late night talk wars continue

by now, the rumors have been confirmed. nbc wants conan out of the tonight show driver's seat. since a respectable start, he's been completely dominated by rival/mentor, david letterman.

i had hoped the suits at the peacock would let it ride, but clearly this will not happen. as funny as he is, people just aren't tuning in. regretfully, myself included. i'm not sure i speak for the others in my generation, but i'm just not interested in a talk show at that time slot. (especially when the daily show and the colbert report are monumentally more entertaining.) and just as unfortunate, the repalcement nbc is looking to is not funnyman jerry seinfeld as we were led to believe, but instead, the habitually unfunny jay leno. a giant leap backwards indeed.

jay leno is specifically the reason why my generation tuned out when the tonight show came on. in fact, other than "jaywalking" or the bit with the newspaper clips, i defy anyone to find a single funny thing leno has ever done or said. he gets ratings, though. i guess the old folks want bland cliches rather than biting comedy just before hitting the hay.

conan has been given an ultimatum. take a later time slot or leave the network. a hard decision indeed. instead of dwelling on this depressing news, let's rate the players of the current late night landscape, starting with:

1. conan o'brien
conan's offbeat brand of humor was a breath of fresh air when it came on the scene in the 90s. quirky, goofy, and sometimes shocking, conan introduced us to pimpbot 5000, the coked up werewolf, preparation h raymond and a vomiting kermit the frog, pretty much none of which translate to his current time slot. conan has also teamed up with the insanely funny robert smigel, the bark behind triumph the insult comic dog's bite. smigel also voiced many of the celebrities lampooned in mock video interviews conan's show brought to life.

and let's not forget taking his desk for a drive, in the year 2000 and "if they mated". whatever conan decides to do, he's got this fan's support.

a look at some of his finer moments:


2a. george lopez
i started watching george after listening to him on the comedy channels of xm radio. i've been aware of his comedy since his early days of stand-up, but his sitcom never piqued my interest. his talk show is a riot! not since arsenio has late night talk enjoyed such an energetic show. one can feel the vibe that his guests are genuinely having a good time being there, too.


the "[my race] does things this way, and white people do it this way" schtick has been done to death at this point, but he actually makes it funny again. also, he allegedly manhandled carlos mencia for stealing his act. kudos on both counts.

i'd love to post some of his stand-up here (it's hilarious), but i'm still at the point where i'd like to keep this blog pg-13. welcome to late night, mr. lopez.


2b. wanda sykes
this one floored me. her stand-up has always been kinda hackey in my book. and any movie role i've ever seen her in has been dreadful. so imagine my surprise when i watch a clip of her show and laugh out loud. here's the clip:


i adore her. "okay, here's the real story ..." that bit guarantees i'll be tuning in to this firecracker again. she ties with george for a spot closely behind conan.

3. craig ferguson
craig ferguson is underrated. there, i said it. he's legitimately funny, and he actually brings personal, heartfelt moments into late night talk:


not to mention, he shares a lot of my crotchety views on young people and their styles:


4. jimmy fallon
jimmy has been hit or miss on occasion, but i think he gets a bad rap on how entertaining he really is. clearly, he's aiming for younger audiences than his rivals as this clip shows. i couldn't find a youtube clip to embed, so for those who just want a recap, it's jimmy showing the audience an upcoming technology xbox 360 fans will soon be seeing.

plus, any show that has the roots as the house band wins in my book.

5. david letterman
i was a big fan of dave growing up. he practically invented the top ten list. in recent years his humor seems to have just devolved into being a mean old man, though. sometimes that translates to funny awkward moments with his guests. sometimes it just translates to him coming off as a jerk.

that said, here's one of my favorite letterman clips ever.

crispin glover is one wierd dude.

6. jay leno
not funny. ever.