Do you watch any late night talk shows?

Used to love watching Craig Ferguson in his first years but at some point he stopped giving it all and went into autopilot. Some of his early monologues were masterpieces.

We don't get most of them over here. But I've seen clips.

I used to quite like Letterman. Letterman was, um, a complicated and strange little man whose idiosyncrasies used to poke through the surface quite a bit. There was a tension in him that was sort of interesting. Despite doing the gig for, like, 400 years or whatever, Letterman was never quite 'show biz'. He kept his comedy club roots.

From what I've seen, the current crop are all very show biz. The Jimmy who doubles up in laughter at the drop of a hat is probably the worst. But Corden is up there too. Show biz. Stage school kids. Pathologically desperate for your admiration. Completely disingenuous. Terrified that this is the day audiences are going to see through them, finally figure out what charlatans they are, turn their backs. Nothing wrong with wanting to be liked - especially when you're on TV - but when it becomes as cloying and upfront as it is in Jimmy #1 and Corden, you can't be naturally funny. You can't take a risk with not being liked.

But the other Jimmy and Colbert are only a shade better. They're smarter guys - but that's only made them more supercillious.