The late night talk shows are great, but who can stay up that late and still make it to that 8 a.m. class? But thanks to the Internet, those who love Conan, Dave and Jay can get the laughs without the hassle of staying awake until early in the morning.
Late Night
with Conan O’Brien (www.nbc.com/latenight)
As usual, Conan O’Brien distances himself from the other late night players with his on-the-edge humor and bizarre imagination. His Web site features links to many of “Late Night’s” comedy staples.
Among these are “If They Mated,” (ever wondered what would happen if Ben Stiller hooked up with Calista Flockhart), “New Stamps” (featuring the “Many Faces of Bob Dole” and the “Decline of Marlon Brando” postage stamp series), and the ever-amusing “In the Year 2000” sketch.
There are also Real Player clips of some of Conan’s best moments as well as clips from the hilarious public service announcement parodies, “The More You Know,” where Conan, Andy and Max do their parts “to make things more good.”
Besides garnering the most laughs, the Web site’s also the fastest and easiest site to cruise through. … A+
The Late Show
with David Letterman (www.cbs.com/lateshow)
They had the true “Late Show” fan in mind when they cooked up this little number. Featuring the best of everything Dave has ever done, there is no shortage of entertainment here.
A link dedicated to Top Ten lists offers everything from a year-by-year archive of every Top Ten list since Letterman moved to CBS to a contest that allows viewers to submit their own Top Tens. Last week’s list: “Top Ten Signs You Hired The Wrong Guy To Do Your Taxes.” Also included are several of Dave’s routine comedy pieces, including small town news and rejected commercial characters, such as “Boris the Band-Aid that Took Off Half the Hair on Your Arm.”
Web surfers can also view Dave’s monologues and greatest hits via Real Player, listen to past music guests, request tickets to the show, e-mail Dave and buy “Late Show” merchandise. Haven’t you always wanted one of those sweatshirts? … A
The Tonight Show
with Jay Leno (www.nbc.com/tonightshow)
With an informational focus, Leno’s site is not as entertaining as the others. Links to upcoming guests and musicians give “Tonight Show” fans information that could just as easily be found in TV Guide.
There are, however, a handful of fun features such as Leno’s headlines (actual headlines from newspapers that contain hilarious mistakes) and a goofy item known as “Virtual Jay,” which requires a Pulse Player plug-in. Fans can also relive Leno’s past monologues via Real Player.
But this site just doesn’t offer the hours of mindless entertainment that Web surfers want. Plus, it’s the slowest of the three sites, and many of the features require plug-ins, which further slows things down … C-
