In show business, it’s not enough to be talented. To be a success, an entertainer also needs the right platform for his or her talents.

We should all keep this immutable scientific law in mind as the stories pour in about the changes coming to late-night television next year.

Conan is replacing Leno. Jimmy Fallon is replacing Conan. Leno may or may not jump to another network. No one wants to piss off Jimmy Kimmel. Letterman continues to smile his crooked smile, which could mean just about anything.

A year from now, late night will look different than it does now. Whether it looks different in the way the network heads are planning is anybody’s guess.

It’s not easy to succeed in late night, as Chevy Chase, Joan Rivers, Pat Sajak and a long line of others can attest.

Plenty of people with lots of talent have failed to make their mark after dark. It’s not that they weren’t funny, they just couldn’t master the format or bend it to suit what they had to offer. It’s trickier than it looks.

Some very talented performers go for years, even decades, without discovering a showcase that works for them.

Look at a guy like Jon Stewart, who bounced from one project to the next with only middling success to show for his efforts. It wasn’t until the host spot opened up on The Daily Show, and Stewart was able to modify the program to suit his sense of humour, that he evolved into a star.

Or look at Janeane Garofalo. Undeniably talented and terrifically funny, she has never found the right platform. She’s been an actress in movies, she’s been an SNL cast member, she’s been a talk-radio host. None of it stuck. Unless things change, Garofalo will go down in entertainment history as one of the great underachievers.

When he inherited The Tonight Show, Leno was able to tinker with its format until he arrived at a winning formula that showcases his stand-up abilities. When Letterman left NBC, he was able to adapt his shtick to the audience an hour earlier. There’s no guarantee, however, Conan O’Brien will be able to repeat Leno’s ratings domination at 11:30 p.m.

Perhaps the most intriguing news to arrive this week is the announcement by Lorne Michaels that Fallon will begin his run at 12:30 on the Internet. The plan is to post mini-shows of five to 10 minutes so the audience gets used to seeing Fallon after midnight in advance of the funnyman’s network debut.

Will this give him an edge? No one knows for sure. But when an experienced hand like Michaels is willing to try viral video as a way of succeeding in late night, you know the whole thing is one big crapshoot.