5 Reasons Why I Love Late Night

This week I reflected on my television viewing experience (as most cool people do..) and realized that a large portion of what I watch is late night television. So what is a late night show? Just anything on after a certain time? I'm glad you asked.  Late night TV usually begins after the local news on week nights, or sometimes weekend nights in SNL's case..  It consists of either a variety show or talk show, but does not have to strictly be either.  One of the most famed hosts of a late night show was Johnny Carson who hosted The Tonight Show on NBC. Although there were hosts before Carson, he was one the one that everyone loved and he really set the bar for how talk shows would be in the future.  Carson was a genius and most of all he was successful. So successful that pretty much everyone at NBC worshiped him.  I'm currently reading a book called Live From New York which discusses how Saturday Night Live began. I found it very interesting to read that the reason SNL began in the first place was because Carson's reruns were airing on weekend nights and he wanted them to be shown on weeknights so he could have time off.  Thus began the creation of the largely successful sketch comedy/variety show that is SNL. From Carson, you can see how influential late night has become in television. So here are five reasons why I love the largely successful and innovative enterprise that is late night television.

5. The source of most of my current events knowledge.

I must admit that as a high school student, I don't really watch the news that often.  That is why it's actually quite nice to hear some of the news in comedy form. Although this sounds like a great way to learn what's going on in the world, some people think that it might be a not so good source for our news.  That is why this is number five because in all honestly, I think they do have a point. Comedy might spin a small bias on whatever news you get from it.  But! I have also found that pretty much all the shows I have watched like the Tonight Show and The Daily Show seem to keep their opinions at bay and instead just present the comedy.

4. Welcomes new comedians. 

This year I have kind of been obsessing over comedy.  I watch a lot more comedy shows, I'm a frequent visitor to sites like collegehumor.com, and I literally listen to stand-up comedy everyday. Because late night shows are largely comedy based, they welcome on a lot of new comedians.  Whether its writers that get to show off their material in monologues, or stand-ups who get on stage and demonstrate a good set, late night fosters new comedians.

3. Great music.

Not only do late night shows have new comedians, but they also have new artists. For exampe, this may just make me seem like I'm out of it, but the first time I ever heard of Adele was on SNL. This was a long time ago just to clarify, it wasn't like I saw her first a couple months ago. This was before "21", her famous album, was released.  There is also great bands that play for these shows regularly.  The awesome saxophone guy (name is Lenny Pickett, thanks wikipedia!) on SNL, The Roots on Jimmy Fallon, and all the other amazing bands that play in various shows.     

2. Fun interviews and more with your favorite celebrities.

Whether it's Justin Timberlake making digital shorts on SNL and rapping with Fallon, or just an interesting conversation with any celebrity you can think of, late night shows do a lot of fun things with your favorite stars.  If it's an interview show like Fallon's, you might get to see an interview and a little skit or game played.  It's a great way to see an actor, singer, or whatever in a different environment. This is very true for SNL, where many of the hosts have no comedic background whatsoever.

1. Entertaining.

The number one reason why I love late night television so much is because it is truly fun to watch.  The comedy is great, the music is fun, the writing is creative, and all in all it's one of the most innovative parts of television to watch and has been for quite some time.