Michigan Radio & TV Buzzboard

Is it just me?
Does anyone else think the late night shows are just not nearly as funny without a studio audience laughing on cue?

For the most part, they haven't been funny for quite a while, even when there is a studio audience. I've tried to watch several times thinking I was just hitting them on a bad day, but I don't think I've made it through a whole episode on any one of the shows for several years now. I might make it though the monologue if there's a interesting guest coming up, or just watch that clip with the particular guest then flip to something else more interesting.

You’re correct Mike they are late night talking heads that’s why I don’t watch them. It’s just boring television anymore .

Craig Ferguson was the last Late Night talk show host worth staying up for.

These shows and it’s all of them turned bad when politics got involved in the monologues after that they jumped the shark. I used to like both Jimmy’s now they both suck because their political views got in the way. Its like going to a Ted concert and his republican view gets in the way of the music.

Lucky615 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:58 pm

These shows and it’s all of them turned bad when politics got involved in the monologues after that they jumped the shark. I used to like both Jimmy’s now they both suck because their political views got in the way. Its like going to a Ted concert and his republican view gets in the way of the music.

I agree. I often ponder if it's because they got lazy. Or the writers (if there are anymore) have gotten lazy.

Used to be a monologue would cover all sort of things, political and otherwise. Yeah, Carson and Leno and Letterman and others would touch on politics for a bit, but it was only a part of the monologue. To have a monologue like they had required writers sitting in a room and coming up with jokes. Doing some work.

Now it's just stand up and make fun of people in the news. How much work is put into that, if you really think about it?

There is a reason why they say laughter is infectious. There's something about a group of people to perform in front of versus staring at a camera. This is what made Monty Python so brilliant. So you have theatrical performers trying to do comedy in a completely different format.

Colbert comes out with a gem every now and then but I don't think it's designed to be funny.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hN1ui3LyFgc&fe

Never could get into Monty Python or any British humor. Back in the 70’s the rock stations occasionally would play some comedy from Monty Python for me it was a tune out factor and when SNL would have John Cleese as a guest I would change the channel.

WOHO wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:42 am

Craig Ferguson was the last Late Night talk show host worth staying up for.

+1

Jack Parr was one to wear politics on his sleeve. Although he was a humorist by trade, his version of the Tonight Show was heavily steeped in opinion, to the point where humor often took a back seat. Parr was more of a commentator with a comedic bent.

Johnny Carson, by comparison, took the opposite approach. His political humor was satirical and lighthearted. He poked fun at all sides, and rarely if ever let his own personal politics interfere with the content of the show. Carson was an entertainer who understood his audience. He realized people watched his Tonight Show to relax and have some laughs at the end of the day. Nothing heavy. It was all in fun. When he did book political figures, the conversation was mostly light and casual. When serious issues were discussed, Johnny allowed the guest to talk and listened intently without interrupting or stepping over them with tons of personal interjection. His greatest talent was making the show more about his guests and studio audience than himself. He knew the value of humility and never took himself too seriously. His best humor resulted from making himself the butt of the joke. That's why he ruled the landscape for nearly 30 years. David Letterman, Carson's protege, understood that the formula worked, and patterned his late-night shows on the same principle. Entertain the audience instead of pontificating to them. He, like Carson, enjoyed a long run of success because he understood what his audience expected from the genre. Conan O'Brien and Craig Ferguson also serve as examples of hosts who got the Carson formula of late-night entertainment.

Unfortunately many late-night hosts of today don't understand that formula. They tend to center their shows around their personal world views, behaving more like social activists than actual entertainers. They see entertainment and humor as a tool to "educate" the audience and turn them on to the "correct" views of society (i.e. their views). They don't understand the escape factor that made hosts like Carson and Letterman successes in the field. People are bombarded with politics and controversy all day, especially in this age. The late-night shows of old were like that glass of wine before bed. Just enough to ease the tension of the day before falling off to sleep. Modern late-night shows are more like a loaded cup of espresso served up by a barista who wants flood you with their non-stop opinions about this, that and the other thing. They're the "star" of the show, and they want you to know it. Without a studio audience to validate their material (laugh and clap when the sign tells 'em to), they're left hanging in the wind with little if any entertainment value to offer the audience. Just another talking head with an opinion. They could do well to study a page from the greats.

Calvert DeForest wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:53 am

They see entertainment and humor as a tool to "educate" the audience and turn them on to the "correct" views of society (i.e. their views). They don't understand the escape factor that made hosts like Carson and Letterman successes in the field. People are bombarded with politics and controversy all day, especially in this age. The late-night shows of old were like that glass of wine before bed. Just enough to ease the tension of the day before falling off to sleep. Modern late-night shows are more like a loaded cup of espresso served up by a barista who wants flood you with their non-stop opinions about this, that and the other thing.

I think you hit the nail on the head.

(I would add Jay Leno to the list of old-school late night hosts. His monologues centered on politics but they were usually just poking fun at the news of the day and nothing more).

I don't and haven't watched in a long time. They're all out of ideas so they bash Trump every single night. Weather you like him or not it's just old, stale and unimaginative. Miss Leno and Letterman.

Letterman adhered to the formula at the beginning, but somewhere along the line he took a hard left and his last few years weren't much better than the current crop. He retired a few years to late.

bmw wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 11, 2020 12:36 pm

(I would add Jay Leno to the list of old-school late night hosts. His monologues centered on politics but they were usually just poking fun at the news of the day and nothing more).

True. Leno was never my cup of tea, but he did get the entertainment factor of late night TV.

Tom Snyder was a different story. His show was for insomniacs, third-shifters and college students cramming for exams. He could afford to be controversial.

Fallon is like a cup of java- way too hyper - I want to calm down, relax, chuckle a few times and go to bed. No thinking, no hating, no anger, no politics, no fast moving action, just slow and easy and off to night-night land.