fleabag: there's always a stage when someone's falling in love with you that they lose their erection. matt brennan: fleabag is intensely personal and intimate and raunchy. fleabag: honestly you made me cum nine times. man: honestly? meredith baxter: she wanted you to experience the craziness of what she's involved in, she's looking at the camera, and she's having sex with some guy she really doesn't care about. fleabag: he's wasting me. lorraine ali: fleabag was just saying and putting out there what we were all thinking right? who didn't fantasize about obama? she was just being honest. priest: we're going to have sex aren't we? lorraine ali: she slept with a priest. fleabag: yeah. meredith baxter: oh, that's intimate. patrick gomez: it's fascinating to track the evolution of female sexuality in the sitcom because you start off with beds that had to be separate. you couldn't say the word pregnant. fleabag: and i've had a lot of sex outside marriage. patrick gomez: fast forward to now when we celebrate it,

love it and we'll give you an award for it. carson: and so it has come to this. fallon: i thought that johnny carson came with the tv set. leno: what the hell were you thinking? ray: dave was the new johnny, for me. letterman: i'm not exactly a computer. slow down. meyers: it felt... edgy before i was probably old enough to appreciate what edgy was. man: you better be as good as letterman. o'brien: i'll give it a shot. o'brien: my heart dropped through my butt. it exited my butt. stewart: holy [beep] [beep]. noah: this is madness. absolute madness. kimmel: it makes every hair on my body stand up. kimmel: we're on! kimmel: but nobody's a late night host until they are one. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ clinton: tomorrow we will drown out the negative voices that have held us back for too long. reporter: after a night of fires, looting, and violence, five people are dead. katie: the end of an era. after ruling late night television for 30 years, johnny carson steps down tonight. [distant applause] soulam: the build-up to the last tonight show was like a... a train that was gonna be derailed, and all you could do was stand by and watch. carson: here's bette midler. midler: i can't believe it! the last... the last guest. ♪ quarter to three ♪ there's no one in the place except you and me ♪ soulam: this was johnny carson. this is what america knew for 30 years.

there was that intimacy. midler: ♪ and, john, i know you're getting ♪ ♪ anxious to close... crystal: johnny's got a look on his face when she says "john, i know you're getting anxious to go..." that i found, "wow, that made me tear up." soulam: she was the voice for america, that we all wanted to give him a serenade. how cool is that? [applause] carson: and so it has come to this. i'm one of the lucky people in the world. i found something i always wanted to do, and i have enjoyed every single minute of it. lopez: johnny carson was and is, i think, the high water-mark. goldberg: he was it. he was the only one. he was the one that i grew up with. o'brien: he is late night. carson: i bid you a very heartfelt goodnight. [applause]

[cheering] sotzing: and he walked out of the building, and got into a helicopter, and that's the end of that. [applause] embery: and i didn't know if anybody could pick up the flag and run with it. ♪ announcer: live from the nbc studios in burbank california, the tonight show with jay leno! leno: you know, the tonight show ended on a friday. we started on a monday. it was awkward. leno: let's see how you all feel in 30 years. [laughter] leno: when i started i was doing johnny's show exactly the way johnny did it, in johnny's studio, but as the tv critics will tell you, i'm not johnny! vickers: who wouldn't be nervous following the king of late night, right? leno: ah, we are coming to you live! you're seeing this right now, as it happens. we're not on tape. it's live, live, live! noah: leno loves making people laugh, and his vibe is very jovial. but anyone who thinks they can host a late night show,

you are an absolute idiot, because there is so much that goes into it. leno: please welcome billy crystal. [applause] crystal: we'd started out together as stand-ups, and now here we are; he's the host of the tonight show. crystal: the build-up for this, you know, has been tremendous, and i just want to say, i'm gonna miss you. [laughter] nesteroff: in jay leno's first few months, people didn't like him. they thought he was out of his element. leno: you know, from the beginning of vietnam-- uh, the vietnam war until today, our military used more explosives than-- than were used in lethal weapon 1, 2, and 3 combined. unbelievable! all three combined. [laughter] eubanks: sometimes there was nothing to laugh at, and he'd look at me and he would say "thanks for that one." littlefield: i did wonder at times if i had made a mistake, fighting for and believing in jay. leno: one out of every three men is afraid of long-term commitment.

