he's kind of funny. Not my style because I'm too old for that light comedy stuff now where there is generally no victim and everybody loves each other, but clearly it works and the kids love him so if I'm to be fair and balanced I have to consider it and admit that he's succeeded. I prefer Kimmel over Fallon but Kimmel is just old style, he's tries to be like his heroes (Stern and Letterman clearly) and still puts in that softness the more modern group is known for (Seth Meyers being the worst but Fallon does it too). Fallon is pretty much the only one doing something original, but to me he's more entertaining and not very funny. It's all about games and impersonations which just aren't my thing. His co-host (Steve Higgins) is great though, a fantastic comedy writer and pretty funny guy over all.

My favourite was always Letterman, not just because of the mean-ness and disdain he'd occasionally show for his guests but also for the absurdity. I never really got Carson, I think I was too young or he was too old. But I know that he ripped off a lot of his characters (especially from Jonathan Winters).

Stephen Colbert I genuinely like, I liked him better than John Stewart because I hadn't seen his likeness before. Stewart wasn't really doing anything new and he kind of came across as too much of an unfunny dick to me (like in that horrible crossfire episode) whereas Colbert could be a dick but had a kind of grin to it that felt great and was playing a character/breaking character on a regular basis. His dickishness never felt spiteful or mean, only silly and fun - the funny came first. Which reminds me more of Letterman. I don't think Stewart ever really nailed that quality, he could be funny and he could be a dick but he was rarely both at the same time.

Conan is still the man to beat right now, his show isn't awesome but with the right guest he's amazing... but he is very guest dependent and not that good with silly actors that he clearly doesn't respect. Still no one is as fast on their feet with a good joke and he has an awesome co-host too.

Colbert's Bush roast, his appearance in front of congress talking about migrant workers... those are ballsy performances and a ton of fun and they don't feel nearly as mean spirited as Stewarts version would.

In any case this got me really pumped for Colbert's new show;

Here's a good, recent interview with Craig Ferguson:

www.macleans.ca/culture/television/qa-cr...d-its-latest-shifts/

Does the late night format still matter?

A: I don’t know. I never watched my own show or anybody else’s when I was doing late night. And I don’t know. It’s someone else’s problem. I understand you want me to feel a deep connection to it, but I don’t. I don’t feel a connection. I did my show and I feel like what we did with that show, that was unique, that was our thing, and then I dropped the mic, and I moved on.

Colbert premiere tonight!!!

Let's try and watch it and discuss tomorrow.

It just finished over here on the west coast.

Not bad for a first show. Talk shows are a long game, you don't really know how good someone is until they've had a couple of years doing it. Still though, there were some nice moments and he clearly knows what he's doing.

Unfortunately I think I prefer my hosts to be dicks, at least a bit. Colbert almost does it but he pulls off sincere a little too well. I think Jeselnik hosting Last Comic Standing is the only one pulling it off right now.

There were some nice surreal bits though, the devil forcing a sponsorship, talking to himself 6 hours later that's watching, the search for the real Stephen Colbert joke, the 'I don't know you' paper weight, even the oreos bit was all right. The monologue was almost non existent thanks to that fucking crowd though.

In fact that crowd was the worst thing by far, I hate crowds that have to be a part of the show. It's obnoxious and a waste of time. Get to the goddamn jokes, let's see what your writers can do. Hopefully that was just because it was a premier. The crowd did kind of suck on The Colbert Report but I didn't think about it so much because the show was a satire.

I wasn't a fan of the general look of it, too clean, too friendly. The band was technically proficient but looked horrible on stage, although he got a couple of good singers up there. I hated that ending (and the beginning too, with the silly dancing, too Hollywood-Vaudeville) and would have preferred an actual musical guest.

I'd still rather watch him over Kimmel or Fallon but Conan is in the lead right now. I'll give Steve a chance though, I think he could become great at this given time and it seemed like he had some quality writers on the show.

I'll miss Letterman though, that's just how it is.

I really miss Letterman, especially when it comes to interviews. I don't miss Letterman's monologues.

I thought the show started really strong. Loved the anthym (how the hell do you spell that word??) and the high energy opening. My least favourite part of the Report was the crowd and it looks like it's the same type. Both the Nightly Show and Colbert's group do the name chant thing way too much.

Did you hear that stupid piano flute going off repeatedly during the entire show? It drove me NUTS. They gotta do something about that. It was the humming squeak in the background whenever Stephen was at his desk.

I had a feeling he would do a regular bit at his desk like a news show, gotta play to your strengths.

The George Clooney interview and bit was AWFUL I thought. Really awkward interview, nothing to say. Stewart and Fallon are awful at that too. Letterman was always great in those situations. Stephen has no excuse either cuz he has the same wit that Letterman had to be on-the-spot-funny, but he lacks interview experience and it shows.

When Letterrman edited parts out of his show, you would never notice it. The parts that were cut out of interviews and such were really obvious I thought last night. Bad editing.

The Jeb! interview was fantastic I thought. Stephen didn't hold back at all and asked some really good questions, wanting to interrupt Jeb non-stop just like a decent reporter (and not a talk show host). I liked that.

It was a little clumsy overall but that's just fine since it's a new show, and you're right, you wouldn't want it too polished and clean.

I also REALLY need my hosts to be dicks too. It's way more entertaining since it puts guests in a state of defensiveness which is sometimes really funny.

Contrary to you, i like the vaudeville opening a ton, and didn't mind the ending too much.

It didn't really inspire me to watch an entire episode again from start to finish though, which is bad.

I give it 3 stars I guess.

A lot of people are trying to figure out who the real Colbert is. I've only seen clips because this hasn't shown up on the torrent sites yet, which is a bad sign, in my opinion.

I'm so glad this thread is here, because I really wanted to work out my thoughts on the premier last night too.

