Entertainment

David Letterman Replacement Nominees? Here Are The Surprising Early Frontrunners

Published on: April 4, 2014 at 1:23 AM
By Chad Buleen

David Letterman has only just announced that he is leaving Late Show , however this doesn’t mean that it is too early to start speculating who could replace David.

It appears that Letterman — who will leave the show in 2015 — is seeing the writing on the wall that late night television hosting isn’t the same way that it used to be. Letterman, who competed against Jay Leno for much of the past two decades, now finds himself in competition with Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Conan O’ Brien — a different territory for Letterman.

If we’re being honest, Letterman plays a different game than his current competitors. Kimmel and O’Brien use media on their shows in ways David never has and Fallon is making huge waves by essentially pandering to the social media audience to increase popularity of his show. Letterman doesn’t do these things.

Suffice it to say that if CBS wants to keep up, they are going to need to look for a younger host who is a little more media savvy than David Letterman. The good news for CBS is that there are several candidates that could be right for the job Letterman is leaving. Here are a few that Consequence of Sound believes could step in to the new role that David is leaving:

Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart’s schtick on Comedy Central has been ratings gold for the cable network, but if Stewart gets the chance to bring his biting political commentary to late night television on CBS, we believe he’d jump at the chance to replace Letterman. David would probably agree.

Stephen Colbert

Just like Stewart, Colbert is also a superstar at Comedy Central who could potentially jump ship to take Letterman’s place. One of the big questions with Colbert would be if he could leave the character he plays on TV behind and be himself — something that would be necessary if he were to host Late Show and replace David Letterman.

Joel McHale

McHale seems like he might be the most natural fit to come in and take over responsibilities as host of Late Show for Letterman. As a young host of The Soup who understands the value of media, McHale could come in and make waves immediately as the new David Letterman.

Conan O’Brien

Could Conan leave TBS and come back to network television? This is certainly a possibility that will be discussed over the upcoming months. Conan obviously knows the late night game, has a great social presence and a solid fan base. He might very well be the absolute best replacement for David Letterman in the minds of CBS execs.

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