I am too young (a phrase seldom applicable to me nowadays) to remember Steve Allen’s version of the Tonight Show. I’ve seen clips/airchecks. Always surprising, groundreaking and topical it was a great show. I was thinking about that last night as I watched Jon Stewart.
Is it possible Stewart and The Daily Show are the real inheritors of Tonight Show legacy and not the Jay Leno Tonight Show?
Stewart doesn’t usually have musical guests. It’s not a variety show. However, he does have a cast of regulars and like Allen’s crew they are writer/performers. That’s the most memorable artifact from Allen’s show… Stewart’s too.
Tonight introduced a slew comedic talent of the sixties (Don Knotts, Louis Nye, Bill Dana, Tom Poston and Pat Harrington). The Daily Show does the same thing today (Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Rob Corddry, Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, John Hodgman, Wyatt Cenac).
Is there anyone reading this who watches Stewart and remembers Steve Allen’s Tonight Show? Am I right?
If Maury ran the DNA would Steve Allen be the ‘baby daddy’ for The Daily Show?