The End of the Post-Johnny Carson Late Night Era…

Sometime later this year, the Post Johnny Carson Late Night Era in TV will, for all practical purposes, end with the retirement of David Letterman and the departure of Jon Stewart. When Johnny retired in May 1992, many of us wondered how we would soldier on without our favorite late night host. For the last 23 years, a variety of late night hosts have tried to fill Johnny’s shoes. While no one could individually, a group of hosts did an admirable job carrying on Johnny’s tradition.

Jay Leno. David Letterman. Jon Stewart. Craig Ferguson. And a host of others showed that life moved on after Johnny. Each late night talk show host brought their own variation of Johnny’s formula with a mix of their own style to the post-11pm crowd with varying degrees of success. Leno sat in Johnny’s chair at NBC and continued NBC’s domination of late night. Letterman had Johnny’s genius and support at CBS, while more than holding his own ratings-wise. Letterman also introduced his own prodigies in people like Craig Kilborn and Craig Ferguson. Kilborn would also entertain a brief run as host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central before a relatively unknown comedian named Jon Stewart would take the reins and send The Daily Show into the stratosphere for 15 years.

But now, they are leaving late night for various reasons and pursuing future endeavors. Leno, who retired last year, is pursuing his long-time passion for cars and occasionally pops up here and there on the comedy scene. Kilborn could not handle the national spotlight for long, and was last seen back in LA doing local TV. Ferguson lost out as heir apparent to Letterman—and got paid nicely for his trouble. His future is unknown, but it’s clear he may be heard from again. When Letterman retires, he will likely follow his mentor’s cues and ride off into the sunset, rarely returning to the spotlight post-Late Show. As for Stewart, he will either move over to the director’s chair, or become a major network news anchor.

The next generation replacing these late night hosts are already taking over.  Jimmy Fallon has replaced Leno in The Tonight Show Chair, and he has backup with Seth Meyers on Late Night. Jimmy Kimmel is given ABC a foothold in late night. Stephen Colbert, whose big break was thanks to Jon Stewart is Letterman’s heir apparent at CBS. And Comedy Central will find it’s next John Stewart, though it may take some time.

There are holdovers, to be sure.  Conan O’Brien, who was once Leno’s heir at NBC is still hanging on at TBS, although I suspect he has a retirement plan in place by the end of this decade. And Bill Maher, who started on ABC before getting a weekly show on HBO is still around, though his time is growing short as well. But for all practical purposes, the first generation after Johnny is calling it a day.

How will history judge these “children of Johnny” in late night? And can the next generation prove they, too, can thrive in a late night setting, like their predecessors?  Maybe we’ll know the full answer in about 15-20 years. For now, let’s treasure the moments we have with what’s left of the post-Johnny generation before they disappear.