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30 people who can replace Stephen Colbert on The Late Show

By Buckie Wells

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 9: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert welcomed Late Late Show host James Corden during Friday's 10/9/15 taping in New York City. (Photo by John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images)
NEW YORK - OCTOBER 9: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert welcomed Late Late Show host James Corden during Friday's 10/9/15 taping in New York City. (Photo by John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – JULY 15: Katie Couric speaks on stage at the MasterCard ‘Priceless® Conversation’ to support Stand Up To Cancer with Katie Couric on July 15, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for MasterCard)
NEW YORK, NY – JULY 15: Katie Couric speaks on stage at the MasterCard ‘Priceless® Conversation’ to support Stand Up To Cancer with Katie Couric on July 15, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for MasterCard) /

10. Katie Couric

Katie Couric is the talk show host queen, and yes, that’s above Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey, because Couric’s history with talk shows is a lot longer and reaches a bit farther.

Though she’s currently a Yahoo! News anchor, Couric has been a television host on all three of the big networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC) at one point or another since her start on NBC News in 1989. She’s hosted The Today Show, 60 Minutes, her own talk show Katie, along with several anchor positions on different news programs. She’s hosted The Tonight Show in Jay Leno’s place before, too.

She’s interviewed just about everybody over the span of her career and continues to remain a tour de force as a respected reporter and commentator, but that doesn’t mean her tone is serious is all the time. She played a fictionalized version of herself, “Katie Current,” in Will Smith’s animated film, Shark Tale, and she’s made several comedic appearances in things like Austin Powers and Glee.

It wouldn’t be as simple as just offering her the job, but if CBS had The Late Show with Katie Couric on its programming list, it might walk away with the heavyweight belt.

Next: 9. Wayne Brady

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