Most popular late-night hosts of all time

Brad Barket/Getty Images for Comedy Central // Getty Images Late-night TV has been around for 75 years. In 1949, Faye Emerson became the first late-night TV host when her 15-minute self-titled variety series began airing on CBS at 11 p.m. Running for two years, the show covered everything from politics to entertainment, bringing on clowns and other circus performers in the gaps between interviews with people like Tennessee Williams and women’s Air Force and Army brigade leaders. On one fateful 1951 episode, Emerson invited her friend, Steve Allen, to come chat and play piano on air. A couple of years later, Allen would create “The Tonight Show” for NBC, which is widely considered the first long-form, late-night show to hit national airwaves. During his tenure on “The Tonight Show,” from 1954 to 1956, Allen solidified the format many late-night shows still follow today: an opening monologue, some audience work, celebrity chats, person-on-the-street interviews, and musical performances. Everyone who has followed in his footsteps–from Johnny Carson to Joan Rivers and Jimmy Kimmel–has added their own twists to the formula with varying levels of success. To identify the most popular late-night hosts over the years, Stacker used survey data from YouGov as of June 2024 to rank the top 20 late-night hosts by the percentage of survey respondents who had a positive opinion of them. To qualify, a host had to host a late-night show (defined as a talk show airing at 11 p.m. or later) for at least one full season. Ties were broken internally by YouGov. Read on to see if your favorite host made the list and to learn more about these individuals’ contributions to the genre as a whole. You may also like: Iconic quotes from ’70s TV shows #20. James Corden Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize // Getty Images – Have heard of: 79% – Have positive opinion of: 42% British comedian James Corden went from up-and-comer to household name in 2007 when he wrote and starred in the hit U.K. series “Gavin & Stacey.” That BAFTA-winning role led to a series of hosting gigs at ceremonies like the Brit Awards that eventually put him in the position to take over CBS’s “The Late Late Show” in 2015 after Craig Ferguson retired. Outside of his late-night post, which came to an end in 2023, Corden won a Tony for his performance in “One Man, Two Guvnors”; has had roles in several major musical films like “Into the Woods,” “Cats,” and “The Prom”; and has won five Emmys for his Apple TV+ series “Carpool Karaoke.” #19. Craig Ferguson Frederick M. Brown // Getty Images – Have heard of: 74% – Have positive opinion of: 45% Scottish native Craig Ferguson got his big break in comedy at the 1986 Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Festival. In the 1990s, he moved to America and landed a starring role on “The Drew Carey Show.” Then, in 2004, he won the opportunity to replace Craig Kilborn as the host of CBS’s “The Late Late Show,” a position he held for 11 seasons. Since leaving in 2014, he’s been involved in a number of other projects, including voice acting and hosting game shows like “Celebrity Name Game” and “The Hustler.” As of March 2024, Ferguson is considering a possible return to the late-night circuit. #18. Trevor Noah Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy // Getty Images – Have heard of: 79% – Have positive opinion of: 46% Born and raised in South Africa, comedian Trevor Noah began working as a correspondent on “The Daily Show” in 2014. The following year, Comedy Central announced that he’d be replacing Jon Stewart as full-time host, a position he held until 2022. For that final season, Noah won the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series. He’s kept very busy since leaving “The Daily Show,” hosting award shows like the Grammys and touring worldwide while filming multiple comedy specials. #17. Dick Cavett Bettmann // Getty Images – Have heard of: 72% – Have positive opinion of: 46% Dick Cavett got his start in late-night TV behind the scenes, writing jokes for the likes of Jack Paar and Johnny Carson. Then, in 1968, ABC offered him his own show, simply titled “The Dick Cavett Show,” which ran as the network’s entry in the late-night wars, airing in the 11:30 p.m. slot. Often described as a more cerebral offering, the series ran until 1975 and took home multiple Emmys before Cavett moved on to other projects. Now in his 80s, Cavett’s latest late-night appearance was on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in 2020. #16. John Oliver Mike Coppola/Getty Images for The Bob Woodruff Foundation // Getty Images – Have heard of: 74% – Have positive opinion of: 47% Another host who got his start doing stand-up, British comedian John Oliver honed his cutting-edge political humor on stages across the U.K. before hopping across the pond in 2006 to become a correspondent on “The Daily Show.” In 2014, he was given his own late-night series, HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” Now in its 11th season, the show has won 28 Emmys and is frequently praised for its insightful musings and for pressing on political, social, and cultural issues. You may also like: 50 best Netflix original series #15. Steve Allen Archive Photos // Getty Images – Have heard of: 78% – Have positive opinion of: 49% Steve Allen got his start in radio in the 1940s before becoming a late-night pioneer in the 1950s. The co-creator and first host of “The Tonight Show” only sat behind the desk for five years (from 1953 to 1957), but his style and sense of humor set the precedent for much of what we still see on these types of shows today, including man-on-the-street interviews and audience participation. After stepping back from “The Tonight Show,” Allen hosted several other game shows, variety shows, and talk shows, and he also composed hundreds of songs for the stage and other artists. He died in 2000 at the age of 78. #14. Arsenio Hall Christopher Polk/Variety // Getty Images – Have heard of: 85% – Have positive opinion of: 49% When ratings for “The Late Show with Joan Rivers” began to sag in the late 1980s, Arsenio Hall was tapped by Fox as a guest host tasked with reviving the series. Though the show eventually folded, Hall impressed executives and audiences enough that he was awarded his own series with Paramount, “The Arsenio Hall Show.” Running from 1989 to 1994, the show was known for booking guests other hosts shied away from (like Public Enemy and Tupac Shakur) and for tackling topics Hall’s competitors often skirted around, from the HIV/AIDS epidemic to gang violence. #13. Jon Stewart Brad Barket/Getty Images for Comedy Central // Getty Images – Have heard of: 86% – Have positive opinion of: 49% Thirty years ago, Jon Stewart launched MTV’s first talk show, “The Jon Stewart Show,” a job that eventually led to him hosting Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” From 1999 to 2015, Stewart helmed the late-night show, winning a slew of accolades along the way, including 10 consecutive Emmy Awards for Oustanding Variety Series. After a nearly decade-long hiatus, during which he hosted “The Problem with Jon Stewart” on Apple TV+, Stewart returned to “The Daily Show” in 2024. #12. Sinbad Mike Windle/Getty Images for Celebrity Fight Night // Getty Images – Have heard of: 85% – Have positive opinion of: 50% After turns on hit shows “A Different World” and “The Sinbad Show,” a couple of HBO stand-up specials, and several movie roles in the ’80s and ’90s, comedian and actor Sinbad was given the opportunity to host the syndicated late-night show “Vibe” in 1997, replacing the series’ initial host, Chris Spencer. Although the gig only lasted one year, it stood out thanks to the type of audience it attracted–young, urban viewers vs. more middle-aged, suburban watchers. #11. Stephen Colbert Frederick M. Brown // Getty Images – Have heard of: 91% – Have positive opinion of: 50% One of the longest-running correspondents on “The Daily Show,” Stephen Colbert was given his own late-night show in 2005, Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” He left that gig in 2014 to take over CBS’s “The Late Show” after David Letterman’s retirement. Now the #1 show on late-night TV, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” has won the Peabody Award and has more than two dozen Emmy nominations. You may also like: Best ‘Gunsmoke’ episodes #10. Conan O’Brien