的确，这是一个重量级的标题：有史以来最棒的十大脱口秀主持人。虽然众口难调，但这份名单却是让人很难提出异议的。名单中的每一位主持人，要么以别出心裁的风格见长，要么就是通过为观众带来欢笑与感动创造了传奇。

　　What stands out on this list is the lack of female hosts. Only two made the list - Oprah and Rosie. Oprah for her general queen of all media-ness and Rosie for single handedly reviving the daytime talk show formula made famous by Merv Griffin and Dick Cavett.

　　这份名单中醒目的是女性主持人的稀少。只有两位女性主持人——奥普拉和罗西位列其中。奥普拉享有公认的媒体女王的地位，而罗茜则仅凭一己之力，获得了由梅夫·格里芬和迪克·卡维特捧红的日间脱口秀。

　　Hopefully, that trend will change - and this list will change to reflect it.

　　希望这种趋势能够发生变化，并在名单的变化中反映出来。

　　1.Johnny Carson

　　约翰尼·卡森

　　Johnny Carson will be forever known as the king of late night television. His 30 years as host of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson serves as an achievement - both in longevity and artistically - for current and future talk show hosts to aspire.

　　约翰尼·卡森享有深夜电视节目之王的称号，这项荣誉使他永垂不朽。约翰尼·卡森主持《今夜秀》有30年之久，不管是在节目时长还是艺术性上都创造了巨大的成就。不管是现在还是后来的脱口秀主持人，都会对他赞誉有加。

　　Carson reinvented the monologue, scored with clever skits and memorable characters, and became loved by Americans young and old. Nearly every major talk show host of the last 20 years includes Carson as both an inspiration and an influence, including David Letterman, current Tonight Show host Jay Leno and former host Conan O'Brien.

　　卡森将单口独白加以改进，再加上有意思的短句和令人难忘的角色，这种风格深受美国老老少少的喜爱。在过去的20年里，几乎每一个重要的脱口秀主持人里都有卡森的身影，他的表现都极具鼓舞力和影响力，除此之外还有大卫·莱特曼、《今夜秀》现任主持人杰·雷诺以及前任主持人柯南·奥布莱恩。

　　2.Oprah Winfrey

　　奥普拉·温弗瑞

　　Beloved internationally and the sovereign of a media empire that includes television, film, radio, web and social media, education, and more. She has her own network and slate of shows. She's been called "the world's most powerful woman" by Time magazine, and Life pinned her with the title "the most influential woman and the most influential African-American of her generation."

　　奥普拉·温弗瑞在国际上享有盛誉，并在媒体王国，包括电视、电影。广播、网站和社交媒体、教育以及领域拥有崇高的地位。她拥有自己的个人网站和脱口秀节目，并被《时代周刊》成为“全世界最富影响力的女人”。《Life》杂志称其为“同代人中最有影响力的女人和非裔美国人”。

　　The magazine even included her in a list of the "100 people who have change the world." The list included Jesus Christ and Mother Theresa. And there are just way too many accolades to list. What's amazing is .. this all started with one little talk show, launched in Chicago in the mid-1980s . The show ended in the summer of 2011.

　　该杂志甚至将她列入了“改变世界的100人”之一。该名单包括耶稣基督和特蕾莎修女，也收获了无数的赞誉。让人大跌眼镜的是，这一切都源于一个小小的脱口秀节目。该节目于20世纪80年代中期在芝加哥推出，并于2011年夏天停播。

　　3.Jack Paar

　　杰克·帕尔

　　You'll find a lot of Tonight Show hosts on our list, if only because the early Tonight Show was such a prolific innovatorof the genre. Jack Paar followed Steve Allen. Perhaps most famously, Paar abruptly quit The Tonight Show after one of his monologue jokes was censored by NBC. He left right after delivering his monologue the following evening, leaving his announcer, Hugh Downs, to fill in for the remainder of the program.

　　你会发现，我们的名单中有许多都是《今夜秀》主持人，这是因为早期的《今夜秀》堪称行业的创新者。杰克·帕尔是继史蒂夫·艾伦之后《今夜秀》的主持人。或许是因为名头太盛，在他的一个单口独白笑话遭遇NBC(全国广播公司)的审查后，帕尔突然宣布退出《今夜秀》。在完成接下来的一期夜间节目的单口独白部分后，他将剩下的部分留给了广播员休·多恩斯来完成。

　　He eventually returned a month later, delivering the famous line, "As I was saying before I was interrupted … I believe the last thing I said was 'There must be a better way to make a living than this.' Well, I've looked - and there isn't."

　　最后，他于一个月之后又回到节目，并发表了一段著名的讲话，“在我的说话被打断之前，我相信我最后说的一句话肯定是‘肯定还有比这个更好的谋生方式’，好吧，我知道其实并没有。”

　　4.David Letterman

　　大卫·莱特曼

　　The indisputable heir apparent to Johnny Carson's late night crown, David Letterman is the talk show host talk show hosts yearn to be. Much has been made of Dave and his departure from NBC after the network gave Jay Leno The Tonight Show in the early 90s.

　　午夜节目的王冠对于大卫·莱特曼来说是实至名归，他是脱口秀主持人的榜样。20世纪90年代，在杰·雷诺被任命为《今夜秀》的主持人后，大卫宣布离开NBC(全国广播公司)。

　　And though Tonight regularly rocked the ratingswhile Letterman was on the air, the show didn't have the same power and clout it did under Allen, Paar and Carson. Would it have if Letterman moved from his Late Night spot to Tonight? We'd argue, probably.

　　虽然在莱特曼主持期间，《今夜秀》对他褒贬不一，但是艾伦、帕尔和卡尔森主持的《今夜秀》并没能超过莱特曼。如果莱特曼从他的《大卫深夜秀》回到《今夜秀》会怎么样呢?这引人深思。

　　It's all water under the bridge now. Letterman has retired, and so has Leno, leaving the next generation to battle for the late night top spot.

　　这已经是无法改变的事实了。莱特曼已经退休了，还有莱诺，他们将深夜节目的最高位置留给后辈们去角逐。

　　5.Steve Allen

　　史蒂夫·艾伦

　　Steve Allen was Tonight’s first host and his run on the show (from 1954 to 1957) set the stage for nearly every talk show to come. Allen is considered the originator of the talk show monologue, sketches and audience interaction. So, in a very big way, we could consider Allen the father of the modern day talk show.

　　史蒂夫艾伦是《今夜秀》的首位主持人，他在节目(1954年到1957年)中的呈现方式几乎为后来所有的脱口秀奠定了基础。艾伦被认为是脱口秀单口独白、现场表演及嘉宾访谈的创始人。所以从大方面来说，我们可以将史蒂夫艾伦视为现代脱口秀之父。

　　Because Allen was so popular with viewers, NBC gave him his own prime time talk show. Rather than quit the Tonight Show, Allen hosted both programs simultaneously, sharing hosting duties with Ernie Kovacs during his final 1956-57 season.

　　因为艾伦深受观众喜爱，NBC(全国广播公司)让他在黄金时段表演自己的脱口秀。艾伦并没有退出《今夜秀》，二师同时主持着这两档节目，在最后的1956年至1957年，和尼科瓦茨共同承担主持任务。