Conan had a few guests which were solid gold each and every time.

Bill Burr
Jeff Goldblum
Timothy Olyphant
Paul Rudd

Rudd's ongoing Mac and Me bit is far and away the best ongoing joke in the history of late night tv.

Matter of fact, he recently did it on Conan's podcast and somehow managed to surprise him after all these years...

Ferguson was pretty underrated, admittedly I rarely watched him when he was on, but there are some hilarious interviews on youtube.

The main complaint I have against him is he couldn't fake interest nearly as good as other hosts, so when the guest wasn't giving him much, the interview kinda went nowhere. But with great guests, he was hilarious.

Letterman circa 1994 - 2000 was money.

-His mom's guest appearances (on location at the '94 winter olympics)
-The Indian pair, Mujibar and Sirijul
-Kinda creepy guy from Hello Deli
-Top 10 lists
-Will it float
-Jungle Jack Hannah
-Stupid human tricks
-Kids science experiments
-Dropping stuff off the building

The last late night TV show I watched was Dave's final show. Mainly to see Foo Fighters.

infinity ag said:

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Conan, I find annoying at times.

Leno, I liked, but I think he kisses too much ass.

Letterman is edgy but he wasn't too likeable.

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Letterman was good up until about 2000. Something about the 2000 election or maybe the Iraq invasion got him pretty bitter. He became unwatchable for me. That was sad because he was a favorite in the 1980s. I think getting snubbed when Carson retired may have been the start of it.

Luckily Conan was really hitting his stride by then. Early 00's Conan is GOAT.

In the Year 2000
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
Walker Texas Ranger lever
The masturbating bear
FedEx Pope

I think it was when Jordan Schlansky first started getting bits, too.

Lots of people observed at the time that Letterman was different when he came back from his heart surgery in 2000. More bitter, darker, and generally less humorous.

Harry Lime said:

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Lots of people observed at the time that Letterman was different when he came back from his heart surgery in 2000. More bitter, darker, and generally less humorous.

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Reminds me of something my youngest daughter said to her second grade teacher a couple of months after the teacher had returned from open heart surgery: "Mrs. C, when they operated on your heart, I don't think they put all the parts back, because you're not as nice as you used to be!"

Harry Lime said:

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Lots of people observed at the time that Letterman was different when he came back from his heart surgery in 2000. More bitter, darker, and generally less humorous.

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I recall the episode of his return and bringing out his surgeons to thank them. It was touching and he was emotional as he shook the hands.

I'd add Norm Macdonald to the list. When he died I rewatched all his guest appearances on Conan. Pretty hilarious. Conan just kind of sat there and listened because Norm tends to take over interviews but you could tell he was loving it.

Drawkcab said:

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I'd add Norm Macdonald to the list. When he died I rewatched all his guest appearances on Conan. Pretty hilarious. Conan just kind of sat there and listened because Norm tends to take over interviews but you could tell he was loving it.

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Norm's gift basket bit right before Conan lost the Tonight Show is just incredible.

My memory of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson is basically:

At the conclusion of the local news, I'd hear the Tonight Show theme music, followed by Ed McMahon introducing the guests, and I'd know, it's time to go to bed.

Gotta throw this in there

Another Conan favorite:

Help Desk

Iowaggie said:

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My memory of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson is basically:

At the conclusion of the local news, I'd hear the Tonight Show theme music, followed by Ed McMahon introducing the guests, and I'd know, it's time to go to bed.

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There was a joke once on Carson that married couples substituted his monologues for foreplay.

Conan gets bonus points for this.

Craig Kilborn is the goat

I'm assuming that's sarcasm

Absolutely, good call.

CBS is pulling the plug on Colbert next year.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/17/media/cbs-cancels-stephen-colbert

Quote:

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In a shocking move, CBS is ending "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" next year, potentially exiting the late-night television business altogether.

The cancellation will take effect in May 2026, the normal end of the broadcast TV season, the network said Thursday evening.

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Starting a new thread would have been totally okay, my dude.

Rutedown said:

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Colbert, Fallon, and Kimmel. They're funny if you don't get your feelings hurt easily

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they're funny if youre low iq. Its pretty much the show from idiocracy where its just a butt farting.

Carson was before my time. Leno was terrible. Letterman was the best to ever do it. Conan's late night was the best version of the format, but oh boy did he fall off when he went to the tonight show.

After Leno the shows all transitioned to push marketing and to push politics for angry leftist white women. Would love to see a network relaunch the format and view it as something other than a tool to bludgeon normal americans for their backwards ways.