I was skeptical when you took over for Letterman, but you proved yourself with every show. You found your own way and developed your own sense of humor. Letterman even bridged the gap by publicly approving you. That was enough to put me on board.I always thought that Letterman should have gotten the Tonight Show gig. I never found Leno funny. There used to be this show that would run in the mornings on Comedy Central. I don't remember the name, but the object of the game was to not laugh while a comedian was going through a routine a foot from the contestant's face. I managed to always crack a smile or laugh with every comedian except Jay Leno. I was always able to hold a stone face when he would go through his routine. I still think of Doritos when I see Leno. Neither his act or Doritos are funny, in my opinion. The only thing that makes me smile on Leno is the Headlines bit. Any chimp can hold newspaper clippings for a laugh.
I am a huge SNL supporter, but I rarely found Jimmy Fallon funny. There's just something about a performer who can't keep it together in any live sketch that annoys the hell out of me. I'm ashamed to admit that I own the "best of" Jimmy Fallon SNL on DVD. It is the SNL disc that gets the least amount of playing time. I think I'll be switching over to Craig Ferguson at that hour.
I was glad to hear that Conan won't be changing much. I'm hoping that he brings the same type of humor along with him to California. There should be room at that hour for the masturbating bear and other blue material key to Conan's late night success.
Good luck to Conan at the Tonight Show. While this really has nothing to do with baseball or baseball cards, at least I was able to dig up a photo of "1864 baseball" Conan.
I believe that Comedy Central show was just called "Make Me Laugh." And yes, Leno sucks...
ReplyDeleteI should have waited and used a shot of the old fashioned baseball game for the card I made. But oh well.
ReplyDeleteConan go bye-bye :(... waiting for Conan to come back in June is gonna be kinda like sitting around in December waiting for baseball season to start.
Avery Schreiber is the only true Doritos spokesman. Leno is an interloper.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have an opinion on Jimmy Fallon. I disagree about performers cracking up during performances though. Tim Conway making Harvey Korman lose his shit on a regular basis during sketches on The Carol Burnett Show was one of the best things about that show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9T8i4FkNVo
Here's my take as someone who is a bit older who started watching Letterman around 84-85 right when I began college.
ReplyDeleteLetterman was hysterical. His humor is my humor and the show still makes me laugh. When Leno was a regular guest on Letterman, Leno made me laugh, too. Because he had a similar kind of humor.
Then when Leno took over the Tonight Show gig, something happened. He changed everything about his act, his sharp-edge, everything. It was bland, middle-America humor. And he was never funny again. But he USED TO BE quite funny.
As far as Conan. When he first started out, I thought he sucked and it was a long time before I turned back to him. When I did, I saw that he had built a niche. Some of his stuff is good. Other stuff I look at and just go, "huh?"
Fallon I have no opinion of, other than he just seems unprofessional. Like this is all a goof.
Agree, when Letterman gets on a roll, there's no one better or edgier.
ReplyDelete"Make Me Laugh"! That's it!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about Avery Schreiber.
Conway and Korman were a different story. The performers on the Carol Burnett show were trying to make each other crack up. Jimmy Fallon would crack up at himself... in almost every sketch. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt until I see what he actually does, but his track record is not good.
Leno did get a chuckle or two out of me, in the early eighties, when doing stand up was his only gig. I never went out of my way to watch his stand up act, like I did of other acts of that era. Drew Carey and Tim Allen come to mind of stand ups that I thought would skyrocket to success.
Thanks for the opinions, everyone! They have been a great insight.