3. Jon Stewart – $14 million
Making $14 million, Jon Stewart has made a name for himself as a successful talk show host. Though he originally started out as stand- up comic he later went on to host his own show on in MTV. Before he got the MTV show he was in the running to take over for Johnny Caron upon Carson’s retirement, but was passed over in favor of Jay Leno. In 1999 he landed his own talk show on Comedy Central when Craig Kilborn gave up his hosting duties on The Daily Show. Jon Stewart is Comedy Central’s most popular and highly paid talk show host and his show is fifth on the list of late night talk shows viewers watch.
4. Craig Ferguson – $12.7 million
Late night talk show host Craig Ferguson earns $12.7 million every year for The Late Late Show on CBS. He was originally a musician who performed throughout Scotland, where he grew up. However, he felt he would never be successful in the music field and took up stand- up comedy instead. This is what eventually led to him becoming a talk show host. Though his show does not get the ratings that The Tonight Show gets he still gets paid more to be a talk show host than Jimmy Fallon does.
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