Late Night with Seth Meyers made waves when it ditched the standard late-night monologue last week. The late-night template as codified by Johnny Carson has been stretched beyond its breaking point now that there are a half-dozen talk shows on the air at the same time. Anything that shakes up the formula will be welcomed at this point, even James Corden’s odd decision to interview both nightly guests at the same time. One thing that needs to stay, though, is the stand-up slot. Talk shows don’t have stand-up comedians on every night, but pretty much all of them will showcase a few comics a month. It’s a crucial way for comedians to grow their career, and for comedy fans to find new comics to follow.
Of all the late-night talk shows on the air right now, Conan O’Brien’s Conan might do the best at highlighting stand-up. Conan features a great mix of established professionals and up-and-comers, and they put a lot of the performances up on their YouTube page. All these stand-up clips can be found on the stand-up playlist, and although the selection might be just a little too heavy on white guys, it’s a good overview of the state of stand-up today. Here are our favorite stand-up clips from Conan’s YouTube page.
10. Chris Fairbanks
1/23/2014
This is why it’s important for late night talk shows to keep up the tradition of having stand-up comedians occasionally close out the show. I wouldn’t have heard of Chris Fairbanks if it wasn’t for this clip. He still has room to improve but this is a solid five minutes of deadpan absurdity wrapped up inside a distinct voice and awesome sweater.
9. Jenny Zigrino
5/21/2015
Jenny Zigrino is charming, like in the traditional sense, like she probably makes an amazing impression on your parents. She’d kill at retail or telemarketing. She also kills at comedy, as this clip proves. She disarms with her sunny, smiling delivery of edgy material, from bits about hipster Hitler hair to jokes about her weight that aren’t the same stereotypical lines we’ve heard from zaftig comedians for generations.
8. Joe Zimmerman
4/9/2015
In his five minutes on Conan Joe Zimmerman takes a bit about Google that describes something almost everybody has experienced and turns it into a long aside about crows before hilariously coming full circle. His mild-mannered, almost nervous delivery is ingratiating, and reminds me a bit of underrated veteran Jake Johannsen.