Stephen Colbert is signing off from his CBS late-night show tomorrow — you might have heard something about this by now — and he’s taking shots at the network for ending the 33-year franchise. He’s also broadcast plenty of hijinks from fellow comedians, especially the show’s founder, David Letterman.
Possibly the best bit was watching Letterman and Colbert throw office furniture, including Colbert’s desk chair, from high atop the company’s roof onto a CBS eye logo which, when hit, spewed out colorful balls. Watermelons took the plunge next, as did a tiered cake sent to the show.
In the last two weeks of his swan song, Colbert has interviewed celebrities and politicians and has expressed gratitude for his 11-year run, despite being given the ax shortly after Paramount took over the network. Paramount’s explanation: the No. 1 late-night program was losing $40 million a year and the production wasn’t sustainable.
The Politics Behind the Cancellation
Critics and fans balked, saying the real reason Paramount’s owners — Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and his son David — shut it down is because they’re friendly with President Trump, who was, most nights, skewered on the show. The timing of the cancellation seems too close to the takeover, making the financial explanation for its shuttering not entirely plausible. CBS has remained mum about the end of a storied, award-winning show.
Colbert’s forced retirement marks the significant decline of the late-night TV political satire era. Other comedic rivals include Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers, all of whom are aligned with an anti-Trump philosophy. Both The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live! — which air at the same time as Colbert — will broadcast reruns tomorrow to support their colleague.
Kimmel came close to being fired by ABC, also for criticizing conservatives. The network gave him an indefinite suspension. But the overwhelming negative public reaction forced Disney to bring him back after six days. It extended his contract until May 2027.
Colbert began his rise to fame on Comedy Central with the satirical Colbert Report — pronounced “Ra-pore,” s’il vous plaît. He took on the persona of a fictional conservative pundit with the same name, whom he called “a well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot.” His main target was Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly.
After a slow start, the 10-time Emmy winner found success on The Late Show by dropping the act and going full-on political. He used his platform to attack those he disagreed with most. Mainly Trump.
The CBS Settlement and Colbert’s Exit
Here’s the rub: Colbert says CBS wanted him to sign another contract before he accused the network of accepting “a big fat bribe.”
He was describing CBS’s decision to pay Trump $16 million to settle its rather weak lawsuit over a deceptively edited 60 Minutes segment. As Colbert framed it, the administration then approved the Paramount takeover, which had been hanging in the air. Detractors saw a quid pro quo.
Then, without consulting Colbert or discussing possible budget cuts, the veteran comic was unceremoniously let go. In his place will be comedian Byron Allen’s syndicated comedy show, Comics Unleashed — and Allen vows no politics.
In addition to the partisan attacks, Colbert — like all late-night hosts — is losing his audience. TV industry metrics for viewership have diminished significantly. Distribution is now all about short clips, streaming, and YouTube views.
The New York Times publishes a popular morning newsletter featuring the best moments from the previous night’s shows. That’s exactly how I keep up with things.
When I grew up watching Letterman and Jay Leno, I watched the full show, depending on how late I could stay up. In the digital age, I used to record the shows and watch the monologue. And sometimes the show in its entirety. Now I usually just watch the clips for a fraction of the time.
Bill Carter, a 25-year Times TV and media critic, spoke out in a guest op-ed. “The biggest loss is to core American values, such as the right to speak freely, even in brutally mocking terms, about those in power.”
While his free speech argument is valid, the problem with the execution is that Colbert and other comedians are strictly liberal partisans. They attack Republicans relentlessly and make their disdain for the MAGA movement blatantly clear. Colbert has denied that he only targets Republicans.
Late Night’s Fractured Future
SiriusXM’s conservative host Megyn Kelly has been calling out Colbert for slamming CBS. “I’m humiliated for him that he stayed on the air all this time.”
Glenn Greenwald, a Pulitzer Prize winner and mainstream media critic, says Colbert’s show had “completely turned themselves into basically like a celebrity guest version of whatever is on MSNBC.”
This doesn’t mean the jokes aren’t sometimes on point and even funny. But they have alienated half of the population. When Barack Obama appeared last week, Colbert asked him what he thought of the host running for president. “The bar has changed,” Obama said, grinning. “Let me put it this way. I think you could perform significantly better than some folks that we’ve seen. I have great confidence in that.”
Gone are the days of Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson, and Leno. When the variety-show appeal of late-night brought in well over 10 million viewers per show. And the franchises made hundreds of millions of dollars. If Colbert could have done that in this fractured media atmosphere, we wouldn’t be watching the final show, no matter what he said.
Instead, we got this: the long-bearded Letterman, on Colbert’s show after throwing furniture off the roof, delivered a closing line. “To the folks at CBS, in the words of the great Ed Murrow, good night and good luck, motherf—ers.”
It was a daring, if vulgar, farewell from the man who once ruled the studio. And an admission that his old stomping grounds, and perhaps late night itself, will be carved up and sold for scrap.
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