History of Late Night TV

Steve Allen was the original Tonight Show host. Before Tonight, he hosted a 40 minute show on WNBT in New York. It originated from a studio on 67th Street in a studio leased from WOR-TV. It was a variety show called Knickerbocker Beer presents The Steve Allen Show. On the show, Steve would talk with the audience, play the piano, invite various guests and chat with announcer/sidekick Gene Rayburn.  Allen's Tonight Show's length was 105 minutes. During the 1956-57 season, Allen shared hosting duties with Ernie Kovacs, who would host the show on Mondays and Tuesdays. Allen had a Sunday night show so he needed time to devote to that. It was in hopes of dethroning Ed Sullivan's dominanace of Sunday night ratings that led to Steve Allen's Sunday night show.

 

Allen's Tonight Show announcer was Gene Rayburn, who would later host The Match Game. His Tonight Show bandleader was Skitch Henderson.

 

Ernie Kovacs' announcer was Bill Wendell, who would later work as the announcer for Late Night with David Letterman in the NBC years.

 

Allen was known for his man-on-the-street antics. David Letterman has said that some of his bits where he leaves the studio are based on the work of Steve Allen. The same can be said for Letterman's physical comedy bits. 

 

Allen was a pioneer, creating such talk show staples as celebrity interviews and audience participation. His late night format is followed to this day, 60 years later. He was amazingly versatile, as a comic, an interviewer, musician and author of a dozen books.

 

After the departure of Allen and Kovacs in January of 1957, NBC tried a new format for the show and it was re-named Tonight! America After Dark. This was hosted by Jack Lescoulie for about 6 months. Then for about a month it was hosted by Al "Jazzbo" Collins. The show was not a hit with viewers, so in July of 1957, NBC returned to the familiar late night format to make way for the new show under the leadership of Jack Paar.

 

NBC executive Fred Silverman wanted Steve Allen to return to late night TV in the late 1970s/early 1980s to host a show that would follow Johnny Carson. Silverman was not a fan of Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show. Allen did not take the job and David Letterman eventually followed Carson's show, starting in 1982.

 

Steve Allen died in 2000 at the age of 78.