John Fredrick Parker
Donor
Spin off from this thread: assuming Daivd Letterman got the Tonight Show in 1992, who would you want to have also seen go on to get a late night show?
Let's start with the obvious -- Jay Leno, Carson's frequent substitute; could have had Late Night
There were also a number of comedians who had network broadcast late night talk shows in the early 1990's (each called "The [name] show"). Some might have endured if Letterman was their only competition:
Arsenio Hall
Dennis Miller
Jon Stewart
Dana Carvey
Whoopi Goldberg
Chevy Chase
Bill Maher -- host of Politically Incorrect*
Then there's the competition of OTL, but I think they'd be more unlikely; as such, I'm not including them in the poll.
Jimmy Kimmel -- was pretty much an unknown before The Man Show premiered in 1999
Conan O'Brien -- a writer for the Simpsons; came insanely close OTL to not getting Late Night; even less likely with Letterman taking over TTS
Craig Ferguson -- just as unlikely
That said , if you want to make other suggestions, I'd love to hear them too.
*started on Comedy Central 1993, moved to ABC 1997; still feasible TTL, if not sooner
Let's start with the obvious -- Jay Leno, Carson's frequent substitute; could have had Late Night
There were also a number of comedians who had network broadcast late night talk shows in the early 1990's (each called "The [name] show"). Some might have endured if Letterman was their only competition:
Arsenio Hall
Dennis Miller
Jon Stewart
Dana Carvey
Whoopi Goldberg
Chevy Chase
Bill Maher -- host of Politically Incorrect*
Then there's the competition of OTL, but I think they'd be more unlikely; as such, I'm not including them in the poll.
Jimmy Kimmel -- was pretty much an unknown before The Man Show premiered in 1999
Conan O'Brien -- a writer for the Simpsons; came insanely close OTL to not getting Late Night; even less likely with Letterman taking over TTS
Craig Ferguson -- just as unlikely
That said , if you want to make other suggestions, I'd love to hear them too.
*started on Comedy Central 1993, moved to ABC 1997; still feasible TTL, if not sooner