Putting together the perfect late-night talk show host

July 13, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By Steve Johnson

Chicago Tribune

NBC likes Jay better than it did Conan or Dave. To follow him, Dave liked two Craigs and a Tom. Jimmy succeeded Conan, who succeeded Dave, who succeeded Tom.

But none of these men has managed to get late night absolutely right.

In a situation like this, it is generally useful to ask, “What would Frankenstein do?” The scientist, in his lab, stitched together human parts to make a new creature. But his tragic mistake was in rejecting, rather than loving, his creation.

If we could actually assemble a character from the pieces we propose below, we would adore it to an extreme. We would stay up late, laughing, more often.

THE PARTS:

Craig Ferguson’s monologue

Deliriously loopy and free-form, this is the single most exciting thing in late-night TV right now. Ferguson, formerly an actor on “The Drew Carey Show,” was a surprise choice to replace Craig Kilborn in 2005, after Craig left the “Late Late Show,” CBS’s post-David Letterman franchise. And it took the Scotsman time to find his stride.

But tune in these days, and you might be greeted not by the host, but by “Sid,” a prolifically profane rabbit (puppet). You might see the monologue extended to half an hour, even when there’s a guest as high profile as Scarlett Johansson waiting in the wings. There’s a recklessness to it, a sense of danger reminiscent of first-rate improvisational theater.

Conan O’Brien’s writer’s sensibility

O’Brien has had all the publicity of late, brilliantly parlaying NBC’s take-back of the “Tonight Show” gig into sympathy and a sold-out national comedy tour that was packed with advertiser-coveted 20-somethings. But while the tour has probably taught this one-time high-level comedy writer some useful things about performing, he’ll just never be as easy to watch as Ferguson. Still, what O’Brien and his writing team did with “Tonight” was fresh and format-challenging; if only people had paid attention before it was too late.

David Letterman’s interviewing

The comedy these days on Letterman’s CBS “Late Show” is, at best, jogging at an easy pace. It’s not until Dave starts talking to his guests that his brilliant mind, seemingly, re-engages. He’ll make it pretty clear when he thinks he’s dealing with a fool, but he also does the best thing of all: He genuinely listens to what his celebrity visitors say and reacts honestly, routinely turning these pro forma sales calls into moments of character revelation. Letterman’s fawning over attractive female guests has been criticized, and it certainly looks bad in light of revelations about his private life. But the on-show flirting is often mutual and, to my mind, more charmingly awkward than creepy.

Jimmy Fallon’s subject matter

Fallon, who took O’Brien’s chair at NBC’s “Late Night,” can be charming to a fault, his shrugging boyishness a ready crutch. But give him credit for bringing to late night a genuine engagement with Internet culture and an interaction with popular music deeper than just having the bands come and play their latest. Recently his show had Sheryl Crow, Green Day and others, over the course of a week, cover songs from the Rolling Stones’ classic “Exile on Main Street,” creating a musical event in its own right.

Jon Stewart’s search for meaning

Stewart in a small room is naturally, easily funny about almost everything, and he has become a better comic actor than he gives himself credit for. His epic send-up of Glenn Beck earlier this year turned the Fox News demagogue inside out, exposing Beck’s tricks in a way that would make it hard to take him seriously afterward. Though Stewart can get over-earnest and pedantic in interviewing his guests, it’s part of the same reason his “Daily Show” is great. He pushes the program to actually be about something, specifically the way politicians and the media too often engage in an elaborate pantomime of making and covering news at the expense of serving the public.

Stephen Colbert’s performance skills

“The Colbert Report,” which follows “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, makes much the same satirical point as Stewart, but Colbert does it as high theater, maintaining for five years now the elaborate fiction of “Stephen Colbert,” a right-leaning, fact-averse, self-infatuated disciple of “Papa Bear” Bill O’Reilly. Seeing it in the early days, you might have thought this joke would play itself out. It is testament to Colbert’s skill that the character not only still earns the welcome mat, but has grown richer.