Let's Talk Late Night Talk Shows

Actually there are only two that I sometimes catch and they are David Letterman and Jay Leno.

The main reason I usually don't watch them is that I try to be asleep by then, but lately that hasn't been happening. We also usually watch the local news at night on the same station that Jay Leno is on, but we only watch his monologue. I don't like the local news, or rather a couple people on the station that David Letterman is on, so we very seldom watch him, but there were times that we have.

Okay, all that being said, I have made some observations over the years about the shows. I like David Letterman's band better, but I don't like David Letterman that much. Have you ever noticed that he laughs at his own jokes? I always found that annoying. It's like he's trying to get the audience to laugh more. As far as the jokes themselves, they tend to be more political. I could be wrong, because like I said before, I don't watch him that much.

Now let's talk about Jay Leno. Have you ever noticed that Leno repeats his punch line several times after he's told the joke? It doesn't make the joke any funnier and hate to say, he hasn't been all that funny since he's been back. Jay, if they didn't get it the first time, they're not going to get it after you repeat the punchline several times. When a joke fails, he'll also sometimes try to explain it to make it sound funnier. Again, if the joke wasn't funny when you first told it, it won't be funny after you try to explain it. It just makes you look desperate.

Leno also seems to cater more to the younger crowds and if you notice in his audiences, that's what you'll see. Also, it frightens me when he lets the audience run up to get close to him and shake his hand and such. Do they check people at the door by chance? I hope so. And what about germs?

His Jaywalking segments are more pathetic than funny. They're pathetic because each week they show how much our education system has failed to teach our kids. Once they get into college, a lot of them are lost and some shouldn't be there in the first place. I have seen elementary education majors not able to answer simple questions of which they should know the answers. How sad. If I were their parents, I wouldn't be proud, I would be angry. I also wouldn't want someone like that teaching my kids. Hopefully the kids are smart enough not to tell their parents that they were on the show and their parents don't tune into it themselves.

As for Leno's band, I'm sure it must be the acoustics, but hate to say, at the opening of the show it sounds like each member is just playing random stuff and it sounds really annoying and just plain loud. This band though is a giant improvement over the last.

What I really don't like about Leno is that he signed on for 15 years and when that time was up, he balked and made life miserable for those involved until he finally got the Tonight Show back. I'm glad that Conan O 'Brien is doing great and that he got an outstanding compensation package when he was forced off the show so that Leno could come back. I'm sure he now feels that he's better off where he is instead of being on a sinking ship.

I miss Johnny Carson.