Late night television has been a cornerstone of the entertainment industry for generations, but even the most timeless things we hold close to our hearts have an expiration date. Jimmy Kimmel recently discussed the longevity of late-night television on a podcast recently, which coincidentally is one of the forms of media eclipsing our favorite evening pastime.
While chatting with the hosts of Politickin’ with Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch, and Doug Hendrickson, Jimmy reflected on the past, present, and future of late night, saying, “It used to be Johnny Carson was the only thing on at 11:30; and so everybody watched. … But now there are so many options, and maybe even more significantly, the fact that people are able to easily watch your monologue online the next day, it really cancels out the need to watch it when it’s on the air. And once people stop watching it when it’s on the air, networks are gonna stop paying for it to be made.”
It’s true that even those who are diehard fans of Hollywood institutions such as Saturday Night Live and star-studded award shows can just take a glimpse the most viral moments by pulling up TikTok or scrolling through Instagram. The bits that we loved so much, such as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on Conan and David Letterman’s Top Ten countdowns, are now the only thing that holds younger generations’ much shorter attention spans, and the algorithm spoonfeeds them that kind of content from thousands of different content creators.
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Letterman’s final Top Ten list was a star-studded affair.
Seth Meyers Says Entertainment Isn’t Dead, It’s Shifting
While Jimmy’s take on the future of late night television was a little more doom and gloom, Seth Meyers offered a more promising perspective. In an interview with Variety, Seth discussed how long-form interviews on podcasts have affected the late-night realm. “It hasn’t infringed on the kind of comedy I’m doing. You want to make sure that everybody can get the kind of comedy they want, and we’re always careful not to start doing the kind of comedy we don’t want to be doing,” Seth remarked. He went on to say, “If there’s anything that podcasts have affected, it’s that you realize that when you’re talking to somebody for eight minutes, it’s very unlikely you’re going to get deeper than a podcast host does with them over the course of an hour and a half. So, it does put a burden on interviews.”
Seth agreed with Jimmy’s assertions about late-night talk shows having an end date, but he was still optimistic about the future of comedy and entertainment. “…[W]hen you think about podcasts, they have just as big of a reach as we ever had. Interesting voices are always going to use the technologies they have at hand to find an audience,” Seth reflected. “So, if you’re a great lover of the institution of late-night talk shows, there’s probably some sadness in your future. But if you love funny people telling funny jokes and talking to people in interesting ways, that’s always going to be available.”
Letterman has shifted over to Netflix after an epic 33-year run hosting Late Show With David Letterman. At 77 years old, David has no plans to retire anytime soon, and his current project, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman is entering its fifth season. He’s interviewing the same big names that he did on network television, such as former US president Barack Obama and actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus. While television is shifting dramatically and migrating over to streaming networks and intimate podcasts now satiate people’s curiosity, there will never be an end to comedy and entertainment.