Larry King Live

Larry King Live is an American television talk show that aired on CNN from June 3, 1985, to December 16, 2010. Hosted by Larry King, it was the network's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly.

Mainly aired from CNN's Los Angeles studios, the show was sometimes broadcast from the CNN Center in Atlanta, from the Time Warner Center in New York City, or from Washington, D.C., where King had gained national prominence during his years as a radio interviewer on the Larry King Show for the Mutual Broadcasting System. Every night, King interviewed one or more prominent individuals, usually celebrities, politicians and businesspeople.

The one-hour show was broadcast three times a day in some areas, and was seen all over the world on CNN International.

On June 29, 2010, King announced that the program would end. The final episode aired on December 16, but a new episode on the war against cancer aired two days later on December 18.

Larry King Live was replaced by Piers Morgan Tonight, a talk show hosted by British television personality and journalist Piers Morgan, that began airing on January 17, 2011. It was renamed to Piers Morgan Live in 2013, and ran its last episode on March 28, 2014, after being cancelled. In October 2023, CNN premiered Laura Coates Live; while its host Laura Coates described it as a spiritual successor to Larry King Live (citing her adoration of King's "intimate" style), and uses graphics evoking the look and feel of the show, Laura Coates Live utilizes an opinion journalism-based format similar to other CNN primetime programs and is otherwise unrelated.

Larry King mainly conducted interviews from the studio, but he also interviewed people on-site in the White House, their prison cells, their homes, and other unique locations. Critics claimed that Larry King asked "soft" questions in comparison to other interviewers, which allowed him to reach guests who would be averse to interviewing on "tough" talk shows. His reputation for asking easy, open-ended questions made him attractive to important figures who wanted to state their position while avoiding being challenged on contentious topics. When interviewed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, King said that the secret to a good interview is to get the guest to talk about him- or herself, and to put oneself in the background pool.

A 1996 interview in The Washington Post saw King note that he sometimes slips hard questions in between softballs. King prefers one-sentence questions. In interviews, King has also proclaimed that he prepares as little as possible for each program, does not read the books of the authors he interviews, and admitted that the show was not journalism but "infotainment". He said that he tries to project an image of earnestness and sincerity in each interview, and the format of the show (King in suspenders instead of suit and tie, sitting directly next to the guest) reinforces that.

In response to "'softball' questions" accusations, King says, "I've never understood that. All I've tried to do is ask the best questions I could think of, listen to the answers, and then follow up. I've never not followed up. I don't attack anybody – that's not my style – but I follow up. I've asked people who say this, 'What's a softball question?' They'll say, 'You say to some movie star, what's your next project?' To me, that's not a softball. To me, that's interesting – what are you doing next?"