Taking Sides: David Letterman or Conan O'Brien

And Conan wz a script-writer for The Simpsons: I'd even cut Terry Wogan slack if he had this on his CV.

BUT: "The World's Most Dangerous Band" — I •am• kinda fascinated by a group of musicians so pluperfectly shitty, in every respect, so blithely happily dubbing themselves this. Takes moxie, it seems to me. Like some runty kid saying "I'm the toughest", and taking a beating, and getting right up and saying, "Yes, but I AM the toughest..."

Plus you could hardly achieve such a supreme distillate of worthlessness by chance. My theory: Paul [thingie] is a kind of perverse secret guardian of the non- worthless, dedicating his life to ensuring that decent music was not tainted by association with the show'a horrible horrible host (and sacrificing his forever reputation in the process).

I'd agree with the others that said that it's ALL about The Daily Show.

Yet I think the most underrated comic is Craig Kilbourn. HIs show itself sucks, but his jokes and his delivery (he delivers an insulting joke with a crack of a smile on his face) are too good to miss.

Kilbourn annoys me to the nth degree. I liked the Daily Show while he was on, but I love it now that it has Jon Stewart instead. Kilbourn relies too much on the smirking frat-boy school of humor.

David vs. Conan: I gotta go with Conan. I find him ridiculously funny. Dave is not without merit (for one thing, he's not Jay Leno), but I relate much more to Conan's self-deprecating wit and complete willingness to do absolutely bizarre sketches/set pieces. (Anyone else remember the toothless old guy in a dress singing "It's Raining Men" while two bodybuilders in Speedos posed behind him in a whirlwind of confetti? I think it was a tribute to Mother's Day or something.)

I wonder what a late night talk show hosted by Steven Wright would be like.

And he can call me anything he likes, as long as I can sit there and look at him. And Robo Richey too, of course.

Anyhow, remember how in the film Ted's dad kept claiming Ted stole the keys to the jailhouse, and he was going to beat his ass, etc. Well Ted's all, I didn't steal no keys, jerkoff. But then when they go to break free the historical figures, He goes, hey, we have a time machine! We can go back in time to when my dad had the keys, and steal them to use them now and leave them someplace where we can find them. So Bill's all, where would you leave them? And Ted's all, hmmm, right here I guess. And there they were! "It worked!"

Then, while rescuing the historical figures, the dad walks into the cell, and Ted goes, "Remember the trash can. Remember to move the trash can". Then this trash can falls down, like it was booby trapped, and lands on the dad, trapping him so that they can release the historical figures.

Then of course they go to the school, throw a kick ass presentation that probably made them look like TOTAL GEEKS who did WAY TOO MUCH WORK to the rest of San Dimas High, as if San Dimas High is a real place and NOT Westwood High School in Mesa Arizona, and they got their A and Ted didn't have to go to military school, and thus their music could create total harmony in the universe for all the rest of time.

i love dave so

yeah, i know it's saturday, but when was the last time i asked a question?

So Conan's really getting hammered to shit in the ratings now, it appears. Not surprised, as his Tonight Show has actually gotten worse compared to where it began in June. Letterman is benefiting from people changing the channel to CBS after being away for a long while.

(Even weirder, Jimmy Fallon's show has settled into a really comfortable, often funny groove of its own.)

I just noticed this is on ILM. ?

What a disaster for ILM

this is from before ILE existed

I was thinking the same thing when I found myself laughing at Jimmy Fallon's monologue the other night.

letterman, duh

conan seems pretty one note: make bad joke, get everyone to laugh at the awkardness of making a bad joke (bonus points if it involves moving your body/face in silly ways)

conan has at least three notes!
has he stopped making 'rowr' noises at female guests since he got married?

Leno may be going back to old time slot

Pressed by affiliates and shrinking ratings, NBC has a plan in the works to radically alter its late-night television lineup, restoring Jay Leno to his old spot at 11:35 each weeknight, while pushing the man who replaced him, Conan O’Brien, to a starting time of 12:05 a.m.

Speaking from a "musical guest" perspective, i sorely miss the bands that got booked for Letterman -- the talent was better, the lighting and staging were better, the surprise performances were better -- better than anybody else in the biz. NOBODY has stepped in to fill the void after Letterman's retirement.