if you ask me, i think one out of every three tv networks is afraid of long-term commitment. vickers: jay started with this huge pressure, a lot of nerves. behind the scenes it was dramatic. littlefield: jay's manager, helen kushnick, was the executive producer. to say helen was not collaborative is an understatement. that was war. leno: and now that his trial is over, suicide doctor jack kevorkian says he wants to buy a brand-new car, says he's gonna get a new car. he said he's sick and tired of driving that old van of his. he said it is nothing but a death trap. you know, that thing is just... macks: the early years of the tonight show with jay was pretty scary for those of us who had kids in families and houses. leno: i'm glad you're here. hey, i'm glad i'm here, okay, yes! macks: there was a story every day in the trades: "will nbc dump leno?" "leno ratings going down." "will leno be replaced?" "where will dave go?" letterman: don't mind me, i'm just a temp. guthrie: when johnny carson retired after being on the tonight show for 30 years, it was an open field,

hence the intense competition between jay leno and david letterman. bell: suddenly it became about, like, who gets his show? and then leno got it, and then letterman goes, "maybe i don't have a place in show business." morton: he made it very clear up front that his dream was to someday host the tonight show. letterman: it just didn't seem to me to make any sense to have jay leno doing an hour of a talk show, and then i would come on afterwards doing an hour of a talk show. and i really felt like, you know, maybe my time had come to step out of network television. lassally: i said to dave, "if nbc wants to put you on at 12:30 "after jay leno, "you'll kill yourself." i said, "i have to get you an 11:30 show." and then the battle began. ludwin: dave letterman started getting offers from other networks. lopez: you know, letterman was the king.

sarandon: you're pretty cocky in the middle of these negotiations. you have that kind of mid-negotiation, multi-million-dollar glow about you. [laughter] ludwin: there were still a number of people within nbc who felt strongly that it was a mistake to let dave letterman leave. littlefield: they agonized over the loss of david letterman. carter: they still have letterman under contract, for more than a year, and they said, "maybe we should reconsider the original decision "not to give dave the show." ludwin: and then before dave letterman jumped ship from nbc... littlefield: they wanted to make one final move to try and get dave. carter: they offer him the tonight show, but he's only gonna get it in a year and a half when jay's first contract is up. lassally: i said to dave, "we can't go near that offer. "that's total bullshit, because they'll get out of it." and dave was really confused at that point.

carter: and peter lassally says, "you know what, dave? "call johnny." morton: and johnny said, "if they treated me "the way they're treating you, no, i would go to cbs." lassally: i'd tell them to go to hell. rather: the announcement designed to keep you up at night, has now been made. david letterman says he is, for a price, switching networks lock, stock, and "stupid pet tricks." nesteroff: and ultimately the deal that letterman wins is astronomical. newscaster: cbs lured him over with a salary more than four times that of leno, and giving him what he really wanted, the 11:30 time slot. nesteroff: there was so much hype and build up to the launch of both of these shows. jay leno taking over from johnny carson, letterman getting this cbs spot, so all eyes were on them. ♪

burnett: when the show moved from nbc to cbs, we were all going to the ed sullivan theater. it felt like a viking ship. everyone was rowing. gaines: that's the relationship that we had, and i think the staff was, you're all in, and all that's a credit to dave. smithberg: dave is charismatic. i would be in my office, and all of a sudden i would feel a jolt of electricity, and i would look back, and he'd be in my doorway.

