For many people, watching television ends at 11PM Eastern Time, when network programming ends, or at 11:30 PM Eastern Time at the conclusion of the local news. But for millions of people, the fun continues into the night with late night talk shows.

The origins of the late night talk show can be traced back to 1954 when The Tonight Show, starring Steve Allen made its debut. The original show and subsequent versions, with Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, and Jay Leno, followed similar formats. The show always started with a monologue by the host which featured comedy bits and offered commentary on world events. The remainder of the show consisted of conversation and performances by the guests. It’s been a formula that has been successful for decades and continues to go strongly today.

Since the genre first appeared in the 50’s, many other shows have debuted. They include The Arsenio Hall Show, The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder, and the Late, Late Show during weekdays, and Saturday Night Live during weekends. These shows provided viewers with opportunities to watch and listen to guests during the pre-Internet days.

Even today, despite the fact that people have access to a wide variety of multi-media entertainment through the Internet, late night talk shows continue to have millions of viewers on a daily basis. These faithful supporters enjoy the entertainment provided by some of the current talk shows such as The Late Show with David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Late night talk shows have had some very entertaining skits, sketches, monologues and lists that have created a buzz around the water coolers for days at a time. The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was one of the innovators in this genre and produced many memorable skits and characters including Carnac the Magnificent, Art Fern and Aunt Blabby. Many clips of Carson and his famous skits are available online.

David Letterman has also been one of the most innovative of the late night hosts. Letterman originally was the host of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC from 1982 to 1993. That same year he left the network to join the CBS late night lineup with the Late Show with David Letterman. On his show, Letterman has created many regular features. They include the mailbag segments, stump the band and stupid pet/human tricks.

However, the most famous might be the Top Ten lists. On a nightly basis, Letterman creates and presents a top ten list based on a topic. They are presented in countdown format, and often are read by guests on the show. The list segment has been so popular that best of the lists have been published and the lists are often broadcast the next day by various media outlets.

Late night entertainment has been a fixture on television for several decades. Even though the names and faces have changed throughout the years, the basic premise of late night entertainment has remained a constant, and will no doubt continue for many years to come.

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