21st Century American Talk Show Hosts Quiz

Answer: Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert first gained fame as a correspondent on "The Daily Show", and was later given his own show, "The Colbert Report". He developed a persona for himself, satirizing conservative pundits. He also co-led, with Jon Stewart, the 2010 Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington DC.

After winning numerous Emmys and Peabodys, Colbert was chosen to replace David Letterman on "The Late Show".

Answer: Jay Leno

Feuds with Jay Leno over hosting "The Tonight Show" were the reasons both David Letterman and Conan O'Brien left the network, as NBC chose Leno over them. Leno owns hundreds of cars and motorcycles, and after departing "The Tonight Show" in 2014, he started hosting "Jay Leno's Garage" on CNBC.

Answer: Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey was so popular, "TIME" magazine actually named her one of the Top 100 People who Influenced the 20th Century. After getting Barack Obama an estimated one million votes in the Democratic primaries, Winfrey was actually on the shortlist of candidates to replace Obama in the US Senate.

Answer: Conan O'Brien

Conan O'Brien hosted "Late Night" on NBC for years. He was told in years prior, by NBC, that he would get to host "The Tonight Show" starting in 2009, replacing Jay Leno, who would retire. However, Leno changed his mind and decided he didn't want to retire after all.

He then created a new talk show on NBC called "The Jay Leno Show". Both Leno's show and O'Brien's "Tonight Show" failed to get good ratings, so NBC attempted to give preferential treatment to Leno's show (he had originally gotten better ratings).

This led to a confrontation between NBC and O'Brien, and O'Brien ended up leaving to go to TBS.

Answer: Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres started hosting the popular daytime talk show "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2003, and the show has won dozens of Daytime Emmys since. DeGeneres has hosted the Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys, and was also a judge on "American Idol" for one season back in 2010.

Answer: Regis Philbin

Philbin retired in 2011, around the time of the tenth anniversary of "Live with Regis and Kelly". Philbin also hosted "Million Dollar Password", as well as the first season of popular talent-competition show "America's Got Talent". He passed away on July 24, 2020.

Answer: Seth Meyers

Meyers hosted (or co-hosted) "Saturday Night Live's" popular sketch Weekend Update from 2006-2014, when he took over "Late Night". He was also a head writer for "SNL" from 2001-2014.

Answer: Trevor Noah

Noah was born in Johannesburg, South Africa to a couple whose marriage was illegal under South Africa's apartheid system (interracial marriages were not allowed). Before being named Stewart's successor as host of "The Daily Show", Noah appeared on five episodes of the show, the first being in late 2014.

Answer: Dr. Oz

Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz were not household names before their appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show". The former first started making recurring appearances on the show during the late 1990s, and launched "Dr. Phil" in 2002. The latter first started appearing on the show in 2004, occasionally appeared on his own segment, "Tuesdays with Dr. Oz", and launched "The Dr. Oz Show" in 2009. Both shows were produced by Winfrey's Harpo Productions.

Answer: O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly presented "Inside Edition" from 1989-1995, and started his own show on Fox News in 1996. Although denying the label, O'Reilly is often considered to be a conservative political commenter.