Late-night talk shows: the most entertaining way to get your news and the least entertaining way to get your celebrity gossip. Embarrassingly, watching late-night talk shows is my guilty pleasure, so I believe myself fairly qualified to rank some of the most well-known talk show hosts on American TV. Although I’m rating American shows, I’d like to give an honourable mention to Graham Norton who manages to always get the most entertaining and original stories. Another honourable mention to Lilly Singh whose talk show is possibly one of the worst ever, but she practically raised me as a child, being the only South Asian person in western society that I knew of, so I feel I have to at least give her a shoutout.
So, from the very worst to the very best late-night talk show hosts on TV:
James Corden – Dead last. This barely needs explaining. He’s annoying, he’s known for being rude to staff, and his segment “Spill Your Guts, or Fill Your Guts” quite literally takes foods from other (mostly Asian) cultures and markets them as disgusting and inedible. The only good thing about him is that he has a fairly good voice, so his carpool karaoke is quite enjoyable to watch.
Jimmy Fallon – His laugh annoys me. He’s really obnoxious and the brilliant Dakota Johnson pretty much perfectly summed up why I don’t like him when she said, “aren’t you supposed to let people talk on this show?” One of the best moments of his entire show without fail.
Jimmy Kimmel – Boring. He’s so boring that I actually have nothing more to say about him.
Trevor Noah – I personally find him slightly annoying, but not unbearable. His show is quite funny, and I have to support him because we’re both South African.
Seth Meyers – His voice used to annoy me, so I didn’t watch him for a while, but he’s actually quite progressive and good at interviews. I’m a fan.
Stephen Colbert – He has the best news segments and when he’s friends with the interviewee, it’s always a great interview. I particularly love his interviews with John Oliver, it’s more a conversation than an interview and they’re both so funny.
Samantha Bee – I don’t watch her that much but she’s progressive and funny, and it’s quite refreshing to watch a woman on late-night talk shows.
John Oliver – I don’t even think this one should count since he doesn’t do interviews, but he’s my favourite talk show host of all time so I’m going to let it slide. He’s so funny and all of his segments are informative and topical. He’s very progressive and I love how he strikes the perfect tone between serious and hilarious.
Of course, my ranking is just my opinion, I’m definitely open to debate, and will be watching more (particularly Samantha Bee) onwards which might change my mind. However, if anyone approaches me and claims that The Late Late Show with James Corden is anything but the very worst, I will very strongly and adamantly disagree.
