The Best Talk Show Hosts Of Daytime, Late Night, and All Time

Ranker TV
Updated September 15, 2023 14.3K votes 1.0K voters
Over 1.0K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Talk Show Hosts Of Daytime, Late Night, and All Time
Voting Rules
Vote up the hosts who truly had the most, whether they were on daytime, late night or any time in-between.
Latest additions: Dayeon, Chaehyun, Sieun
Most divisive: Stephen Colbert

There have been as many top talk show hosts as there have been types of talk shows over the years. Everyone has a favorite, someone they think is the best late-night talk show host or the daytime talk show they love to spend each morning with. As some talk shows have been around a long time, there are also opinions about who was the best host of this show or that show. But, if all things were equal and you had to decide who was the best talk show host - from any time slot, any era, any type of show, who would you pick?

Is Johnny Carson really the best talk show host of all time when he's going up against Barbara Walters and Arsenio Hall? Who rules the roost: Kelly Ripa or Oprah? And what about Ellen, Letterman, Eric Andre, and Sally Jesse Raphael? When it comes down to raw skill against raw skill, charm against charm, and the pure ability to guide a conversation and nail an interview, what talk show hosts are the best?

It's a difficult decision, but don't worry, you can vote for as many talk show hosts as you like. So vote up the best talk show hosts and vote down the hosts who wish they had the most.

Ranked by
  • Johnny Carson
    1

    Johnny Carson

    The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
    394 votes
    John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known as the host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992). Carson received six Emmy Awards, the Television Academy's 1980 Governor's Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.During World War II, Carson served in the Navy. After the war, Carson started a career in radio. Although his show was already successful by the end of the 1960s, during the 1970s, Carson became an American icon and remained so even after his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests, an approach pioneered by Arthur Godfrey and previous Tonight Show hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar. Former late-night host and friend David Letterman has cited Carson's influence.
  • Conan O'Brien
    2

    Conan O'Brien

    Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Conan
    675 votes
    Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for hosting several late-night talk shows; since 2010, he has hosted Conan on the cable channel TBS. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, O'Brien was raised in an Irish Catholic family. He served as president of The Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News. After writing for several comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live. O'Brien was a writer and producer for The Simpsons for two seasons until he was commissioned by NBC to take over David Letterman's position as host of Late Night in 1993. A virtual unknown to the public, O'Brien's initial Late Night tenure received unfavorable reviews and remained on a multiweek renewal cycle during its early years. The show generally improved over time and was highly regarded by the time of his departure in 2009. Afterwards, O'Brien relocated from New York to Los Angeles to host his own incarnation of The Tonight Show for seven months until network politics prompted a host change in 2010. Known for his spontaneous hosting style, which has been characterized as "awkward, self-deprecating humor", O'Brien's late-night programs combine the "lewd and wacky with more elegant, narrative-driven short films (remotes)". He has hosted Conan since 2010 and has also hosted such events as the Emmy Awards and Christmas in Washington. O'Brien has been the subject of a documentary, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop (2011), and has also hosted a 32-city live comedy tour and later an 18-city live comedy tour. With the retirement of David Letterman on May 20, 2015, O'Brien became the longest-working of all current late-night talk show hosts in the United States, at 25 years.
  • David Letterman
    3

    David Letterman

    The Late Show with David Letterman, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction
    407 votes
    David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and automobile racing team owner. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC, and ending with the May 20, 2015, broadcast of Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. In total, Letterman hosted 6,080 episodes of Late Night and Late Show, surpassing his friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late night talk show host in American television history. In 1996 Letterman was ranked 45th on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time. In 2002, The Late Show with David Letterman was ranked seventh on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.Letterman currently hosts the Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company, Worldwide Pants, produced his shows as well as The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was Everybody Loves Raymond, now in syndication. Several late-night hosts have cited Letterman's influence, including Conan O'Brien (his successor on Late Night), Stephen Colbert (his successor on The Late Show), Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, and Seth Meyers.
  • Dick Cavett
    4

    Dick Cavett

    The Dick Cavett Show
    217 votes
    Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality, comedian and former talk show host notable for his conversational style and in-depth discussions. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States in five consecutive decades, the 1960s through the 2000s. In later years, Cavett wrote a column for the online New York Times, promoted DVDs of his former shows as well as a book of his Times columns, and hosted replays of his TV interviews with Salvador Dalí, Groucho Marx, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Garland, Marlon Brando, Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Luc Godard, John Lennon, Richard Burton and others on Turner Classic Movies.
  • Craig Ferguson
    5

    Craig Ferguson

    The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
    383 votes
    Craig Ferguson (born 17 May 1962) is a Scottish-American television host, comedian, author, and actor. He hosted the syndicated game show Celebrity Name Game (2014–17), for which he won two Daytime Emmy Awards, and of Join or Die with Craig Ferguson (2016) on History. He was also the host of the CBS late-night talk show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2005–14). In 2017 he released a web show with his wife Megan, titled Couple Thinkers. It ran for six episodes from 9 October 2017. It is available on YouTube. After starting his career in the UK with music, comedy and theatre, Ferguson moved to the U.S. where he appeared in the role of Nigel Wick on the ABC sitcom The Drew Carey Show (1996–2004). He has written and starred in three films, directing one of them, and has appeared in several others, including several voice-over roles for animations. Ferguson has also written three books: Between the Bridge and the River, a novel; American on Purpose, a memoir; and Riding the Elephant: A Memoir of Altercations, Humiliations, Hallucinations & Observations. He holds both British and American citizenship.
  • Graham Norton
    6

    Graham Norton

    The Graham Norton Show
    367 votes
    Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963), known professionally as Graham Norton, is an Irish television and radio presenter, comedian, actor, author, and commentator based in the United Kingdom. He is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for his comedy chat show The Graham Norton Show and an eight-time award winner, overall. Originally shown on BBC Two before moving to other slots on BBC One, it succeeded Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in BBC One's prestigious late-Friday-evening slot in 2010.He also presents on BBC Radio 2 and is the BBC television commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest, which led Hot Press to describe him as "the 21st century's answer to Terry Wogan". Norton is known for his innuendo-laden dialogue and flamboyant presentation style. In 2012, he sold his production company, So Television, to ITV for around £17 million. In 2019, Norton became a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race UK.