Letterman is better than Leno in every way (except ratings)

Dave is the Best because he is real. Leno is so phony. I think Dave proves he is the best all the time, but especially with his shows after 911, after his heart surgery, and after his son, Harry was born. I can't imagine Leno having any real emotions about anything! He is a wishy-washy robot.

Donna Fox

Conan
Letterman
Everything else ever made and put on TV aside from American Idol
Leno
American Idol

In that order.

Letterman is WAAAY better than Leno. Leno sucks more than anything can ever suck. All because of his writers. Plus Kevin is just a useless piece of set furniture. He's no Max or Paul. No way is he even close to Ellen's old and new DJ/sidekick. God, Leno and Kevin just suck. The announcer ain't a shining gem either. Letterman and Conan have great hosts, band leaders and announcers that participate way better than anything on Leno.

I spent the eighties and early nineties watching Letterman every single night. He was the funniest man on television and his talk show was the only one that seemed to break out of the Carson formula of folksy humor and personable interviews (Which was fine for Carson but terrible for every other show). Leno was a terrible host ever since his first days as a Carson guest host. I could never stand to watch him interview, even though I enjoyed his old stand-up routines.

A lot of time has passed since then, and I have to admit that I now find Leno and Letterman to be equals. Leno is slightly funnier than he used to be and Letterman has fallen a long way from his creative heights. Both of them conduct the most scripted and dull interviews you can think of. I now watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report for my nightly fix of topical humor and talk. Their interviews aren't scripted (or don''t feel scripted) and the guests seem much more likely to say something interesting because many of their guests actually have something to say.

Love Letterman!!!

While his monologue is not as good as Leno's...everything else about Dave is top-notch!

Funny, sarcastic,intelligent and entertaining!

Letterman's a MUCH better interviewer. Anyone who saw him verbally joust with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston in the span of one week back when they were denying their relationship can easily see the difference between the two. Leno would have just talked about the movie they were plugging; Letterman dared to dig deeper and make the guests a little bit uncomfortable, let their personalities out a little bit, make it different than the same damn scripted interview we see everywhere else.

The only one who approaches him in interviewing skill is Craig Ferguson. But between Leno and Letterman? It's no contest.

Leno BLOWS.

Although I must say Letterman gets more and more inconsistant as the years go on. Some of his monologue jokes are just terrible.

One of these days, I would like to see a boxed set of old 'Late Night with David Letterman' shows - with a few of the ancient MORNING shows as a bonus. WAY overdue.

Johnny Carson wasn't even funny the last five years of his show, and David Letterman is channeling those last five years. I do like what Letterman has done with the "Jack Hannah Brings Animals That Surprise And Attack Dave And Dave Is On The Lookout For It". It's the only new schtick in years. Why I'll watch Dave: Top Ten Things. Why Dave is dumb: Will It Float/Is This Anything?/Monologue.

I'll often flip back and forth, and one night about two months ago, they both did the same joke within a minute of each other in the monologue. Dave's audience laughed and laughed and Leno's didn't laugh hard at all. Nearly the same delivery. I didn't think the joke was that funny, and that's why I turned it just when Leno made the same joke.

Also: I have predicted before and I'll do it again, Conan will flame out horribly when he gets his late night promotion. Funny guy, bad talk show host.

Finally, Craig is funny. The funniest monologue, and it almost makes up for the lame stuff that comes after. Interesting how Craig is the only one without supporting on-air talent where it makes you focus on the monologue and later takes away from the rest of the show.

I am an ex New Yorker/Jersey resident now living in
Amsterdam in The Netherlands. I can get Jay Leno &
Conan O'Brien via satellite; but, my favorite late
night host is David Letterman. Is there any way for
me to view the show that I'm not aware of? I do view
CBS News via Sky News because Murdoch is kind to US
expatriats so I know it can be done.
Thankyou---Anne Cristello

When has Leno ever said anything funny when its not written for him on a card? He is not spontaneous and relies completely on prepared material. On the other hand, the best moments of any given Letterman show are when Dave makes random offhand comments. There's a big difference between someone who is good at telling jokes and someone who is funny and original.
It's little wonder why at the Emmy's Jon Stewart said that comedians of his generation look up to Dave the same way Dave looked up to Johnny Carson. Everybody knows that Dave is the original.
Also, Craig Ferguson makes up his entire monologue as he goes, while Conan just reads jokes and jumps around like a monkey when he wants a cheap laugh. Seems to me that it takes a lot more talent to wing 15 minutes of comedy.

Not that Dave needs me to defend him, but I've been going to bat for him for years now. Leno's audience skews to the dumbed-down demographic. Can you imagine Jay having a segment on "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches"? Would Jay do a spot calling the Vice President "Just a Big Bowl of Bad"? Therein lies the difference.