No, not who would win in a fight… Whose show is better? I’ve always been a loyal Letterman fan, but one night it got preempted by <disgust>basketball</disgust>, and I watched Leno all the way through. Now I’m rethinking my loyalties? What does everyone else think?
*“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around once in a while you could miss it.” - Ferris Bueller
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Watch Leno for a few more nights, and you’ll find your way back into the flock.
While I don’t think Letterman is as edgy as he once was, I still think the show is better than Leno’s. The Tonight Show, is so predictable, they blend into one another after awhile.
“Um, according to who? Nothing more than a high brow troll, though occasionally the bi polar personality swung in a constructive direction on innocuous topics.” Omniscient
This is just my opinion, but I believe that Letterman created todays standard late night talk show. If you watched him in the very early days, he was the guy who did the laugh-at-himself, isn’t-tv-ridiculous, aren’t-my-bosses-a-bunch-of-boobs schtick. Nobody did that then, Carson and his competitors were pretty serious with their positions.
Everybody since has followed, including the guys following Leno and Letterman (O’Brian and Kilborn), and drop-offs along the way like Hall.
I do think that Letterman is not nearly as edgy as he once was, but he’s still my favorite.
I too am a diehard Letterman fan.
So…do we think he is actually married…
besides Drew B.
Heaven…One to beam up!
ANYTHING is better than Leno! He’s only got two good bits : jaywalking and headlines, both of which are only funny because they rely on outside sources. His entire monologue consists of one predictable Clinton sex joke after another, on and on and on until I turn off the TV in disgust. This is what passes for humor? To me, Leno will always just be the guy with the big chin hawking Doritos, nothing more.
As Billehunt pointed out, Letterman in his day re-wrote the rules for talk shows. Today though, he comes across and old, tired, and bitter. Just not edgy anymore. In the old days, you tuned in because you didn’t know what you were going to see… He might piss off a guest with his questions, Chris Elliot would come up with another great character, he’d do goofy man-on-the-street things (everyone does those now).
I dunno… If i had to choose, I’d say Leno, but not by much. Leno plays it safe, it’s almost like the same crap we saw 20 years ago.
Conan is the only one I make a semi-point to watch.
I’ve never thought Leno was funny–at all.
His style of monologue delivery is especially annoying: He does that “I’m going to pretend to start another sentence after the punchline just so that I can stop in the middle and let you laugh at my hilarious joke” thing, which I find really transparent. Watch him tonight–you’ll see it.
Letterman has a nice flexibility. He manages to make almost anybody’s guest spot an interesting conversation rather than an opportunity to mug.
Actually, Letterman did headlines long before Jay. So he stole it from him! He just seems so smarmy to me(leno).
I’ll take Conan any day.
Donuts, and the promise of more donuts to come-Homer Simpson.
There’s a cool video out there about Letterman and Leno vying for Carson’s Tonight show. I don’t reall the name, but it’s by HBO productions. The two people who played Letterman and Leno aren’t nearly as funny as the real deal, but it was a good movie.
On another note: initially, I couldn’t stand that Kilborn guy (when he was on Comedy Central, and early Late Show). His joke lines struck me as a cheap takeoff on Dennis Miller (who I consider a totally talentless hack). But he’s (Kilborn) starting to grow on me.
Letterman has, by far, the quickest wit. Sadly, as previous posters have noted, he has lost his edge, to some extent, and has a tinge of regrettable bitterness. He still beats white-bread Leno hands-down.
You didn’t ask, but I’d rather watch Jon Stewart (on the Daily Show-Comedy Central) or Conan O’Brian than either Leno or Letterman.
Plus Letterman had a quintuple bypass, and I had a triple, so yeah, Letterman and I are better than Leno.
I, too, prefer Conan. He’s got those great big biceps and is really good with a sword. Plus, that which does not kill him makes him stronger.
Leno is too middle-America, too nice, and just isn’t that funny.
Given that Letterman has been doing it now for 18 years, I’d say that pound fer pound, Dave wins hands down. Ratings? Pah! Fickle lowbrow mushheads!
Launcher may train without warning.
One thing I like about almost all the late-night guys is that they are all apparently truly nice, down-to-earth people. Conan, Letterman, Leno. That’s a rare thing in show business, so hats’ off to all of them.
My favorite shows, in order are Conan, Letterman, and then Leno. Jay’s a pretty distant third, though.
I don’t watch too much late night nowadays, but I was more avid years ago when Leno took over the Tonight Show. I was a Leno fan back then and rooted for him to beat Letterman, perhaps because I’m always for the underdog. Nowadays though, I think Leno, from what I see, is way past his prime and personally I think he’s a jerk. That whole Jay-Walking schtick was funny, like the first time he did it, but now it’s just demeaning and stupid. If someone doesn’t know who discovered Plutonium or who won the Wars of the Roses, maybe it’s just that they had a different major in college. And if they are genuinely idiots, is it funny anymore to keep laughing at them with that phony mouse laugh? Another reason I think Leno is a sham is because of that big fat jerk who keeps ripping off his clothes and dancing in his skimpy red underwear. That wasn’t funny the first time and it hasn’t been funny the millions of times he’s done it since. The skits are also so predictable, they are sad. Not only are they predictable, at the end, you wonder why in the world they even went through with them. On the other hand, Letterman is a clever. He can’t go out on the town to fool around with people anymore since so many people know him, so he hides behind a drive-through window or sends out his spy Rupert Gee. And these skits are worth watching, they are new and fresh each time. I’m no big fan of the Top Ten List though. In my opinion, I just think they should be retired. Also, the interviewing skills are more superior on Letterman’s part. Leno just seems not to give a rat’s ass alot of times and he covers it up with that phony mouse laugh.
bilehunt - The movie you’re talking about is “The Late Shift” based on the book of the same name by Bill Carter. A good read. Check it out.
And you can put me down in the Letterman camp.
“My mind reels with sarcastic replies!” - Snoopy
Prior to his permanent job on NBC, Mr. Leno was a very funny individual (especially in his appearances on Letterman.) He now seems overly tamed by the position he is in (big shoes to fill) and perhaps is trying to appeal to a different demographic group and, IMO, is just not displaying the cutting-edge humor of his previous life. Has anyone seen him in a club setting recently and is the old Jay still alive and well?
The more things change, the harder it is to finish this sentence.
Definitely a Dave fan here. As mentioned above, Leno was funny when you only got to see him 2-3 times a year. Now that he’s NBC’s bitch, he is BORING. A fine example of a little going a long way.
I wasn’t much on Jon Stewart at first, but he’s got that “I’m-new-at-this-job-and-I’m-doing-the-best-I-can-with-what-I’ve-got” routine down pat.
I like them both!
since Dave has 90% of the vote here
I go with Leno. 
If at first you don’t succeed you’re about average.