♪ announcer: from the ed sullivan theatre in new york city, it's the late show with david letterman! morton: we're now in the big room. [applause] morton: we can't celebrate failure the way we used to. we've gotta be the show that doesn't have mistakes. letterman: if you think about it, all i really did was take the summer off. [laughter] nesteroff: but at 11:30, letterman fans were worried that he was gonna be neutered, defanged; that he wouldn't be the hip, subversive, kind of nasty guy. letterman: ladies and gentlemen, here he is. bill murray. bill! [applause] letterman: are you alright? murray: i went to the other place. [laughter] morton: but when bill murray took out the spray paint... murray: oh, this is nuts, but it's gonna work. letterman yeah. morton: that was kind of a surprise to all of us. [laughter] [applause]

morton: you felt a very edgy show in the making. ♪ murray: hey everybody! it's dave letterman! lopez: a lot of late-night show hosts have had multiple personalities, and david letterman was just one guy. it's always david letterman. lassally: the next day, the cbs stock went up 19 points. burnett: and i remember being in dave's office after the first show, and dave looking at me as if for the first time he realized, "what have we got for tomorrow?" [laughs] letterman: this is our friend rupert g, who owns and operates the hello deli right here in new york city. rupert, how you doing? rupert: good, dave. letterman: okay, can you come on in here a second? rupert: sure. crystal: utilizing 52nd street, the hello deli, was so damn funny and irreverent. letterman: here, put on the glasses and the hat. so, this is what you'll see rupert looking like on the videotape. burnett: because dave was so famous, we often tried to come up with ways that dave could interact with the public without being seen.

letterman: i'd like a quarter pounder. rupert: i'd like a quarter pounder. letterman: a half pounder. rupert: and a half pounder. letterman: and a pounder. rupert: and a pounder? costas: and these people turned out to be funnier, in many cases, than if you had booked a bold-faced name that would have been on the top of the marquee. rupert: hey, dave? letterman: yes, sir? rupert: i don't have enough money. [laughter] meyers: with letterman, i felt like i was watching a thing that hadn't been on tv before. letterman: okay, what would you like, ma'am? woman: i told you, the three cheese beef melt! [laughter] meyers: it felt... edgy before i was probably old enough to appreciate what edgy was. letterman: and a burrito supreme with no meat, is that correct? man: she's gone already, chief. [laughter] fallon: i actually went to go see david letterman. announcer: and now, david letterman!

fallon: dave was great, and paul shaffer was awesome. i remember looking at the cameras going, "hopefully it just turns around and i'll be on tv." letterman: whoa! fallon: and i remember taping it at home, and i'd bring it to parties. and there's like a white blur, like... and i'm like, "that's me, dude! "i'm on television! did you see me?" burnett: all we were ever told was that there was no way that our show could compete with jay's show. but in the first year, we became the number one show, so cbs was delighted. carter: for the first time in the entire history of late night, nbc is not in first place. nesteroff: meanwhile, they're trying to figure out, "well, who do we want in the 12:30 time slot "after jay leno?" they would have given the show, the 12:30 show either to garry shandling or dana carvey. jon stewart was also in play. ludwin: but a lot of talent just felt it was too frightening to try to step into the shadow of david letterman,

who at that point was the hottest thing in show business. michaels: my feeling was you had to drop down a generation, and when you're looking at people 30, there are very few people with any seasoning or experience. so you go, "well, who are the best people i know right now?" o'brien: lorne called me up, and thought, "conan will have good ideas. "he can be the producer." michaels: conan had been here on snl as a writer, and he was truly funny. nesteroff: but conan o'brien, since he was a boy, literally had dreams of being a late-night talk show host. o'brien: when you're a kid, you naturally start running through your checklist. "i'm not a good athlete. "i'm anxious. i have a weird name." so then i found that i could make people laugh. ♪ michaels: and then he said what he really wanted to be was host. smigel: he had no experience.

i was kind of surprised that lorne went along with it. michaels: they grudgingly agreed to a screen test, and then of course he didn't have a jacket. ludwin: i met him at his car in the parking lot, he took out of the trunk of his car a rumpled sport coat. michaels: it was vaguely white, as i remember. o'brien: a white linen jacket. awful. o'brien: thank you for coming... alexander: how could i miss an opportunity like this? o'brien: no... [laughter] o'brien: it's not often you get to share camera time with me. alexander: there you go. ludwin: in the middle of the mimi rogers interview, conan said... o'brien: people always say it's tough to be like a model. no, like, turning a big crank is tough. rogers: i'm not-- i'm not talking about that. [laughter] o'brien: it is. ludwin: and in that second i thought to myself, "this guy's got it." o'brien: that's the end of my mock show. if that's all i ever get, it was a lot of fun; i had a good time. thank you very much. goodnight! [applause] o'brien: all i remember... it felt right.

