Always loved Fallon's antics with his guests. He really won me over after his show with Nicole Kidman. Whether or not the events that they talked about were real, it was a lot of fun to watch.
I really enjoyed Craig Ferguson's interview style. I believe he brought out the real personalities of the people he was interviewing.
I think Conan is by far the most talented and naturally funny of the hosts but Fallon has a better "late night" show with his celebrity interactions and games. I would watch Conan just for the sketches, the ones with Jordan Schlansky are hilarious. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fVDOB9mby_w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Conan is the best by far but he's toiling over there on TBS where I never watch him. His remotes are the best thing going by any of the hosts and have been since he's been on television. He's creative and stupidly funny, but also intelligent and engaging.
The one thing that Fallon has over other host is that he interacts with his celebrities with his brand of games and challenges like song impressions and pictionary.
Yeah it must be nice. Conan doesn't even get to work with celebrities on TBS. He gets Big Bang rejects and Noah Wiley. He might as well interview regular people.
It's like Christmas when there's a new Jordan Schlansky bit on YouTube. I get Fallon is trying to do something fun, but they aren't particularly funny or entertaining IMHO. Conan goes for the comedy jugular.
So then, The only thing Fallon has over the other hosts is that he is creative and original? I think he would be happy with that stigma.
The amount of ass-kissing Fallon does with his guests is my only issue with him. There's never been a bigger guest ass-kisser of a host in the history of television imo. I'll watch some of Conan and then flip over to Fallon. I prefer Conan's monologues over Fallon's. But, I prefer Fallon's bits and interviews most of the time...albeit Conan has some good bits on occasion.
I don't find Fallon very funny and he's the worst interviewer, but his sketches and little games he plays with celebrities are genius and end up hilarious. Conan and Kimmel are the funniest, the best interviewers and can just improv off their guests crazy well. Letterman used to be my favorite, but he's just old and just silly now. Still worth a watch every now and then though. I'd rate em 1 Conan 2 Kimmel 3 Fallon 4 Letterman
I think Conan lost too many writers and now that he is older doesn't go for low brow humor. After 10 years it seems like these guys just lose interest.
I don't watch much late night anymore but I always enjoyed the wit of Ferguson's interviews. He made formulaic interviews brilliant. Coco's interviews are generally the best when it's about Coco... There's more clips with Craig and Josh post Late Late show. Absurd just imploded into itself... <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PcriETvXGPU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I agree with you here, Conan lost too many good writers among them his best writer, Brian Mccaan . He was my favorite and his bits we just the best. It is safe to say tha jimmy fallon has the best writing staff now and it shows in the quality of the bits he has been doing. Al though Conan still have some very funny bits
I don't really watch these shows, but the last time I remember watching and laughing was with Kimmel.
Playing games with celebrity is neither creative nor is it original. If you take that part out of the show, what does Fallon have that's interesting to watch?
Ferguson and Fallon are tops. As others have mentioned, nobody does extemporaneous absurdity better than he did. And Fallon is just flat out talented--dancing, singing, games etc.