I know that I should go to bed earlier than I do. As you get older, you become more of a morning person, I think. I shouldn't be staying up until 1AM when I have to get up at 6AM. Having said that, I find myself staying up late and watching the late night talk shows and surfing around to see what's on the cable channels.

Here are my picks for the eight best things about late night TV right now. The stuff to watch with a bag of Doritos in one hand and the remote in the other.

1. Letterman's desk chat. This is the ten or fifteen minutes that starts after the first commercial break. It's Dave being his most Dave-est, when he just talks to the audience and to the camera and banters with Paul, usually telling a story about something that happened to him (such as that recent scandal) or going on a riff about something that irritates him. It's also the part of 'The Late Show' where we see some of the best comedy bits: on-the-street shenanigans, interaction with the audience, Stupid Pet Tricks, Lyle the Intern, visits with Rupert, Jay Thomas and his Lone Ranger story. This is the best part of the show.

2. Whatever is on TCM. Seriously, isn't it just great to have a channel like Turner Classic Movies? They show great stuff all the time, but it's always great to flip on over (if pressing a remote button can be called "flipping on over") to see what film noir, drama, classic comedy, or funky film documentary they're showing.

Of all the channels, network or cable, I think I'd miss TCM the most if it suddenly went away.

3. Colbert and Stewart. This is a no-brainer, right? 'The Daily Show' and 'The Colbert Report' would probably be on anyone's list of must-see late night shows. Somehow, someway, they both remain damn funny after all these years.

Besides, whatever is happening on these shows is probably something that's going to be talked about a lot online the next day, so you better watch them.

4. Kimmel's monologue. I think Jimmy Kimmel does the best monologue in late night, because he does it differently than everyone else. It's not just joke, joke, joke, joke. Kimmel shows TV news bloopers, banters with his uncle and Guillermo, shows little sketches and commercial spoofs, dumps on celebrities, has special filmed message from the cast of 'Lost,' etc. Leno might have more jokes per minute, but Kimmel's monologue is funnier and takes more chances.

5. Fallon's thank you notes. Oh, I love this regular Friday night feature. Fallon just writes thank you notes to various people, places, and things, accompanied by a simple piano melody. Every one that I've seen has been funny, and it's just a nice, clever bit to end the week on.

6. 'Charlie Rose'/'Red Eye.' This this is probably the only time you'll see the FOX News funny news show listed with the serious PBS talk show, but they both dissect the issues of the day, just in completely different ways.

I picked 'Red Eye' as a Show You Should Be Watching several months ago, and Charlie Rose...well, it's just great to have a news show where it's just two people talking calmly about something and not yelling at an opponent.

7. 'Poker After Dark.' How late is this on? It's on NBC after 'Last Call with Carson Daly,' which means the only people watching it are probably people with insomnia, people who crave poker 24/7, or people named Daniel Negraneu.

Needless to say, you have to like poker to like it, but if you do you'll see a more casual cash game being played by the top players. Note: I say it's casual, but there also seems to be a lot of arguments too.

8. Repeats on cable. I'm talking about all of the shows you missed a few hours earlier in prime time. Isn't it convenient that a lot of the cable channels repeat the prime time lineup after midnight? So if you missed 'Unwrapped' or 'Real Housewives' or 'Attack of the Show' or 'South Park' or 'Modern Marvels' earlier in the night and didn't record them (or you just find yourself surfing around), you can catch them then.

What do you find yourself watching late at night?