littlefield: there were... flares. there was a spark. o'brien: couple days later, i picked up the phone, and it was my agent. and he said, "you got 12:30." my heart dropped through my butt. it exited my butt. richter: if we had been fully aware of the scrutiny, the pressure, you know, what was at stake, we would have gone bananas. rodman: i mean, it's hard. can you imagine? taking over for david letterman. o'brien: it was crazy. to this day, it's one of the craziest things i think i've heard of in television. ♪

and they're all coming? those who are still with us, yes. grandpa! what's this? your wings. light 'em up! gentlemen, it's a beautiful... ...day to fly.

♪ o'brien: we went on the air september 13th. we made this cold open where, this guy's really in deep shit, and he's actually doing a sketch about it. doorman: how you doing, mr. o'brien? big night tonight, huh? o'brien: oh, yeah. doorman: lot of pressure! o'brien: so they say. smigel: my suggestion was to have everybody that you say hi to say... vendor: hey! you better be as good as letterman! o'brien: i'll give it a shot. o'brien: doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, happy music. and then i go in my dressing room...

o'brien: [whistling casually] [knock on door] man: you're on, mr. o'brien. o'brien: now, or do i have a minute? man: right now. o'brien: ouch! smigel: the first night we were walking on air the entire show. richter: we're on tv! o'brien: calm yourself! we have to be professional now. we can't act like guys that are too young to be on tv. o'brien: letterman was ironic and detached. that was the answer to carson. this show, uh... needs to be sillier. smigel: we did this bit where i played bill clinton. maybe my favorite moment in my whole career. smigel: what you got there in that mug? o'brien: uh, you wouldn't be interested, mr. president. it's just some hot creamy cocoa. smigel: creamy cocoa, i love it. let's have some. smigel: just the kind of idiocy that we could have never done on saturday night live. o'brien: alright, here you go, mr. president. smigel: alright. [slurping] [laughter] wood jr: sometimes you just need conan o'brien and andy richter

doing something goofy. richter: you don't want to make him angry! o'brien: stop it, andy! it's not funny. richter: i didn't know how to be a talk show sidekick. he didn't know how to be a talk show host. [laughter] o'brien: andy is not an ed mcmahon, because he's not a yes man. andy goes for the joke, and if you're insecure about being the funniest person out there, don't have an andy richter. [applause] [laughter] [applause] o'brien: look what you did. richter: oops. o'brien: and i just loved everything about that. still do. philipps: conan was the voice of a new generation. we weren't even really watching letterman anymore. that was like for older people. [laughs] nesteroff: it was the tv critics it didn't speak to. michaels: within the first six months, conan looked like a fighter in the ring. it was like the eighth round, and he was just taking body blow after body blow.

richter: i saw some pretty crummy stuff about myself. it says, like, "talentless lump of shit." wow! that's me! smigel: we were only getting 13-week renewals. o'brien: they wanted to do even less than 13 weeks. richter: they were renewing us in one week chunks. [applause] mother: what are you doing? that is the unfunniest show on tv. fereston: what i thought was, "this guy is in big trouble, "and this is not gonna last." michaels: and i kept saying, "leave it alone. "he's getting better." richter: the point where we really turned a corner was complete unannounced surprise. o'brien: ladies and gentleman, david letterman. [applause] smigel: everybody watched that show because "oh, dave is coming back to nbc, "but he's not doing anything with jay. letterman: i think you've really done a great job to carve out a wonderful identity for yourselves,

and i really, really appreciate that. i think you did a nice job. conan: well, thank you. richter: our big brother dave came in and stuck up for us. o'brien: and that was just, you know, oh! turning point. smigel: audiences got better. finally, we got a longer renewal than 13 weeks. michaels: and then somebody who worked at the network went to visit his kid in college, and realized that everybody that age was talking about that show. littlefield: i'm hearing from college kids, like, this is their guy, conan o'brien. they love him. and slowly, very, very slowly, conan started to find it. but jay is still getting his ass handed to him. i was scared to death. ludwin: dave beat our brains out for two years. and there were certainly questions on the part of my colleagues at nbc-- "what are we gonna do about jay leno?"

