David Letterman

The easiest way to comprehend David Letterman's influence on late-night comedy thirty years after his debut is to examine his rivals now. For all the discussion of the genre's major shift and its budding new age, hailed by rising star Jimmy Fallon, the genre's edges have just been honed since Letterman revolutionized the formula with The Late Night in 1982.

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When he departed, he left a landscape littered with imitators: an inescapable predicament, given that the majority of American comedians who have achieved significant success in the previous two decades owe a lot to his work.

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This is, in some ways, a sign of monoculture: In the 1980s, there were limited outlets for alternative humor. David Letterman has always had a paw in Johnny Carson and his cohort's club comedy culture while preserving its polish of Midwest civility. Despite his assertions to the contrary, his art has always had a darkly defiant edge. Letterman broadcasted from New York in the 1980s, a city that announcer Paul Shaffer parodied in his intro by referring to it as the "birthplace of the scary scowl."

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Years active: 1970 - present

Notable shows:

• The David Letterman Show
• Late Night With David Letterman