Craig would be the first to insist that he’s not running a real show and that it was just practice for the ‘good ones’. His iteration of the Late Late Show was really more of an exercise in performative flirtation—not that there is anything wrong with that.
My ranking in the post-Carson era would be early Letterman (i.e. Late Night with David Letterman) before he made it clear that he was really just bored with the majority of his guests closely followed by Conan O’Brien in any venue. I guess if you were to shake the rest and see who rises to the top Kimmel would be somewhere in the froth along with Arsenio Hall. Jimmy Fallon and Jay Leno are down at the bottom unsuccessfully trying to outfunny each other by laughing at their own jokes.
He was…better than Paula Poundstone?
Stranger