The animals craping on the desk is not the spontaneous stuff that happened on Carson.

Actually yes it was. Carson himself and all the new comedians he introduced and Letterman in the 80's.

The thing is there were plenty of bits that bombed but Carson was funnier when they did bomb. His reaction to them bombing was funnier than if they scored. Same with interviews that became lame. Carson always saved it with his reaction. Now Fallon edits out the jokes that bomb and any awkwardness.

Starting?

If I had to watch an hour of Fallon gushing and fawning over guests I would lose my mind.

And Fallon almost ruined that with his smirking.

No. Quest love is one of the most amateurish drummers I've ever seen.

Carson didn't end anything. She had her own late night network show and she flamed out. She then went on the have several daytime talk shows and cable shows. So she wasn't destroyed.

Yeah, his clip reel from 7 months was longer and 100 funnier than Leno's from 22 years!

Leno was never considered the pinnacle of hipness in late night except when he was Letterman's guest. Once he became Carson's guest host, there was a depressing feeling that he would get the show. And when he did, he didn't do a damn thing with it but continue to do the exact same thing as when he was guest host,…

I think that's payola. NBC or Lorne Michaels is paying those websites to post that crap!

Hicks bought into Leno's whole persona on Letterman, who used to rail against the same thing. Leno went on to become what he used to make fun of.

Hey, wait a minute, that was Carson's format!

The only time Leno was great was as a guest on Letterman, otherwise he was really nothing special. Guesting on Letterman and the rapport between them is what made Leno popular and what got him the Tonight Show. Alone Leno was hacky and boring.

Actually he didn't

He was one of the first to let George Carlin not only do his thing unrestricted but also let him guest host. You can't get much edgier than that!

Carson's greatest gift was turning around a joke that bombed. In fact, it was better and funnier than if the joke had scored. Plus Carson was smart. He could do a serious interview about science or politics and make in interesting.

He was a comedian. He had a stand up comedy act that he did in Las Vegas and to a limited extent, on the road and it wasn't anything like his TS monologue.

Not talking about animals crapping on desk.

The best host for easy, hacky, lowest common denominator humor. He was also the best host for never doing anything original and being horrible at interviewing.