Late Night (franchise)

Late Night is an American late-night talk and variety show airing on NBC since 1982. Four men have hosted Late Night: David Letterman (1982–1993), Conan O'Brien (1993–2009), Jimmy Fallon (2009–2014), and Seth Meyers (2014–present). Each iteration of the show was built around its host, and maintained distinct identities aside from the title, timeslot, and network. The longest-serving host to date was O'Brien, who hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien for almost 16 years, from September 1993 to February 2009. Late Night with David Letterman The show replaced The Tomorrow Show, hosted by Tom Snyder (and later co-hosted by Rona Barrett), on Mondays through Thursdays. It did not expand to Fridays until 1987, when Friday Night Videos was moved back an hour to accommodate a five-day-a-week Late Night. Late Night originated from NBC's headquarters building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, inheriting Studio 6A from Tomorrow (it was also the studio for Letterman's morning program in 1980). The program ran four nights a week, Monday to Thursday, from the show's premiere in February 1982 until May 1987. Friday shows were added in June 1987 (NBC previously aired Friday Night Videos in the 12:30 am slot with occasional Late Night specials and reruns). Starting in September 1991, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was pushed back from 11:30 pm to 11:35 p m, with Letterman starting at 12:35 am, at the request of NBC affiliates who wanted more advertising time for their profitable late newscasts. In mid-1993, E! Entertainment Television purchased broadcast rights to Late Night. The network aired complete shows from various years five days per week from 1993 until 1996. Then Trio (owned by NBC) picked up reruns and showed them from 2002 until the channel went off the air in 2005. In 2022, David Letterman launched his official YouTube channel, which contains clips from this show and his previous morning and later Late Show programs. A number of programs were sold by GoodTimes Entertainment in 1992–93.