macks: i was really worried that the show was not gonna make it. leno: let me ask you a question here. when prisoners watch shows like "cops," do you think they root for the criminal? i mean, do they go, "come on, get over the fence! "oh man, aw!" [applause] leno: on the worst day of the tonight show, in the worst, horrible conditions, you're still writing jokes, and you're laughing, and i said, "alright, let's see what we have to do "to bring this thing out of the hole." coen: jay has this ability to plough forward, like nobody i've ever seen. ludwin: i have to hand it to jay leno that he is the one who said, "we're going to... "we're gonna win this thing, and i'm gonna work harder." at that point, helen kushnick had been fired. littlefield: and we promoted debbie vickers. carter: it's another example of a woman behind the scenes, who really is the formative person in a show. vickers: jay and i have in common the fact that we are both hard workers, and we will do whatever is in our power to get better.

jay's strength was the monologue and joke telling. ludwin: jay felt that in studio 1 in burbank the audience was too far away from him; the band was too far away, so we got a new set design. littlefield: jay now is working closer to the audience. we've extended the monologue because that's where jay's muscles are. leno: i can't help thinking, if you're a peeping tom, right, of all the people you could go after, why pick madonna? what part of this woman haven't you seen already? [laughter] leno: you know, i mean... eubanks: jay was rolling. he was like, "tonight i felt like it was in a club"; he was doing stand-up. macks: jay's show had gotten really good. it was really strong, but people weren't sampling it yet. littlefield: and then there is the night where hugh grant comes on. morton: that night turned the whole tide of late night television around, and it never stopped.

a slow network is no network for business. that's why more choose comcast business. and now, we're introducing ultimate speed for business —our fastest plans yet. we're up to 12 times faster than verizon, at&t, and t-mobile. and existing customers could even get up to triple the speeds... at no additional cost. it's ultimate speed for ultimate business. don't miss out on our fastest speed plans yet! switch to comcast business and get started for $49.99 a month. plus, ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. call today! gates: well, it's very hip to be on the internet right now. clinton: i ask you to join me and the president in working for fundamental change in america's healthcare system. cochran: if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. [sirens] newscaster: british heartthrob hugh grant was arrested early this morning in hollywood for allegedly picking up a prostitute on sunset blvd.

rodman: the most important element of hugh grant showing up on the tonight show with jay leno was that he showed up! vickers: we all assumed he would cancel the appearance. littlefield: jay anticipated that, and jay called hugh grant and said, "i think ultimately this story goes away if you don't hide." leno: please welcome, ladies and gentlemen, hugh grant! [applause] [applause] [applause] macks: instead of having our usual, whatever it was, four million viewers watching that night, we had over ten million. leno: let me start with question number one. [laughter] vickers: everyone wanted to know, what is hugh grant gonna say? leno: what the hell were you thinking? [laughter] vickers: oh my god, you couldn't have said it better! leno: now, as you know, the hollywood community was shocked learn that this type of thing was going on. [laughter]

littlefield: jay kills it. the whole show. grant: well, i mean, obviously one of the very, you know, so many bad things about it, i don't know where to begin, but one of them was, you know, the embarrassment i caused the people i've been working with for the last year on this film. leno: and when you embarrass tom arnold, that's really tough. [laughter] macks: at that point, in july 1995, jay became carson. like, he became the voice of the viewer. ♪ littlefield: and from that day on, jay leno and the tonight show are number one. the late-night crown is back at nbc. ♪ morton: dave hated losing. he became more and more tied up in what the ratings are. letterman: it's a life-size dave letterman doll. look at that beauty right there. isn't that good? [applause] letterman: there you go! [laughter]

