I think it depends on the type of show. Regardless of genre, delivery and the ability to ad-lib goes a long way, esp. following a spontaneous moment. To me, there's a reason news/sportscasters or comedians make good hosts: working in live situations gives the ability to improvise. Having hosted a few games at various Throwdown events, I will say I've developed a great appreciation for broadcaster who can handle situations gracefully.
Dick Clark, Bill Cullen, and now Michael Strahan did/do a great job either building up a dramatic situation, or making light of a funny, yet inappropriate clue on
Pyramid, without spelling out the gag. One example that comes to mind is from the 80s version...the contestant is describing "Brownies" to Betty White, and basically describes an edible. After the round ends and the laughter dies down, Dick recaps the score and adds "We'll discuss your baking skills later..." It was a simple quip, and the game continued. Some hosts would take that and run with it, and the gag dies quickly.
Another example is
Match Game, a zany show where you need a host who can rein in the celebrities*. Gene was naturally a master at this; Michael Burger let the inmates run the asylum at times, so it didn't work as well. Alec is solid, but I think the smarmy one-liners get tiring on every single question. Less is more at times.
As for LMAD, Wayne is a great host, but Monty nailed the perfect balance of charming emcee and sneaky used car salesman. Granted, LMAD was his baby, so I'm sure he had his vision for the execution. That said,
Split Second is one of my favorites, but Monty was out of his element on this one, and was a little
too charming. I think a trivia show benefits from an informed host who seems believable when reading tidbits from an index card, if that makes sense. When Alex explains something on
Jeopardy!, it sounds like he actually knows the info. When Ty Treadway explained something on
Merv Griffin's Crosswords, he looked like he was reading it straight off the teleprompter.
*See also, Peter Marshall/Tom Bergeron vs. Jon Bauman/John Davidson on
Hollywood Squares