Late-night TV shows rarely ever present a dull moment on the small screen, and things can also be eventful behind the scenes. From monologue hosting wars to Marvel-related passing-of-the torch rituals, late night offerings continue to entertain viewers amid the 2026 TV schedule. However, in the digital age we live in, the late-night landscape is changing. As part of that, I never would have thought Twitter’s impact on nighttime TV was so bad until one Conan writer shared their grievances.Historically, newspapers were apparently late-night show staffs' method of finding joke material, according to LateNighter. In terms of the Late Night with Conan O’Brien years, the comedy host would receive a printout of jokes where he’d check the ones he liked and scribble the ones he was unsure of. But, based on the claims of Conan’s writer, Brian Kiley, monologues faced a drastic change, thanks to social media. Kiley explained:Twitter changed everything because now the whole world's writing jokes. That made it very difficult because you'd write a joke at 9 a.m. and then at 3 o'clock, some random person would tweet the same joke. While I never considered this, I can understand how frustrating that can be. Social media has now provided a platform for countless people to air their views on the news of the day, and some do so in humorous fashion. Imagine being a late-night writer coming up with the most hilarious spin on a real-world event, only for a Twitter (now known as X) user to think up the same thing and post it long before showtime.There are plenty of instances in which social media users have beat late-night hosts to the punch on certain topics. For instance, hosts shared jokes about the New York Knicks' championship run, plenty of folks did so earlier than they did via socials. And, while hosts like Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel may joke about President Trump and other political news, others across social media do the same thing. All in all, what this comes down to is the fact that social media is simply instantaneous, making it hard for certain entities -- even talk shows -- to keep up.What's also worth mentioning here is that some users also use the news in an attempt to build content themselves. Another Conan writer, Berkley Johnson, spoke about that while recalling a recent bit of news he spotted online:I just was watching an Instagram reel about some dumb thing, like a woman locked the pizza delivery guy in her house for movie night. And there's 50 bloggers that were all jumping on the same story and giving their little take on it.That’s definitely how it works a lot of the time now, isn’t it? As soon as there’s a shocking or hilarious moment that makes its way online, social media users are quick to jump on the bandwagon and give their take. This can occasionally make for good content but, in some ways, it's hard not to be nostalgic for the time in which such commentary was left to the professionals.More on Talk Show Writing(Image credit: Associated Press)Why Is It So Hard To Write A Good Donald Trump Joke? The Daily Show's Head Writer Has A TheoryDespite Twitter edging in on the job of TV writers, that only encouraged late night shows to up their game to create original material. Jimmy Fallon had celebrity “Lip Sync Battle” on his show as well as comedy segments like “Wheel of Musical Impressions,” “Slow Jam the News,” and “#Hashtags.” And for his since-ended Late Late Show, James Corden also had “Carpool Karaoke,” where celebrities sing their top hits with the TV host in his car. And each original comedy bit made for great viral content online. So, while the game of television might be changing due to social media, it also presents opportunities for hosts and their staffs to try new material that keeps audiences entertained via their TV screens and the digital sphere.Of course, it's hard to say what will happen to such talk shows within the never several years. But, as Stephen Colbert says, there’s still a big need for late night shows, as they can build communities with their audiences, and much of that is born through how they cover daily news. The internet does provide some interesting content on that front, but I'm also hopeful that it doesn't spell the end of late night.