[laughter] burnett: jay's crossed us. this had a very big impact on the mood of dave and the show in general. it was the only time that i ever thought he was uncomfortable on the air. i just think he felt that people didn't want him there anymore. [laughter] [laughter] burnett: and i said, "you're johnny carson today, "and when you tune in to johnny, "you expect him to stand there confidently and tell jokes." letterman: okay, time to fly the cards, there! burnett: and i think that he started to realize, "you know what? "yes, this is not getting me anywhere." letterman: and i went through this for about six months, and, oh my god. winfrey: how were you able to work every day, being depressed? letterman: i had to push through it. winfrey: could you be funny? letterman: well, as funny as you can when you're depressed. leno: i mean, nobody ever disliked anybody. i mean, dave did a lot of jokes about me, and i did some about dave, and it was fine. you know, if it's funny, everything is off.

it's fine. as long as a joke is funny, that's good. ♪ [applause] leno: we'll be right back. don't go away. nesteroff: in the '90s, the networks are still the powerhouses, the titans. o'brien: what the...? guest: ginger, no! [gunshot] [laughter] stringer: change is sort of inevitable, and if you don't watch out, it'll come and bite you. competition was coming at you from all directions. zehme: and what we have is an explosion of late night television. meyers: you were reading a lot of pieces that said, "why do we need more of these shows? "don't we have enough of them?" crystal: i mean, there was the chevy chase show, that lasted, i think, a week. arsenio: it's time. [applause & theme music] smithberg: arsenio was on top of the world in syndication and then one day arsenio was gone. arsenio: i wasn't the guy that was supposed to do it straight through. i was supposed to go away and have other experiences. goldberg: and i loved tom snyder,

because it just gave me a real love for the art of conversation. snyder: in 1991, you were quoted as saying, "if i, little richard, were white, "there never would have been an elvis presley." little richard: i still believe that. allen: now cable networks are coming in. [applause] herzog: bill maher was doing "politically incorrect" on comedy central nightly. maher: thank you! hey, stop it. black: msnbc was starting to do their 24-hour news, and fox was starting to come in, and we had cnn 24-hour news. carter: network executives, they never took cable all that seriously. they don't see that as a threat. winstead: i remember i was in a bar, and it was the night of the first gulf war, and all of the tv's were on the war, and, like, there was theme songs and graphics, and there were just all these hot people reporting on a war. reporter: a very divided congress over the weekend gave president bush the authorization

to eject iraq from kuwait. winstead: and i remember thinking to myself, "are they reporting on a war, or trying to sell me a war?" smithberg: and it was kind of like, "wait, "what if we pretend we're network news?" winstead: i was like... "sold, wow!" smithberg: i think we're geniuses! like, we knew that eureka, we had found it. the daily show.

[applause] kilborn: hello, and welcome to the daily show. my name is craig, and i have soft features. lopez: craig kilborn was a trip because he was so smug. kilborn: seagal isn't the first action star to throw his hat in the music ring. you may remember silvester stallone's "love songs for mouth breathers"... and jean claude van damme's "coerced duets with belgian prostitutes." other news. [laughter] smithberg: craig did not have a point of view. what we had was the sort of adolescent, awkward bones of the daily show. herzog: the show did pretty well. then one day we were shocked to learn that, you know, he was gonna be leaving.

nesteroff: eventually, tom synder retired, and worldwide pants, david letterman's production company, hired craig kilborn to be the host of the late late show on cbs. ♪ herzog: and now we start all over. then one day i got a call from a comedy manager, and he says, "hey, man, you think about jon stewart for this thing?" ♪ winstead: jon stewart had an edgy late night talk show that started on mtv. tarantino: that jon stewart, man! he's rad. stewart: quentin, i think i'm falling for you. black: he had that really important thing which is why he broke early. he had charisma. ♪ announcer: this is the daily show with jon stewart, the most important television program... ever. smithberg: jon had vision. jon had a point of view. stewart: you're out of order. he's out of order. this whole trial is... sexy! [laughter]

