The Best Late-Night Hosts of All Time, Ranked
The curtain is closing on The Late Show, both Stephen Colbert’s show and the CBS franchise as a whole. And with the current state of late-night TV, other post-primetime chat-fests might go off the air, too.
The decline of late night is a shame, because for some 70 years now, comedians have been tickling our funny bones, bringing A-listers into our living rooms, and even inspiring social change. Here are our picks for the best to have ever done it.
15. Amber Ruffin
The systemic racism and sexism that have kept late-night TV the domain of white male comics are exactly the type of issue Ruffin explored in the “How Did We Get Here?” segments of her underrated Peacock talk show. Ruffin was a Late Night writer turned natural emcee: She exuded perky charisma when she got her chance in the spotlight.
14. James Corden
Ignore that Cats remake and focus on another of Corden’s claims to fame: his time hosting The Late Late Show. Like his countryman Graham Norton, Corden hosted all of each episode’s guests at once, but he also got celebs out of the studio and into the streets with popular segments like “Carpool Karaoke” and “Crosswalk the Musical.”
13. Jimmy Fallon
Fallon fawns over his guests in a way that sometimes seems disingenuous — he’s still living down that Trump hair tousle, for example. Even so, there’s no denying that the Late Night veteran’s onscreen goofiness and happy-go-lucky persona keep his iteration of The Tonight Show a laugh-a-minute affair.
12. Seth Meyers
There’s a reason Meyers is one of President Donald Trump’s biggest enemies in the media. Shortly after inheriting Late Night, the former SNLhead writer started focusing the show on political commentary, especially in his “A Closer Look” segments, and late-night viewers are all the more literate and politically savvy because of it.
11. Trevor Noah
Jon Stewart, listed below, was a hard act to follow, but Noah was wise enough to create his Daily Show in his image, not his predecessor’s. Noah brought with him an understanding of his young viewers, a calm and collected persona, and the outsider perspective of a foreign-born comedian.
10. Jay Leno
Even putting aside his involvement in Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show injustice, Leno isn’t our cup of comedic tea. He’s a fine late-night host — in the less enthusiastic sense of the word. But he ranks high for his legacy after serving as a worthy successor to Johnny Carson and emceeing The Tonight Show for nearly as long.
9. Arsenio Hall
Hall broke out as a fill-in host on Fox’s short-lived The Late Show before getting his own namesake production in syndication with The Arsenio Hall Show , the original version of which lasted for five years. Hall was such an energetic, engaging host that the eventual erosion of his audience is still one of the “Things That Make You Go Hmmm…”
8. Samantha Bee
One of many Daily Show breakouts on this list — see also: Colbert and Oliver, former correspondents, and Stewart and Noah, former hosts — Bee had audiences buzzing with her news satire show. Wired’s Virginia Heffernan put it best by calling it “the most mercilessly feminist show (ever) (in history),” and it was Bee’s punchlines that provided the sting.
7. Jon Stewart
As the news cycle became a 24-hour onslaught in the early millennium, at least we had The Daily Show to hold truth to power, satirizing politics and the media alike led by a host who was often bemused and always amusing. Stewart’s recent once-a-week return to the show feels like a bonus.
6. David Letterman
We’re not sure we’d be besties with the guy, but between Late Night and Late Show, America’s longest-serving late-night host is one of its best. With Letterman’s incisive humor splitting sides on a week-daily basis, you have to wonder why NBC didn’t let him take over The Tonight Show as once seemed destined.
5. Jimmy Kimmel
There’s a reason so many viewers, journalists, celebrities, and fellow late-night hosts rallied around Kimmel when a joke landed wrong and got Jimmy Kimmel Live! suspended. The titular host exercises his right to free speech to call out political hypocrisies during his monologue, then brings the funny with his celeb interviews and his segments like “Mean Tweets” and “This Week in Unnecessary Censorship.”
4. John Oliver
On Last Week Tonight, this Daily Show alum does a deep dive into one topic per episode: Recent installments have covered body cameras, AI chatbots, and the Supreme Court’s shadow docket. And his joke-heavy diatribes have serious impacts on political progress. Behind the John Oliver Effect in, for example, the response to Oliver’s defense of net neutrality.
3. Stephen Colbert
Colbert’s first late-night show, The Colbert Report, had him playing a misinformed right-wing blowhard to hilarious effect. For his second act, The Late Show, he dropped the satire but kept the comedy, even when discussing weighty issues. His criticisms of his own corporate overlords might have cost him the job, but he’s a late-night hero in our books.
2. Conan O'Brien
We were all Team Coco when O’Brien landed and lost The Tonight Show in short order and exited the show with more graciousness than NBC deserved. But O’Brien, former host of Late Night, rebounded with TBS’ Conan, another venue for his towering intellect and towering stature. He may be too self-deprecating to say so, but we’ll say without reservation that he’s a TV icon.
1. Johnny Carson
Heeeeere’s Johnny! For nearly 30 years, Carson kept his in-studio crowd, sidekick Ed McMahon, and his TV viewers in hysterics. He hosted many comedians on the rise, but this charming “king of late night” held court on his Tonight Show, always ready with a one-liner. In his last episode, Carson said that he found something he always wanted and that he “enjoyed every single minute of it.” We’d venture to say viewers did, too.
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C
Um, Steve Allen? Craig Ferguson,
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C
Where's Craig Ferguson? James Cordon, really?
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T
Imagine Trump's reaction if all of the late night hosts had Colbert fill in for them while they're on vacation.
Sooner or later, Trump's s got to realize that MOST of America despises him. Not for just emotional reasons, but for the real, tangible damage he's done to our society.
He's moved us back, for sure, but not to better times.
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M
There are a lot of people who are not here and should be. This wouldn't be my order at all though you can't argue with Carson on top.
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T
The rankings should be: 1) Johnny Carson (with 99 percent) 2) Everybody else (with less than 1 per cent). The state of late night shows today is absolutely abysmal. How classless acts like Kimmel and Colbert even got these shows is a real crime.
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T
How Craig Ferguson isn’t on this list (not to mention landing in the Top 3 or 5) is mystifying. He was entirely unique by comprising high intellect, quick/self-deprecating wit, and a looseness and unpredictability to his show grounded in genuine interest and empathy toward his guests. Everyone on this list has bits and pieces but not the entirety and clearly at least one-third are interchangeable politics-driven commentators that look more for cheers than laughter. Colbert’s off the air but you can get your fix with Kimmel or Myers - same thing, different voice. No substitutes for Ferguson here.
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