Steven Gaydos Executive VP of Content As the only female host in the 2024 late-night television landscape, Taylor Tomlinson, who is Variety‘s 2024 Creative Impact in Comedy honoree, represents a big win in one of the longest-running battles for gender equality in American entertainment.
Nearly 40 years before Tomlinson’s “After Midnight” bowed on CBS, Joan Rivers made history when “The Late Show” debuted as the first flash of programming from the brand spanking new Fox Broadcasting Co.
on Oct. 9, 1986. Rivers was the groundbreaker for women in a late-night landscape full of Johnnys, Davids, Mervs, Mikes, Dicks and Joeys — but no women, until Rivers kicked the door down at great cost to her relationship with the reigning king, Johnny Carson.
The launch of her dream show was fraught with nightmares. Rivers was Carson’s go-to guest host, but she decamped for Barry Diller and Rupert Murdoch’s fledgling Fox network when she found out she wasn’t on NBC’s list of “Tonight Show” successors.
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