Guess who’s King of Late-Night Talk!
Actually, let me narrow it down a little. Guess who is King of Adult Viewers Between the Ages of 18 and 49! That’s the most valuable demographic to advertisers, FYI.
Who could it be? Is it Conan O’Brien, buoyed to first place by Team Coco? Or Craig Ferguson, puppeteering his way into his audience’s hearts? Is it Letterman? Leno? What about Kimmel or Fallon or Chelsea Handler, in a sudden and surprising victory?
Find out after the cut!
BOOM!! It’s Jon Stewart!
Of course, this is all according to Comedy Central’s calculations (and NBC reportedly isn’t very impressed with their math skills). The network claims that Stewart has finally edged Leno out for the lead.
Overall, yes, Leno is still the incumbent, undefeated victor in the Late-Night Talk wars, no matter how you try cooking the books. But that’s “overall,” and advertisers should know my mom only buys salves, ointments, and assorted balms.
A ranking of the top 10, among adult viewers, according to Comedy Central:
1) “Daily Show with Jon Stewart”
2) “Tonight Show with Jay Leno”
3) “Late Show with David Letterman”
4) “Colbert Report”
5) “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”
6) “Jimmy Kimmel Live”
7) “Conan”
8) “Chelsea Lately”
9) “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”
10) “DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME! -George Lopez”