boyd: it was a departure in style and tone. it was a political show. wood jr: and the show always stood out as just the place to get the news in a weird kind of way. stewart: today witnessed the start of the united nations' millennium summit, giving new yorkers a chance to get in touch with prejudices they didn't even know they had. [laughter] black: what it did do was fill a void that nobody knew there was a void. ♪ newscast: election day, the day to choose a new president for a new century. nesteroff: with the 2000 election, the daily show really broke into a new threshold. newscaster: standby, cnn is moving florida back to the "too close to call" column. newscaster: we don't just have egg on our face; we've got omelette all over our suits. newscaster: it could still go gore's way. it could still go bush's way. newscaster: the nation's voters went to bed last night not knowing exactly who won the presidential election, and they're gonna wake up that way as well. stewart: it has been a historic evening.

we've seen, uh, nothing change. smithberg: there's no outcome to the election. stewart: you ever seen anything like this before? colbert: hold on, jon. i'm getting-- i'm getting some breaking news here, uh, from my wife. it seems that my little girl just took her first steps. [laughter] colbert: and i wasn't there. [protestors chanting] javerbaum: the bush-gore recount, we had a month of that. like, for example, election officials looking at hanging chads, that's inherently funny. we had a bit on how close it was on the supreme court. stewart: steve, what can you tell us about the supreme court decision? javerbaum: my bit was that it was five to four, but in kennedy's mind, it was incredibly close. carrell: as you can see, gore locked up the justice's cerebellum and orbital operculum, while the lateral sulcus and cerebral peduncle were bush country, but if you look at the southeast portion right here, you can see justice kennedy's all-important oxcipital lobe

was simply too close to call. horrifying, just horrifying! smithberg: that was when the entire news media, they had to pretend it was normal, whereas we dealt in absurdity, so this was in our, you know, sweet spot. mcclellan: suddenly jon stewart is topping lists of trusted journalists, which is very weird. herzog: he was doing comedy with the genes of a journalist. ♪ nesteroff: a more serious world demanded a more serious style of comedy, really tackling what was going on. zinoman: and some of that might have rubbed off on letterman's show. carter: dave was getting older, and as he was getting older, he was getting deeper. and he's becoming a more serious guy. letterman: wait till you hear what happened to me. [laughter] zinoman: in 2000, letterman had a heart attack. letterman: so it was five weeks ago today

that these men and women right here saved my life, and... [applause] [applause] crystal: he became even more open to things as a person, and i think that translated into the work, and he became a different guy. romano: here's this sarcastic, you know, biting guy... costas: dave, the irreverent prankster. letterman: i couldn't have been more proud when these guys carved their initials in me. honest to god. [applause] zinoman: he used his pessimism, his emotional darkness, and transformed it into comedy. zehme: when something terrible happens, these guys still have to come on that night and do a show, unless it's just something off the charts terrible. [sirens] [fire engine horn] [sirens] ♪

[people yelling] coen: and i can remember sitting with jay and the writers, and we were all just kind of like looking at the tv screen, just stunned. carter: 9/11 is such a shock to the country that television itself could not go back on the air. ♪ ♪ rodman: people were so afraid at the time that we weren't gonna be able to be funny, after something so horrific had happened. javerbaum: i know for the first few days we were wondering whether we would ever do a show again. ♪ burnett: the decision to go back on television after 9/11 was extremely difficult. no one knew what to do. ♪ burnett: the one that people turned to was david letterman.

