Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman go without audience due to Hurricane Sandy (video)

There are some very brave hosts out there in late night, and not just because they decided to tape an episode of their show with Hurricane Sandy bearing down on New York. They also managed to do so without a studio audience to laugh at any of their jokes.

Based on some of the early clips that have made their way online already, we are in for a rather good time. In the case of “The Late Show with David Letterman,” it already looks for we are going to be in for an incredible (but also incredibly strange) show. Letterman gives part of his opening monologue to an empty audience, then gives a tiny indication that things are about to go off the rails. Considering the talent that Dave has in just making the best out of weird situations, we have a feeling that this could actually go down as one of his best shows ever (which is not easy given just how many good shows he has had over the years).

As for Jimmy Fallon, he also went sans audience, and did some of the same stunts, though really his cold open was more about just giving us a tour of his NBC studio than anything else. Fallon’s got some talent, but the reason we are leading to Letterman as the likely winner here is that so much of Fallon’s fun is generated by his audience. Letterman really doesn’t seem to care if they are there or not.

Based on these clips, are you excited to watch either of these shows, and who do you think is the best equipped to actually handle life temporarily without an audience?