The Best Late Night Talk Show Hosts Of All Time!

Starting out our list we have the famous Conan O'Brien! O'Brien was originally a writer for shows like Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons before his network prompted him to take over David Letterman's position on Late Night. Later on in his career, he was able to host The Tonight Show, which miraculously received mixed reviews during his era as host. Nowadays, the comedian and talk show host has his own show called Conan which not only is still popular on network television, but the show has gained a massive internet following as well!

Moving on to our next contender: The famous Jimmy Fallon! What hasn´t this man accomplished at such an early age? Writing, hosting, acting... You name it! Like many talk show hosts, Fallon began on Saturday Night Live, hosting several different live sketches. In 2009, he moved on to host his own talk show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon before becoming the sixth permanent host of The Tonight Show in 2014.

Speaking of some of the greatest, Jay Leno happens to come to mind! Leno had been doing stand-up for years before NBC recruited him for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno back in 1992. In 2009, directly after his run on the show was over, Leno was able to monkey branch right into his next gig on The Jay Leno Show. The show was sadly canceled after only one year on the air. He did eventually return to The Tonight Show, where he was for a while before hosting his last episode February 6th, 2014. What a crazy career!

James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel has been an integral part of the late night scene ever since he started hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2003. The late-night talk show on ABC has become one of the network's most popular shows and Kimmel has become a superstar in Hollywood over the years. He has hosted the Emmy Awards in 2012, 2016 and 2020 as well as the Academy Awards in 2017 and 2018. In 2020, he also started a series of one-off specials of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Kimmel has been married to his second wife Molly McNearney since 2013 and he has four children.

Now we welcome one of the longest working TV hosts, David Letterman! Fun fact: Letterman has hosted a grand total of 6,028 episodes of Late Show and Late Night throughout his long career, even surpassing former show host Johnny Carson! What an achievement! The man has also produced several different shows including Craig Furgeson´s show The Late Late Show on CBS and the hit sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. Currently he stars in the Netflix series My Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. 

Stephen Colbert has been in the business for a while now! There is almost nothing this man hasn´t hosted! From The Colbert Report all the way to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,  he really has done it all! One of the more alternative shows he has hosted was The Daily Show, a politically driven comedy sketch show that really gained him some traction at the time of its release. 

John William Oliver has had a pretty amazing career! One of his biggest gigs was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where he was awarded 3 Primetime Emmys for his role as the senior British correspondent. He currently stars in the politically driven HBO series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Astoundingly enough, his role in the HBO series has stirred quite a large amount of controversy with the show having gained a lot of political influence over US policy over the years.

William `Bill´ Maher is a comedian, political commentator and TV host. Over the years, he has hosted numerous shows including his own, Real Time with Bill Maher and Politically Incorrect. We just can´t help but love his sarcastic, politically driven satire that has made us ponder all these years....

Like many of the hosts on this list, Seth Meyers is no stranger to Late Night, having hosted the show himself for numerous years. Before that, he was head writer for Saturday Night Live from 2001 until 2014. Meyers has also starred in several different films including Journey To The Center Of The Earth and The Interview. Throughout his long career, he has received a grand total of 5 Writers Guild of America Awards as well as a Prime time Emmy award! 

Johnny Carson is known as the legendary "King of Late Night TV". He wrote and hosted a total of 4,342 episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from 1962-1992. The legend passed away on January 23rd, 2005 at the age of 79. His amazing talent lives on and will continue to for many years to come!