The Evolution of Late Night

We all know Johnny Carson set the template for the late-night talk show. He wasn’t the first person to have his own show at that hour but was the first guy to make it a major part of our culture. He is the ancestral father of late night, the first organism in a vast, lifeless ocean.

If that’s true then that would mean that David Letterman is the first creature to grow legs and walk upon the earth. He was product of what came before him, but he chose not emulate or imitate his predecessor but rather find his own way on uncharted ground. To create something new in a land that wasn’t there before.

We don’t often think about the courage of the creature that first walked on land. How tempting it must have been to stay behind in familiarity, but that creature must of known that there were better things to explore. David Letterman must have felt the same thing way back when. There must of been the temptation to just be a later version what came before. If it works, why change it? Because nothing grows from stasis. Growth comes from evolution.

Evolution isn’t a straight line but a web, and that is what I think the most impressive part of Dave’s legacy is. How many comedians and shows site him as their biggest influence. Conan, Kimmel, and Stewart all offered their heartfelt appreciation for him, even though they are in direct competition. It’s easy to see why they would be grateful. They wouldn’t exist without him, without someone with the courage to grow legs and walk.

Some might say the explosion of talk shows and comedians was bound to happen. We have more channels now so it makes sense we have more shows, and the nature of the universe is to expand after all. Perhaps Dave just existed in a time when some one was bound to take the first step and he just happened to be that first guy. It’s true that anyone or anything could be the first to make a move into unknown lands, but not everything can survive there.

Someone else could have faltered and we would have incorrectly assumed that there can only be Johnny, that we must stay in the ocean, that we can never go on land. It takes someone special to not only start something new but make sure that when he’s gone, a legacy is left behind.