The New King Of Late Night

With more places to view media than ever before, late night television has had to adapt to the change in media consumption, but that still leaves the question, is there one comedian, a King of Late Night, to rule them all? Following in the footsteps of Johnny Carson, Jimmy Fallon has revitalized late night television, reclaiming the title of King for NBC. In years past, Carson was known as the King of Late Night and set precedents all throughout the industry—the modern monologue, the band, the announcer and creative sketches were all developed based on Carson’s “Tonight Show.” Even as a prolific comedian, it must be noted that late night in itself was not as large an industry during Carson’s reign, he was basically the only comedian on television that people had the choice to watch. To say the least, he left big shoes to fill and created an evolving genre of television that were the inspiration for today’s biggest names in late night.Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, Larry Wilmore and James Cordon all have late night comedy shows continually battling it out week after week. It is easy to go by the numbers and say Jimmy Fallon is clearly the frontrunner of this group. His ratings are still off the charts nearly a year and a half into his run as host of “The Tonight Show,” but in today’s media landscape where more people watch Netflix than network television, raw Neilsen ratimgs are increasingly irrelevant.Many consumers go to YouTube to watch the daily monologue or catch an interview with their favorite celebrity. Watching the entire show is too time consuming, but three minute clips are consumable as a quick break in the day, therefore much more accessible to those with little time in the work week to enjoy the whole show. Segments and clips are also much more shareable, circulating through social media such as Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook very quickly. This has made sketch comedy a regular on late night, particularly with Fallon, who has scored over 50 million views on his “Lip Sync Battles” and even more with his “History of Rap” musical bits with Justin Timberlake. Sketches are effective not only because of their accesibility, but because they act as a gateway for new viewers to be introduced to the show. Mastery of the sketch is a key part of late night that has even given rise to a new genre of sketch comedy shows like “Inside Amy Schumer” that follow in the realm of “Saturday Night Live,” where the entirety of the show is sketches.Other comedians have been dealing with this change in consumption differently, but this round still goes to Fallon who dominates in musical and sketch comedy. This isn’t to say other shows don’t have great bits; Kimmel has “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets,” which is also in the 50 million view range on YouTube. Despite this, Fallon’s domination occurs in his wide variety of sketches. In addition to short sketches, Fallon has also done more intensive digital shorts, in the ten minute range, that have had great success due to their intricacy. In late September, Fallon released a parody of the Fox hit show “Empire” entitled “Jimpire,” and it already has close to 4 million views on YouTube. In short, the late night has been finding less and less of its success in its celebrity guests and is now reeling in viewers with the lighthearted comedy that gets laughs no matter where you’re watching.This isn’t to say that Fallon has a perfect show; even after being on “Late Night,” his interviews are not as impressive as his competitors. Often melting into giggles with his guests, Fallon’s boyish interview style does not always provoke interesting conversation. This is especially noticeable in interviews with political figures and A-list celebrities. In contrast, Colbert, with his political comedy background, has produced many insightful interviews with political guests in his first few weeks of “The Late Show.” Sorry, Jimmy, but it might be time to grow out of the giggles.Even with this sometimes distracting trait of “The Tonight Show,” under Fallon, his sense of genuineness has a major impact. Instead of watching a guy make fun of the world for a living, Fallon feels more like a guy you’ve known for years. Taking down his jokes to the audience’s level, Fallon is a friend more so that a face, and for that, he possesses the crown and rules over late night television.