There have been great TV talk show hosts over the past two decades that we cannot forget. While some of them are retired, some others are still active and winning hearts, changing the world in their own special way. Let’s have a look at some of them.
Garry Shandling
Garry Shandling’s amazing HBO comedy The Larry Sanders Show is perhaps one of the greatest ever. Shandling was a sitcom writer before he decided to become a standup comedy show host, and becoming a leader in the genre of talk shows. After many appearances on The Tonight Show, where he co-hosted with Johnny Carson on many occasions, he created the Larry Sanders Show for HBO highlighting interesting topics about late night vanities. The show got nominated 56 times for the Emmys through its six years of running.
Oprah Winfrey
Another great talk show host who is definitely known worldwide, is Oprah Winfrey. Hosting the Oprah Winfrey Show for twenty five whole years, 1986 to 2011. She was able to make a world class record of having over forty million viewers weekly, on an average. She was also able to give out two hundred and seventy six Pontiac G6 cars to members of her audience in 2004.
Asides the fact that Oprah was a great TV host herself, she can also take credit for bringing many other TV hosts to the spotlight by giving them their first notable TV appearances. There are seven of them; Dr. Phil, Gayle King, Dr. Oz, Suze Orman, Iyanla Vanzant, Rachael Ray and Nate Berkus.
She is estimated to be worth almost 3 billion dollars.
Jon Stewart
Being a fake Larry Sanders on The Larry Sanders Show, Jon Stewart would be considered a success. However, he went up into stardom when Comedy Central gave him a reason to be himself. Comedy Central had lost one of their most valuable host to CBS due to the amount paid, so they had to look for someone else; Stewart’s lucky day. He started on Comedy Central with “Indecision 2000″, then went on to start the “fake news” show. He won the booby prize and also the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson, a comedian who was in his late 30s stepped into fame When he got the gig to host The Tonight Show from NBC, after Jack Past left. However, Johnny declined the request. He did not want to take any steps that were too dangerous for his career. He worried about how people used to say that Jack Paar can never be replaced. Well, people now say the same thing about him, Carson. He was able to take the show to the next level when he eventually accepted it. Many other shows tried to compete through the 60s, 70s and the 80s, but Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show remained unmoved. His role models were Bob Hope and Jack Benny, and he was able to do the effortless comedy, just like them.
However, despite his successful career, his personal life was a huge mess. He did not have a reasonable relationship with his children and his four wives, and he spent a lot of time drinking and getting drunk. Just because of how he hosted the show, every aspiring TV host just wanted to host The Tonight Show.
These people were the ones who defined the TV Host career and because of them, many people are being made superstars!