don't watch late nite TV

both name Jimmy

both have 6 letters in their last name

it's a push

anybody who goes by "Jimmy" at their ages should look in the mirror and question their maturity and identity. Both lose.

Colbert

I cancelled my cable years ago so I've only seen their shows in bits and pieces on youtube.  Fallon's more talented (especially musically) but he's soft as pudding in interviews, almost "Entertainment Tonight" with his fawning.  Kimmel has a bit more of an edge, from what I've seen.  If I were forced to watch an entire episode of one, I guess I'd say Kimmel.

Neither is close to Letterman in his prime (i.e., the 12:30 a.m. NBC years).

As for Carson, I always thought he was overrated.  The monologues were good, the interviews could be pretty good, too (unlike Fallon and Kimmel, he seemed well-read, at least by the standards of TV), but the comedy bits were mostly lame: Carnac, the redneck with the hunter's cap, etc.  Plus, Ed McMahon really grossed me out.  Was he necessary?  Even Carson didn't seem to like him.

what i liked about carson and now kimmel is their consistency...johnny of course was an originater and completely self - taught...thanks to on demand i now watch some of these current shows.

Agree with crazy on the McMahon comments. he was a paid laughing machine. Joe Biden sort of reminds me of todays old Ed.
Remember those ads from the 1980s when Ed would show up at somebody's door with a huge check from some sweepstakes? Nothing contrived there.

The one good thing about Ed McMahon is that he inspired (I assume) the Hank character on The Larry Sanders Show.  Probably the funniest character on a show full of them.

as well as jack Nicholson in the shining.

Can't compare Carson with those who followed. His job was completely different. With just three networks, his mission was to not lose audience. NBC wanted him to be entertaining enough to keep people from changing to one of the other two networks, but not edgy enough to cause anyone to try one of the other two networks. Make sure you have one guest appealing enough to keep people tuned in and awake for an hour, and you're good. It was also a time when the wrong joke about something like the Catholic Church could cost you a huge number of viewers; if the Church said don't watch Carson, millions of people wouldn't watch Carson. Modern late-night has to push envelopes to stand out from the 500-channel crowd, and because if someone is bored for 10 seconds they'll turn to something else or the Internet.

But as for today, yeah, Colbert kicks anyone else's tail.

Posted by crazystengel on 6/23/2015 10:19:00 PM (view original):
The one good thing about Ed McMahon is that he inspired (I assume) the Hank character on The Larry Sanders Show.  Probably the funniest character on a show full of them.

and perhaps Fred Willard's Jerry Hubbard character in one of my favorite all time shows, Fernwood 2 Night. I recall laughing my arse off as a high schooler at that show which starred Martin Mull as host Barth Gimble. I think it was a spin off of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and was produced by Alan Thicke. Suburb comedy for its time, at least in my opinion. Anybody else recall?

SERIES 2 -  DETECTIVES
  new subject for your consideration......the greatest literary ( originated in books ) detective after sherlock holmes..can anyone really debate that he was..is..and always will be the greatest...these can include consulting detectives,..armchair detectives..PIs...hardboiled..police procedure..etc...some examples...hercules poirot...phillip marlowe....some of the great new scandanavian detectives......lew archer......inspecter maigret.......miss marple.......ed mcbain's 87th precinct.......elvis cole...many others.
       personally i think that hercules poirot  was a poor imitation of sherlock holmes and vastly overated...my vote for the 2nd best detective seies among many great ones is the french writer Siminon 's creation...inspecter Maigret...they are works of psychological literature and hold up today...they are both mysteries and literature..a great character..a great writer....very nuanced of course.

as long as you're allowing for armchair detectives, my favorite has been and probably always will be, Nero Wolfe. He and his assistant/bagman Archie Goodwin were developed by author Rex Stout. I like reading both the novels and short stories about the "big man", but really enjoy his appearances on the old time radio shows starring Sidney Greenstreet as Nero. It's almost comical to think that Archie would be able to go out in the field, collect facts, and report back to the gourmand for solution to mysteries.

2nd best ever (after holmes of course) adrian monk funny and brilliant the episodes with his brother are classic