- Mark Dolliver

NEW YORK Last week's changing of the guard at The Tonight Show saw Conan O'Brien replace Jay Leno in the host's chair. But this switch did not dethrone Johnny Carson as Americans' all-time favorite late-show host, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll fielded just prior to O'Brien's ascension.

When respondents were asked to say who is "a better late-night talk show host -- Jay Leno, David Letterman, Johnny Carson or Jack Paar" -- Carson got more votes (42 percent) than the combined tally for Letterman (19 percent), Leno (19 percent) and Paar (2 percent). Eighteen percent fell into the "not sure" category.

When respondents were asked what they'd watch if they "had to choose" among some current late-night fare, a plurality of mentions went to Saturday Night Live (31 percent), with Letterman's Late Show edging Nightline for second place (21 percent vs. 20 percent). O'Brien's Tonight Show got 12 percent, leaving it behind "not sure," at 18 percent.

Notwithstanding all the media attention to the O'Brien-to-Leno changeover, relatively few people identify themselves as regular viewers of such TV shows. Asked how often they "watch late-night talk shows on television," 9 percent said they do so "every night or nearly every night," with another 9 percent saying they do so "about once a week." Sixty percent said they watch the late-night talk shows "rarely or never"; 22 percent watch "occasionally."

Elsewhere in the poll, respondents were asked, "How likely are you to watch The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien?" Eleven percent said "very likely" and 17 percent "somewhat likely." But they were easily outnumbered by those saying "not very likely" (32 percent) or "not at all likely" (34 percent). When a similar question was posed about Leno's new prime-time show, 17 percent said they're very likely to watch it, 25 percent somewhat likely, 29 percent not very likely and 22 percent not at all likely.