Ellen DeGeneres for president of late-night TV

Every night I go to bed with two different men.

Even if I am not finished with whatever work I am doing, I make a point of it at 10:30 p.m. to get under the covers with Jay and Conan, my two favorite men who are always there on time and never fail to satisfy me.

Jay Leno has been the host of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” for 14 years and will be stepping down from his position in 2009, with “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” host, Conan O’Brien taking his place.

Before Leno took his place as the comedic captain of late night television, his predecessor on “The Tonight Show” Johnny Carson brought American audiences together each night for an hour of casual and comfortable comedic entertainment for almost 30 years.

Following his death in January 2005, comedians and critics praised Carson’s classy humor that was never biting, insensitive or distasteful.

In an article published on cnn.com, frequent Carson guest, psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers said, “[He] never said a cutting remark in all of the years that I watched the show, and I watched it for years and years, because it was fun to go to bed feeling happy and pleased.”

I guess Dr. Brothers enjoys the same feeling of satisfaction in the evening as I do.

When Carson became “The Tonight Show” host in 1962, he replaced comedian Jack Paar, who was just as popular for his enthusiastic format as he was for his controversial opinions and statements. While many were uneasy with the shift in personality of Paar to the more relaxed pace of Carson’s humor, audiences quickly grew to love Carson for his ability to “put people at ease” commented comedian Jackie Mason in the same article from CNN. “The nervousness [of guests] never lasted more than a second because he was so congenial and comfortable,” said Mason.

“Johnny set the standard for how this job should be done,” said Leno in an Associated Press article published on msnbc.com in February 2005. “He was such a gentleman. He always had impeccable timing. He was the comedian’s comedian. Those of us who do this for a living, we all owe him a tremendous debt,” said Leno.

Since Leno took over hosting duties of “The Tonight Show” in 1992, he has proven himself to audiences who were broken-hearted from Carson’s departure. Leno’s “Headlines” and “Jay-Walking” sketches have become his trademarks where he pokes fun at printing goofs and gets bizarre answers to questions from passersby on the street in Los Angeles.

Leno’s success on “The Tonight Show” has won him two Emmy awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as well as a permanent place on my television screen every weeknight.

While I think Leno is hilarious I will take a bad Leno-night over a good Letterman-night any day, my true love is the man who follows Leno at 11:30— Conan O’Brien.

I honestly get angry when I get home from work or the library too late and miss an episode of “Conan” and have to go to bed with Carson-Daly, not Johnny.

Conan’s audience greeting at the beginning of each show, complete with jumps, awkward dance moves and hip shakes to band leader Max Weinberg’s symbol taps always gets me in the mood. I really couldn’t love Conan anymore than I do. His sarcastic humor and timing appeal to me more than any other comedian on television, and while he may not be as soothing as Carson was, he always puts my mind to rest at bedtime.

However, I do not believe that O’Brien is the best replacement for Leno and, essentially, Carson (Johnny, not Daly.)

Who I do think Leno’s replacement should be is someone that two years ago, I couldn’t even stand reading about in magazines, let alone watching on TV every night. I didn’t think she, (yes, she) was funny or talented in the least bit. However, now I think she exhibits the same qualities that made TV viewers fall in love with Carson.

I think Ellen DeGeneres should be the new host of “The Tonight Show.” There, I put it out there and now you can all reel and write some heinous comments about my idea, but at least hear my reasoning.

I thought DeGeneres’ mid-90’s sitcom “Ellen” was absolutely awful. The one-season long, “The Ellen Show” was even worse, and the string of bad movies she made throughout the 90’s couldn’t have bombed any worse than if they were called “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.”

So when I heard that DeGeneres was starting her own afternoon talk show three years ago, called “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” all I thought was, “Another show that where Ellen incorporates her name in the title that’s going to be off the air in 20 episodes.”

After two years of skepticism, my mother finally got me to sit down and watch an episode of DeGeneres’ show. And begrudgingly, I had to admit; it was good stuff. (DeGeneres’ show has even won four Emmy’s in only three years.)

Even my father who has DeGeneres on one of those “lists” that dad’s have of celebrities they don’t like, (you know, the one your dad has Cher, Tom Cruise and Ryan Seacrest on,) likes the show.

DeGeneres has completely moved away from the poorly written sitcom and moved into a format that is a much better fit. She pokes fun at the news in her monologues, but like Carson, is never biting or scathing.

DeGeneres begins her shows by dancing through the studio audience, and getting the crowd involved and comfortable.

“It [the dancing] just represents freedom, and not caring about anything other than just letting yourself feel joy and forgetting about everything else for a minute, and that’s what I want the show to do every day,” DeGeneres said in an article from the ABC website. “I want people to just kind of let everything melt away and just be happy for a little while.”

She never asks her celebrity guests’ inappropriate or tacky questions and always, at least it appears, to make them feel comfortable sitting on her couch.

In the same article from abc.com, DeGeneres talks about shy actor Heath Ledger opening up on the show.

“The first time he [Ledger] was on was really shy and really quiet, and not, you know – he’s just not comfortable in that situation. The second time, he and I had so much fun.”

And DeGeneres is not afraid to make fun of herself: during Christmas of 2005, she dressed as a glass of milk while Justin Timberlake danced around dressed as a gingerbread cookie. On DeGeneres’ April 24th episode, she said she wanted to do whatever she could to please her audience- so she dressed as a French maid and left them all love letters under their seats.

So while you may not agree that Ellen is a good replacement for Leno. Her comfortable comedy is just what America needs to relax and return to the good-ol’ nights of Johnny Carson.

Tiffany Glick is a sophomore journalism major. She can be reached at [email protected].