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Were late night talk shows always so political?

hailtoyourvictor

hailtoyourvictor

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Dec 11, 2012
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I grew up watching Conan O'Brien and think he is hilarious. I'd sometimes catch Letterman or Leno before Conan came on, too. Aside from some one-liners about presidents and such, I don't recall them being very political. It seems like hosts today (Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel) are focusing on politics way more than I remember when I use to watch late night talk shows.
 
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Writers and producers choose the best material to draw the most eyeballs.

Red team vs blue team has been a top seller since 2016. And best of all, the material is cheap and abundant. It’s just too easy for them, and people don’t tune out.

It’s a media wide problem, but no one will address it because no one wants to slow the gravy train.

But yes, it is definitely more political today than years past. Mostly because we have a president that is an easy target, and nothing is out of bounds when it comes to targeting him. It’s a far cry from the prior administration, when they mostly just stuck to the material handed to them on the WH press releases.
 
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hailtoyourvictor said:
I grew up watching Conan O'Brien and think he is hilarious. I'd sometimes catch Letterman or Leno before Conan came on, too. Aside from some one-liners about presidents and such, I don't recall them being very political. It seems like hosts today (Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel) are focusing on politics way more than I remember when I use to watch late night talk shows.
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No. It is a clear vendetta against Trump and in my opinion it is backfiring against the far left. People are getting fed up with this no Trump at all cost including the hope for a recession that would affect all of us in order to get trump out of office.
 
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duckboy33 said:
No, people just weren't as triggered over political disagreements in the past.
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I am 72 years old and I think that people 50 years ago were just as triggered and as politically active as now, but the difference today is we have three 24-hour news channels, smart phones, Facebook, twitter et.al. Those aid massively in polarizing positions and giving the extremes of views more airing. MSNBC and CNN polarize me and I am confident my liberal counterparts are equally polarized by Fox.

For half of my life there were newspapers (they were the record and basically right down the middle of being liberal or conservative) and the only TV news was two, then three channels, and they only had 30 minutes a day of news which with commercials was basically 20 minutes of news a night. We were just as triggered but it was not in our face 24/7.
 
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Much of Colbert's background is in political satire, so it makes sense that he's more political than most. I would say Kimmel is also more political than I recall from the older generation of late night hosts. I don't think Fallon is much different from the older crew, though.

If I watch late night talk shows, I prefer Conan. James Corden isn't bad either.
 
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Bert Higginbotha said:
More political today than ever; however, the little barbs of an earlier era were funny and not hostile. Today it is just hostility toward one side. That is the big difference.
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Agreed. Trump definitely needs to bring down the hostility level. Why is he so mad all the time? :cool:
 
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lkc1234 said:
No. It is a clear vendetta against Trump and in my opinion it is backfiring against the far left. People are getting fed up with this no Trump at all cost including the hope for a recession that would affect all of us in order to get trump out of office.
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Bert Higginbotha said:
I am 72 years old and I think that people 50 years ago were just as triggered and as politically active as now, but the difference today is we have three 24-hour news channels, smart phones, Facebook, twitter et.al. Those aid massively in polarizing positions and giving the extremes of views more airing. MSNBC and CNN polarize me and I am confident my liberal counterparts are equally polarized by Fox.

For half of my life there were newspapers (they were the record and basically right down the middle of being liberal or conservative) and the only TV news was two, then three channels, and they only had 30 minutes a day of news which with commercials was basically 20 minutes of news a night. We were just as triggered but it was not in our face 24/7.
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Bert, this is perhaps the best post I've read of yours in a long time.
 
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Bert Higginbotha said:
I am 72 years old and I think that people 50 years ago were just as triggered and as politically active as now, but the difference today is we have three 24-hour news channels, smart phones, Facebook, twitter et.al. Those aid massively in polarizing positions and giving the extremes of views more airing. MSNBC and CNN polarize me and I am confident my liberal counterparts are equally polarized by Fox.

For half of my life there were newspapers (they were the record and basically right down the middle of being liberal or conservative) and the only TV news was two, then three channels, and they only had 30 minutes a day of news which with commercials was basically 20 minutes of news a night. We were just as triggered but it was not in our face 24/7.
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Just curious, what were your personal opinions of hippies at the time 50 years ago? You would've been right at that age where many people you probably knew became drifters and such.
 
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Fallon was pretty apolitical if you're looking at start of Trump election and his ratings suffered relative to other late night shows like Kimmel, Colbert. All about money/ratings
 
Bigger question...how many daily shows do we need? There is trevor Noah, then you can tune over then watch the same thing in a condescending British accent with John Oliver on a movie channel, watch Colbert on late night, or Sam Bee, which btw 1 amy Schumer is too many, and then whatever Jordan Klepper is. Pretty sure everyone that's contributed to that show has their own spin off. Soon the guy holding the boom mic will have a show.. "Here comes the Boom! With Bill Williams"

To the OP it has gotten more political, but its what's getting them views. Colbert was tanking before. Seth Meyers has never been funny all the way back to snl, so its helped his career. And Jimmy Kimmel is just brain dead, pretty sure he has chuck schumer on his writing staff and just repeats talking points hes told.

Fallon largely has stayed away, but he doesnt need to get political...hes hilarious.
 
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I'd say it's more political now, but I get it....the material pretty much writes itself.
 
hailtoyourvictor said:
I grew up watching Conan O'Brien and think he is hilarious. I'd sometimes catch Letterman or Leno before Conan came on, too. Aside from some one-liners about presidents and such, I don't recall them being very political. It seems like hosts today (Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel) are focusing on politics way more than I remember when I use to watch late night talk shows.
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Yes, always
 
brooky03 said:
Much of Colbert's background is in political satire, so it makes sense that he's more political than most. I would say Kimmel is also more political than I recall from the older generation of late night hosts. I don't think Fallon is much different from the older crew, though.

If I watch late night talk shows, I prefer Conan. James Corden isn't bad either.
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Fallon is flat out funny. He has talent and can make any subject funny.
 
schoonerwest said:
Just curious, what were your personal opinions of hippies at the time 50 years ago? You would've been right at that age where many people you probably knew became drifters and such.
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I thought that they were drug addicts (which most were) and incredibly gullible and irresponsible. My parents did not or would not have raised a hippy. I would not have survived.Laughing

I worked during high school and college, had to make good grades and be responsible. Edd and Mae were loving and very demanding parents of their two kids. My sister ended up with a Ph.D. from Vandy (she was the smart one). We were not allowed to screw up.

To my knowledge no one in my orbit did the hippy thing that I know. But, rock band following would bring you into contact with them, but I did no drugs or pot and never was interested in dealing with such folks.

Bottom line I am a saint! ;)
 
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Spacegrass said:
Always watched Letterman because he regularly had the best musical guests.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/08/david-lettermans-25-greatest-music-moments.html?p=5
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Have to agree with # 1 and # 2 (of course),though over the years I never managed to see Warren live in person. As to Dave,long before he went to Hollywood he hosted late night Fri movies on Channel 13 in Indy,and did the weather as well. In fact for a time he and Jane Pauley were on local Indy TV at the same time. And yes,I'm old.
 
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