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♪ guthrie: late night at first struggled with how to confront 9/11. david letterman's a new yorker. his show is in new york, and so for him, it felt very personal. zinoman: by 9/11, he had all this respect

because you had these younger late night hosts who grew up with him. he was this father figure. gaines: and dave said, "i think we'll come back "monday, september 17th." on that day he said to me, "how much time have i got, gaines, for this?" and i just remember saying, "as much as you want." letterman: uh, it's terribly sad here in new york city. we've lost 5,000 fellow new yorkers, and you can feel it. you can feel it. you can see it. it's terribly sad. terribly, terribly sad. zinoman: he didn't tell you what to think. he didn't explain away this tragedy. crystal: it was dave honestly hurting and making it a little easier for all of us. he became a voice for us in a different way. letterman: and it's very simple. there is only one requirement for any of us, and that is to be courageous, because courage, as you might know, defines all other human behaviour,

and i believe, because i've done a little of this myself, pretending to be courageous is just as good as the real thing. kimmel: it was the first time that i can remember that a monologue made you cry. romano: there was nobody better to share what we were all feeling. carter: and he opens up late night. he opens it back up. [applause] david: we're gonna try and feel our way through this, and we'll just see how it goes. take it a day at a time. kimmel: after 9/11, when david letterman came on the air, and i think that made it like-- us feel like it was okay to continue with our lives. rodman: it definitely altered, i think, the tone of the way people felt that they could talk to their audience. conan: and i have never, ever felt more unsure, or... more at a loss than i do tonight. stewart: i just... i wanted to tell you why i grieve. ♪ but why i don't despair.

guthrie: you saw a late night host being sort of raw and human. mcclellen: but then bill maher really takes it up a level. carter: three and a half years earlier, abc brought bill maher over with his "politically incorrect" show. maher: we have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. that's cowardly. carter: and that offends so many people. maher: staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, not cowardly. guthrie: maybe a few years later he could get away with saying that, but he said it right after 9/11. carter: you know, his show was "politically incorrect," but that was a little too incorrect for abc. maher: if i had to choose between losing my soul or losing my show, i'm glad i chose losing my show and i never sold out. braun: getting into political waters is never, from the network perspective,

what you want a late night host to do. this was really about what type of artist was the right talent for abc going forward. carter: abc had a blue-collar identity, and jimmy kimmel fit that profile extremely well. o'donnell: i was a little surprised when i learned that jimmy kimmel was going to take the late night slot at abc. [applause] announcer: and now, the hosts of "the man show," adam carolla and jimmy kimmel! macks: jimmy kimmel did "the man show." kimmel: i never thought, like, "well, one day, "my career might go to this place "and i might have to be careful." kimmel: you know, i'm a busy guy, and sometimes i just don't have time to get loaded. that's why i love shotgun beer! braun: there was an everyman quality to jimmy. there was a likeability to jimmy, and these were all qualities that i felt were enormously important.

kimmel: and in a blink of an eye i was on stage. kimmel: we're on! [applause] kimmel: it didn't make a whole lot of sense, but i guess none of it does, really. i mean, nobody's a late night host until they are one. kimmel: there are no nude women in the film. clooney: yes... kimmel: are you so tired of hot, naked starlets that it doesn't even phase you anymore? you think, "oh, nobody wants to see that. "let's put more sam rockwell's ass." clooney: let's see more male ass. kimmel: when you get a late night talk show, you want to make it different, which is the first mistake. mcnerny: i don't know why that format still works, but it does, and i think that when people break from it, it doesn't. kimmel: i didn't stand up and do a monologue. i didn't wear a tie. i mean, everything we did was wrong. kimmel: i'm not we're ever gonna top this one. the guinness book named him the hairiest man in the world. guest: [singing "edelweiss"] [singing "edelweiss"] [singing "edelweiss"] kimmel: we let the audience drink.

the first night, in the middle of the show, someone threw up. kimmel: william, i should ask you, why do they call the town "embarrass," minnesota? william: uh, i don't know why they call it. kimmel: alright. o'donnell: in the first months of the kimmel show it was a rough road. [making music with hands] carter: kimmel did not appeal to women, so he had struggles. but like most of these guys, he had to find his voice. braun: there were plenty of conversations about what changes should we make to the show to reach a broader demographic. kimmel: when on a rare occasion that i look at a bit of video from that first year, it just makes every hair on my body stand up. kimmel: alright, we are back with marilyn manson. uh... so, um... [audience cheering] kimmel: i was really hoping that abc would cancel the show because i felt like, "i can't do this anymore.