The Art of the Late Night Talk Show.

I've started getting into watching clips & segments of the US late night TV chat shows they put up on Youtube. A lot of this stuff goes viral anyway so its hard to miss Carpool Karaoke with Adele or Stephen Colbert interviewing Donald Trump. What I find complex and intriguing about the structure of these shows, is that they air an hour long talk show. Like the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Then afterwards, they will air another hour long talk show like Late Night with Seth Meyers. And if you live on the East Coast, Seth Meyers doesn't start til 30 past midnight. Does anyone actually stay up to watch these shows? Furthermore, I've read there is another chat show some nights with Carson Daly that doesn't start until 1:30AM. This isn't a weekly occurrence like we have with the Graham Norton show in the UK. These talk shows are nightly. The jokes they have to keep churning out, the heavy rotation of guests have to be processed. And its not like the guests are exclusive to each show. If there is something to promote, these actors, singers, whatever, move along a conveyor belt of chat show babysitters until the promotion is done.

What I really want to know, is this talk show format a staple of American culture? I've heard of Johnny Carson, David Letterman & Jay Leno as being legends of the talk show format. But I didn't realise how intense and expansive it is. Its like every channel has their own talk show brand thats decades old and they find the freshest comedic commentator to be their mascot. There's also the cable shows like The Daily Show with Trevor Noah & Conan O'Brien which are nightly too. I'm sure there are many more out there.