Joan Rivers was the first woman to host a solo late-night talk show in the United States.
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers premiered in 1986 in late-night syndication. Rivers had already become a familiar television presence through stand-up, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and guest-hosting duties. Her series made her the first woman to receive a solo hosting role in the competitive American late-night television format.
The program was produced by Fox and was positioned as a rival to NBC’s Tonight Show. Its run lasted from 1986 to 1988. Rivers’s career continued through stand-up, red-carpet interviews, television appearances and writing.
This fact is sometimes confused with later milestones involving women hosting major network programs. Rivers was not the first woman ever to appear as a guest host, and her show was syndicated rather than a long-running network success. The precise distinction is that she fronted the first solo late-night talk show led by a woman in the United States.