Top 5 Late Night Talk Show Hosts

While the landscape of late night talk TV has changed since the days of Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan and Jack Paar, the genre is still thriving.

There are more options and shows than ever, and the majority of the programming is consumed by the masses the day after in short YouTube clips.  From Jimmy Fallon to Chelsea Lately, the group is diverse.

Personally, I love late night talk shows.  I enjoy the witty humor in monologues to the intriguing peak into a celebrity's life through the medium of an interview to hilarious skits.

Here's a list of my five favorite late night talk show hosts.

1. Jon Stewart

The Daily Show has modernized both news and the late night TV format for my generation.  One of the reasons that I think Stewart's show works so well with my peers is that it presents news and information in a format that we can relate to and digest.  A lot of the things American teenager and college students communicate is channeled through humor, and Stewart has perfected it.

Stewart and his writing staff deliver four high-quality shows a week that elegantly walk the line of both goofiness and seriousness.  He comes across as the smartest man in the room at all times, but not in an obnoxious Howard Coselll type of way.  The only negative I have against Stewart is that his show tends to lean a tad bit to the left, but some of the blame probably lies with the Republican party and the sheer amount of easy material it produces for Stewart on daily basis.

2. John Oliver

Sorry Craig Feruson, but the championship belt for best British late night TV host belongs to John Oliver.  Ferguson is fine, but what Oliver has done since moving as a correspondent on the Daily Show to host his own HBO show on Last Week Tonight is amazing.

The first season of Last Week Tonight produced viral soliloquy's at astounding rate that perfectly depicted and destroyed the biggest hypocrisies in this country and worldwide.  His show is more than just humor, the issues he dissects and communicates to his audience are real and deserve criticism and attention.  

I can't wait until Last Week Tonight returns for it's second season.

3. Stephen Colbert

The love for late night talk show hosts that originated on Comedy Central ends here.  The fact that a , satirical, conservative show like the Colbert Report has thrived for so long is a testament to Jon Stewart's vision for the show, the Report's writers and Stephen Colbert (it's worth that FOX News has thrived for a long, long time, and I'm not so sure that it isn't also satirical programming.)

It's sad that Colbert is leaving the Report later this month, but he will surely be fantastic in replacing David Letterman.  Even without the Colbert character, I'm confident in Stephen Colbert's ability to have success as Letterman's successor because of his intelligence, charisma and comedic smarts.  

4. Jimmy Kimmel

Finally!  A traditional late night talk show host.  Jimmy Kimmel Live is what you would get if you mixed a prime David Letterman with Jimmy Fallon.  Kimmel is diverse.  

The material and delivery in his monologues are consistently great, he commands respect in his interviews and does a real nice job of reacting to his interviewees, and his show can produce a viral bit now and then without getting too terrible silly (I'm looking at you Fallon). 

5. Seth Meyers

Sure, Seth Meyers will never be the king of late night talk TV.  He doesn't have that dominant personality to be the next Carson or Letterman or even a Stewart or Kimmel.  That's fine.  He's great in his role.

What I love about Meyers is the simplicity of his shows, and how relatable he comes across in his monologues and interviews.  The strength of Late Night with Seth Meyers is what the strength was when he was hosting Weekend Update on SNL, the interviews.  Meyers is a phenomenal interviewer, largely because of his flexibility and reactions to his subjects.