For nearly seventy years, Americans have turned on their televisions to see the smiling face of a television host interviewing the most popular celebrity or discussing the groundbreaking cultural phenomenon of the day, providing the late night entertainment we needed. From The Drew Barrymore Show to Late Night With David Letterman, there have been dozens of late night talk shows and hosts that have cycled through different networks since the creation of this format. They function as a major way of keeping up with pop culture, major news, and learning more about our favorite celebrities. It gives viewers an insight to what is happening around the world in a way that felt more entertaining than a classic newscaster or red carpet interview, typically including jokes or ways of informing the audience that felt much less removed from what they could relate to.
The first late night talk show was The Faye Emerson Show, hosted by American actress Faye Emerson, who was the true pioneer of this format of television. It initially aired in 1949 which was a very unique time period for America and the world as a whole. NATO was created, the Soviet Union tested their first atomic bomb, and Jim Crow laws were still standing strong throughout the country. Emerson’s show was often described as being “radical for its time as it combined political conversations…and equality for women” according to Peter White for Deadline. Her guests were a wide range of people from political figures to singers, which opened up many opportunities for the guests themselves while simultaneously changing the purpose of late night talk shows.
As many other late night shows sprung up through different networks, this concept became highly popular. From the casual conversation styles to the comfortable settings, interviews became more of an inviting experience that pulled the audience right into them. This created a massive shift in the way television and media as a whole began functioning, because people no longer were drawn into the typical formats of simply listening in or reading about what was going on. They wanted to see it, laugh along with it, and hear about it in a way that beckoned them into the conversation too.
Despite the popularity of late night television throughout the past decades, there has been a large decrease in viewership in recent years. It’s undeniable that with the creation of social media and short-form content, people no longer seek out the same ways of finding out information that they once did. As Calum Marsh stated for the New York Times, “If you want punch lines about the news, you can scroll through X. If you want to hear an actor talk about his latest movie, you can listen to a podcast. If you want comedy skits or stupid pet tricks, you can swipe through TikTok.”
While there are still countless late night talk shows that are widely popular, they don’t serve the same purpose they once did. Many late night shows, such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, upload clips of each episode onto YouTube for viewers to watch the highlights rather than sitting through an entire episode. Oftentimes, the algorithm will recommend people to see clips of late night shows on social media if they’ve engaged with other content of the featured guest. Otherwise, it’s rare people deliberately seek out watching entire episodes when they air. According to Late Nighter, “viewing among adults 18-49 fell 16% in 2025”. While the numbers of viewers of late night shows have continued to decrease in recent years, there is a new form of “talk show” that’s increasing.
In 2014, Amelia Dimoldenberg launched Chicken Shop Date as a YouTube series, transitioning from being a column in a youth magazine based in London. In 2015, the first episode of Hot Ones, hosted by Sean Combs, aired on YouTube, which pushed artists and celebrities to step out of their social and spice comfort zones. Various celebrities such as Amy Poehler and Bowen Yang, alongside Matt Rogers, have started their own podcasts. These different forms of interviewing guests have been made popular through something late night talk shows seem to typically lack: authenticity.
Even if late night talk shows had a set in which guests would sit on a comfy couch to talk about their latest news and the host was throwing in jokes that made for memorable moments, it never felt intimate for the audience. Many journalists who typically conduct the PR interviews for red carpet events or recent movie or television releases have a strict jargon that feels like a forced attempt at making the guests feel comfortable. The formats of interviewing artists in the past are awkward, scripted, and outdated. As Joy Press says for Vanity Fair, guests of these new forms of talk shows “aren’t journalists, and they don’t pretend to be – they’d rather establish a mutually beneficial relationship than challenge guests. They don’t interrogate; they collab”.
This concept of collaborating with guests rather than simply throwing uncomfortable questions and topics at them, is what makes these new talk shows so special. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, host of online talk show Royal Court and podcast The Broski Report, Brittany Broski, states that “For the longest time there’s been this cookie-cutter idea of what a late-night host is. Online, you’re not beholden to anyone.” Online talk shows break the barriers that have been constructed by networks on how talk shows must look and feel by changing everything from the structure of the conversation to the sets themselves. For example, the set of Royal Court is a huge contradiction to the typical talk show set design. Instead of having a couch for the guests to sit at while the host poses questions from behind a desk, the set has a medieval aesthetic and a table adorned with faux foods, creating the feeling of really being inside a mythical castle and attending a royal court.
Not only do these online talk shows reshape the typical sets and aesthetics of what networks typically sought after creating, they also have changed who can be a host. Due to the creative freedom they inspire, more people who would typically be shut down by network executives have been able to have their shot at being a host. Rather than just seeing a white man reporting the latest news or drama, people can now go online and see someone they relate to. There’s no right or wrong way to do it, and the diversity and creativity that these online shows bring to media as a whole has had a huge impact on audiences and guests alike.
When viewers see people who they can relate to or share certain traits with, they feel more connected to the show itself. Diversity and representation matter, and this space has been dominated by white men for far too long. Online, there is no network executive shutting down a talk show only a few seasons in due to “low ratings” when, in reality, it’s simply being hosted by someone who doesn’t fit that mold they believe is necessary for a successful show. There are no boxes to fit into, because the shows are purely represented by the hosts themselves and what they want to bring into the space. Host of Ziwe: You’d Be An Iconic Guest, Ziwe, says “I want to create American history. I want to be part of this greater discourse.” Through hosting online talk shows, these hosts are rewriting the standards that media has held for years, and changing how interviews function as a whole.
From its origins during a highly impactful time period in American politics and culture, to its shift to include a greater space of hosts and audiences in the present day, the talk show remains an incredibly popular form of media and learning. There is room for everyone to be successful in this space as proven through the popularity and influence that has been made by these shows as a result. Even if talk shows aren’t your thing, there is likely a much higher chance of finding one that resonates with you today than 74 years ago when they first began.