The 2014 Golden Woodys, Part 1
It’s time for the 6th annual Awards for Excellence in Late-Night Talk Show Doing, aka, The 2014 Golden Woodys.
There are ten award categories this year. Each category contains three nominees. Nominees are selected and winners are chosen based on my viewing of late-night talk show episodes during 2014. Needless to say, the awards are very subjective, but also very sincere.
Category: Best Monologue Segments
2009 Winner: The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien
2010 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2011 Winner: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2012 Winner: Conan
2013 Winner: Conan
2014 Nominees:
Conan
Late Night with Seth Meyers
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
And the award goes to… Late Night with Seth Meyers
Reason: Seth Meyers and his writers had the most entertaining monologue on late-night television in 2014. The humor was funnier, darker and covered a wider variety of news than other late-night shows. Equally as terrific was how Seth handled jokes that didn’t resonate with the audience as well as he felt they should have. He often took the time to acknowledge the audience’s tepid response, humorously pointed out that they should give the joke more time to sink in and then worked hard to get them to see his point of view, all while never losing his charisma or taking himself too seriously.
Category: Best Comedy Segments
2009 Winner: The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien
2010 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2011 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2012 Winner: The Late Show with David Letterman
2013 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2014 Nominees:
Late Night with Seth Meyers
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
And the award goes to… The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Reason: Every night Craig began the comedy segment with one goal: answering fan-submitted tweets and emails. That repetition would have quickly become dull, if he had cared at all about goals. Instead, after responding to one or two questions, Craig spent the rest of the time having inane chats with his sidekick, answering phone calls from a variety of characters, killing celebrity flies, accusing his producer of being a racist and yelling at the studio audience. It was really good times.
Category: Best Couch Guest Interview Segments
2009 Winner: The Late Show with David Letterman
2010 Winner: The Late Show with David Letterman
2011 Winner: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2012 Winner: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2013 Winner: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2014 Nominees:
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Late Night with Seth Meyers
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
And the award goes to… Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Reason: More than any other late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel understood how to consistently have interesting and amusing conversations with celebrities this past year: he was friendly, but rarely kissed ass, he was sincere, and it never rang hollow, he was sarcastic, but knew where the line was and he was invested in his guests without being overbearing or fake.
Category: Best Musical/Stand-up/Cooking Segments
2009 Winner: The Late Show with David Letterman
2010 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2011 Winner: The Late Show with David Letterman
2012 Winner: Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2013 Winner: The Late Show with David Letterman
2014 Nominees:
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The Late Show with David Letterman
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
And the award goes to… The Late Show with David Letterman
Reason: The Late Show’s musical guests weren’t typically loud, flashy or even “hip.” They definitely appealed to an older demographic more than any other show. This could be considered the wrong direction for a late-night franchise to go, if it weren’t for the fact that Letterman’s guests were able to create and play music at a far superior level to those loud and flashy punks. Also, get off my lawn.
Category: Best Band
2009 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2010 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2011 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2012 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2013 Winner: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2014 Nominees:
Late Night with Seth Meyers
The Late Show with David Letterman
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
And the award goes to… The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Reason: The Roots were a non-stop force of awesome in 2014. Whether they were playing music or helping the host entertain the audience, no late-night band did it better.
What was the best late-night talk show in 2014, after Woody After Hours of course? You’ll have to wait until next year, because Part II of the 2014 Golden Woodys will be posted on Thursday, January 1st.
– Woody
