A Not-That-Definitive Ranking of Late-Night Talk Show Hosts During Conan O’Brien’s Era

All of them. Or all the ones I could remember.

Tonight is the final episode of Conan O’Brien’s late night talk show hosting career, after a stunning 28 years on the air. O’Brien isn’t done with television: He’ll be hosting a variety-type show on HBO Max next year. But it’s the end of his talk show. It’s obviously the close of something big.

I’m not going to go into a big O’Brien tribute here: There are plenty of great ones out there, and some excellent interviews too. Instead, in honor of O’Brien’s long, great career, I thought I would do a definitive ranking of every talk show host who had a show at the same time as O’Brien. Why not, right? It’s a way to show just how long O’Brien was on the air, and just how great he ended up being at it.

It is shocking, by the way, how many people had talk shows at the same time as Conan. A lot!

Let’s count them down.

53. Chevy Chase

52. Ron Reagan

51. Magic Johnson