Steve Allen

The American Steve Allen, rather than the British radio presenter of the same name, developed a late-night mixture of music, talk and comedy at KNX before becoming the first host of NBC's Tonight in 1954. His career makes the radio roots of television's late-night conversation unusually clear. Choose early Tonight or Steve Allen Show material for the combination of a host's musical ability and willingness to follow a comic possibility. Television supplied faces and physical business to an already flexible conversational format.