15 Best TV Hosts: From Graham Norton to Oprah Winfrey

Five-time BAFTA TV Award winner Graham Norton is most famous for hosting The Graham Norton Show, which started in 2007. He started his career as a stand-up comedian before scoring a permanent role on the BBC Radio 4 show Loose Ends.

Norton later signed with Channel 4 and began hosting several shows, including So Graham Norton and V Graham Norton. He also established a career in the radio and movie industries.

Known as the Queen of All Media, Oprah Winfrey broke and created records in the broadcasting industry as soon as she started presenting. She became the youngest and first Black female news anchor of WLAC-TV, now WTVF-TV, and hosted several shows, including Dialing for Dollars, People Are Talking and AM Chicago.

The latter show immediately dethroned Donahue as the highest-rated talk show in Chicago months after it launched its first episode on January 2, 1984. Due to its unmatched success, it received its new name, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and became a full-length gig.

Winfrey’s hosting skills brought her several accolades, like the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards in 2011 and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globe Awards in 2018.

Multi-awarded host Seth Meyers, who currently leads Late Night with Seth Meyers, embraced his love for public speaking and performing through Northwestern University’s improv sketch group Mee-Ow Show. He marked his first on-screen project in Saturday Night Live in 2001, where he served as a writing supervisor in 2005 and as a co-head writer starting in January 2006.

Outside of SNL and his Late Night show, Meyers participated in Celebrity Poker Showdown, hosted the Strike Force Five and created The Awesomes.

Meanwhile, among the awards he scored include the Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety Series in 2007, 2015 and 2017.

Stephen Colbert originally wanted to become an actor, but his career went in a different direction.

The 59-year-old comedian, writer and producer is known for hosting The Colbert Report and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, though his name has also appeared on The Dana Carvey Show, Strangers with Candy and The Daily Show.

His influence led him to gain accolades, from the three Emmy Awards in 2000 to Best Spoken Word Album in 2014.

In the long history of late-night television, David Letterman is among the most successful and respected talk show hosts ever.

With over 33 years of experience, Letterman shared his comedic style of hosting in different shows like The Late Show with David Letterman, which he held until his retirement in 2015. Letterman’s accolades also made him one of the most nominated people at the Emmy Awards, having over 60 nominations for both Primetime and Daytime Emmys.

Even after his death, Alex Trebek’s fans showed that no one could match the late host’s acting skills in Jeopardy!.

The host, who died of pancreatic cancer on November 8, 2020, began hosting the TV game show in 1984 until his death. Throughout his career, he successfully brought home accolades that honored his life and legacy.

On September 29, 2022, Trebek was inducted at the Jeopardy Hall of Fame’s first Jeopardy! Honors event.

From The Man Show, Jimmy Kimmel launched his late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, in 2003. Due to his humorous interviewing style, he's constantly tapped to host big events.

Case in point: Kimmel has hosted the Academy Awards in 2017, 2018 and 2023 and the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2012, 2016 and 2020.

Craig Ferguson joined different industries before hosting his own shows, flaunting his versatility as a host, actor and comedian.

He won a Peabody Award for his interview with Desmond Tutu on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and a Daytime Emmy Award for his work on Celebrity Name Game.

Andy Cohen went from being an intern to a talk show host and producer. A well-regarded figure in the world of comedy and entertainment, the 55-year-old is best known for hosting the late-night talk show Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.

Beyond his on-screen work, Cohen has also written memoirs and hosted radio channels over the past few years.

Starting in the 1950s, Larry King worked as a radio interviewer prior to his hosting stint on The Larry King Show. He also collaborated with CNN for Larry King Live, which became the “longest-running television show hosted by the same person, on the same network and in the same time slot.”

The Guinness Book of World Records recognized the show and gave King the award.

The American broadcasting industry lost a pillar when King died of sepsis infection on January 23, 2021, weeks after contracting COVID-19.

Joan Rivers died on September 4, 2014, but her contributions as a famed television host paved the way for women in the comedy and entertainment industries.

Rivers notably became the first woman to host the late-night installment, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers. Although it only ran for a short time, it transformed the late Television Academy Hall of Famer into a successful star and a groundbreaking figure in the industry.

Former Miss Universe competition host Steve Harvey’s humorous personality has resulted in nabbing non-stop gigs in the industry. He hosts The Steve Harvey Morning Show, Judge Steve Harvey and Celebrity Family Feud.

His influence pushed him to score awards at the Emmy Awards, NAACP Image Awards and BET Awards, among others.

Trevor Noah developed his skills as an actor to become worthy of the hosting position Jon Stewart once had, as he starting hosting The Daily Show in 2015.

Conan O’Brien joined the writing staff of Not Necessarily the News before working on other shows like The Wilton North Report. His contribution as a writer on SNL catapulted his name to fame, which aided him to have his own late-night show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, on NBC.

He soon bid goodbye to his position through the last episode of Conan in 2021.

Outside her career as a model and TV personality, Tyra Banks famously hosted her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show. Through the program, she won two Daytime Emmy Awards in 2008 and 2009 in the Outstanding Talk Show/Informative category.