I LOVED The Colbert Report. I think Colbert is very witty and genuinely kind, but too smart to be a push-over. I thought those would make good qualities for the new show. But I was disappointed.

All I really wanted was for him to do something different. Anything. Ideally, I would have loved for him to do like old Carson and Cavett and keep his guests on stage the whole time, allowing them to interact and abandon the typical 2-minute-anecdote-then-plug script. Alas, it was not to be. Same damn format as every other late night show: monologue, bit, guest, bit, guest, music. Heavy, heavy sigh.

The weirdest part was that he seemed to be going for kind of a satire of the whole late night formula, while also rigidly adhering to it. The demon forcing him to mention a sponsor. Pointing out that he and Clooney don't know each other and have nothing to talk about. But then the burden of tradition became too much, and instead of just ridiculing the mandatory lame movie plug, they actually created a fake mandatory lame movie plug. Terrible. Make up your mind-- are you that kind of show, or are you making fun of that kind of show? Doing both can sometimes work (I like both Scream and Galaxy Quest, which both manage to critique their genres while also both being fine examples of their genres), but it's very hard.

I also felt that Stephen was trying too hard to shed his Colbert Report persona. Not just himself on the show, but during every promo and even the lead-in from the news, they seemed to emphasize how he was NOT that character. I totally get why he needed to make a break, but it just felt heavy-handed to me.

Bottom line, I thought the jokes were funny enough, Colbert was nervous but fine, and I'll tune in tonight because of Elon Musk, but it's going to take something more to get me to watch much more. And that's a shame, because I really had high hopes for this one.

Good post, Greg!

Ok, I'm as guilty as anyone else but we shouldn't rush to judgment on just one episode of course. I thought Fallon's opening episode was AMAZING. like I was totally blown away. I really don't like that show anymore, i burned out on it immediately. Colbert could be a nice slow build up to something better and better.

You're right that he made fun of the formula non-stop but stuck with it. He also was awkward as heck dealing with his previous persona. Remember when he called everyone "nation" and then immediately said, "what does that even mean?"

Also did anyone else notice in the closing credits that Stewart is an executive producer for the show??

Who's Elon Musk? I hope i watch tonight.

It'll be a fun show to talk about in the first week and month I think.

Did anyone else notice how George Clooney was lit in the beginning of the interview? He looked like a carrot. They fixed that really fast but it was weird. So many audio and lightning screw-ups (did anyone notice all the shadows? They were everywhere).

new shows are fun

Black Barney wrote: . Loved the anthym (how the hell do you spell that word??)

It's spelled a-n-t-h-e-m, Barney. You were pretty close.

Thanks, Barney.

I did notice some of the technical details, but not as sharply as you. I was more focused on writing and format. I forgot to say that I agree with you and did like his Jeb Bush interview, but it still seemed too rushed.

But that also points to another way in which he couldn't make up his mind. He wants to move away from the Colbert Report persona and style, yet he has a political guest, uses a red, white, and blue color scheme, and even keeps around props from the old wall (Cap's shield? Really?).

I'm also with you about Fallon. I liked his first show, too. But he's just so... not sure what the right word is... shallow? Sycophantic? Pandering? Whatever. JonJacob is right to point out that he's doing something different by playing silly games with his guests, but it always feels hollow and self-serving. I'm probably just an old, crotchety man, though, as he seems to be doing just fine. I think Kimmel is funnier, but I just don't like him for some reason (although I still watch him more often than Fallon).

The truth is, I'm not really the target audience for any of these shows. I don't care about the celebrities and the shows themselves usually bore me so I rarely watch them anyway. I think Colbert's show will improve as it figures out what it wants to be, but these first few months might be painful.

Elon Musk is on tonight! I'll definitely see that.

That's a sign that Colbert is trying to be more mature than the other shows and I appreciate that.

I really like how he jokes about the fact that everyone is talking about Trump non-stop and gives into his ID to carry on doing the same thing (while gorging on Oreo's) BUT has Jeb Bush on at the end to kind of counter act that. Giving Jeb a chance to show that he's not just some boring politician (Jeb failed but that's hardly Colbert's fault, in theory it was a good idea)... the bit about how he differs from his brother (who Colbert roasted in fabulous form years ago) was a nice bit of anti-partisan bullshit.

The Clooney interview was awkward, on purpose because it was working up to the joke but still... I never cared for Clooney to begin with so I kind of expected that interview to be dull. I just liked the dumb gift.

I think Colbert has what it takes, he's smarter than the competition and older, this gives him an edge for people like me. But we'll see what the show becomes as time goes on.

What's odd to me is that last generation we had two stand up comedians in Leno and Letterman, both accomplished in that profession. Now we have mostly sketch comedy dudes, other than Kimmel who was a radio personality before hand. I think stand up's are generally better at this kind of thing because they are in the entertainment business but also slightly outside of it. They're used to standing alone and making quick remarks. Colbert is good because he was a writer for so long before he got on TV and you can tell. He is a little better at speaking and a little better at coming up with stuff to say. Fallon is lucky to have Steve Higgins with him because that guy can write but Fallon himself is having to rely on his wits and they aren't that great. He's better with written material but Colbert can riff if need be.

I hope the show grows up nicely - it would be cool to see Colbert have some success at this because I don't really like the late night scene right now other than Conan (does anyone really give stand ups a chance anymore besides Conan? I want more unknown stand ups!!).

Conan has a great thing going on with stand ups on the show... the minor leaguers get a spot to do their act and the big names come on anytime they want to chat. Bill Burr has been great for him lately and is always a pleasure to watch on Conan. In fact I'd probably argue that the best late night right now is Conan with Bill Burr... just like it used to be Conan with Norm Macdonald. Late night TV is better with stand up comedians.