The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015-????)

CBS is rolling out all the platforms for the show today, including this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFtam2eAkfo

The continued bits of shaven beard falling on the hot dog is grossing me out, but that's probably intended.
Sort of a weird tone about the whole thing, though. If this show ends up completely low-key and strange like Craig Ferguson's show was, I'll love it!

Also, some podcasts.

lol

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/stephen-colbert-late-show-video-david-letterman-120634160835.html

d'oh sorry

tone is v Strangers w Candy so = YES

this is going to suck

My hopes and dreams of They Might Be Giants as The Late Show house band are dead. Jon Batiste is cool, though.

http://time.com/3907726/jon-batiste-bandleader-stephen-colbert/

huh. something about him has always bugged me, but i look forward to seeing lots of New Orleans musicians on, hopefully.

https://twitter.com/kylebuchanan/status/606538376242528256

And Conan's bandleader is Italian and Kimmel's is Latino.

The last new host younger than Letterman/Conan to have a white bandleader was Carson Daly—that was Joe Firstman—and he was HORRIBLE. I'm all for affirmative action in late night band hiring, because we've seen the alternative and the alternative is not good.

Oh wait, I completely forgot about Seth Meyers and his band of 90s indie rock burnouts (+ Marnie Stern) who play the limpest rejoinder music on tv.

Fred Armisen is all races

you misspelled RAPISTS

i can def. imagine someone in HR hiring fred armisen and then joyously ticking off every box on the "diversity in the workplace" survey.

http://morningafter.gawker.com/stephen-colbert-paints-his-nails-talks-to-eminem-on-pu-1715231700

8^O

The colbert public access thing was good, esp liked the news item on the local yelp beef

I would rather watch him interview local nobodies instead of celebrities.

It could have taken a mean turn but he did a good job keeping the show human and giving the guests space to have fun with the thing too. He seems like a pretty generous-spirited guy.

http://www.gq.com/story/stephen-colbert-gq-cover-story

why do writers exist

We were talking about the logistics involved in pulling off something like this, and how great it felt for him to be improvising in front of a camera again, and the curious tensions that popped up in his interview with Eminem. And then we got onto the subject of discomfort and disorientation, and the urge he has to seek out those feelings, and from there it was a quick jump to the nature of suffering. Before long we were sitting there with a plate of roast chicken and several bottles of Cholula on the table between us, both of us rubbing tears from our eyes.

Ten years ago, the country was palpably more afraid and angry.

haha waht

that's probably true

In 2005 9/11 was a much fresher and more frightening memory and the ongoing catastrophe that was the Iraq war gave plenty of cause for anger.

it SHOULD be fucking terrified right now

That's a hard way to live, morbs. There are too many terrors to take them all into account all the time, and most people are grateful to have a few days of respite from them, even if it is by turning a blind eye.

why do writers exist

whatever, it's a good article

fluffy

kinda weird to watch his first show because usually first shows (and first weeks and months) kinda suck for late night guys, but i've been watching colbert for so long that it's tough to give him the new guy break. show had it's moments, good and bad.

lol at jeb! but that was gonna be lol no matter what

ITS

his logo looks like the 700 club or something

Seems like it's about half Colbert Report and half typical network late night show. Works for me.

forgot it was tonight

the non colbert report parts were pretty awk though it feels like he had a lot of meetings with very panicky cbs execs who don't know how to function in this strange jimmy fallon world

i know it'll get better but yeesh

turned it off during jeb that was tough to watch

Eh, I thought he handled the parts of the show that he's not been doing for the last 9 years already pretty well. Clooney's not traditionally a great talk show guest (he seems like one on paper, but in reality he's kind of a stiff). Jeb! Bush was as disengaged and awkward as I'd expected he would be, so no surprise there. Stephen may handle the interview segments better when he has guests that better fit what he's going for.

i generally detest Clooney's personality, but he had a fine moment on Letterman once. "...We're doing Ocean's 12.... (big grin) Because Solaris bombed."

I liked the bit where he paid tribute to "the man who has owned that stage for the last 22 years...I'm talking about Biff Henderson".

I remember during that awesome last Tom Waits performance hoping the moment wasn't ruined for Dave because he was handcuffed to George Clooney

It was a good show. The Trump and Jeb bits could've run as is on the Report. I don't get people who immediately write him off because he's on a network now, or act like network comedy is somehow always inherently inferior to cable. I'm seeing that on Twitter about Colbert's show and it's just kind of silly.

Yeah, I mean he's at 11:30 on a broadcast network and going against The Tonight Show and Jimmy Kimmel. CBS isn't going to allow him to go full Colbert with the position he's in. Should they? Yes. But they aren't going to.

I really hope the first half of the show is spent at the desk every night Report-style. If that sticks, the rest is gravy.

If there's one thing I think they should be OK dropping, it's the standing bit at the start.

Unless he continues to spot his turns like that.

Caught the end of this, it was pretty entertaining. Fun music performance at the end. I like the 'new' character.

I did like Clooney's fake movie skits, it kind of felt like something Letterman would have done.

Since all of my reality seems to be on a 20 hour tape delay I'm just watching this now. I like that the band leader plays a melodica.

Hoo boy, second night was a little bit rougher.

Kendrick fucking slayed it though!

Yes and yes.

I just watched Kendrick's performance and holy shit

the sketchy CBS stream i was using blew up just before he came on so i missed it.

It was on the Kendrick thread, I'll repost because it should really be put on every thread (and also every music school's curriculum):

http://pitchfork.com/news/61137-kendrick-lamar-performs-to-pimp-a-butterfly-medley-on-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/

that may be a candidate for Is there such thing as a good medley? !

I could not help but contrast that performance against a sixth installment of two dweebs purporting to teach the history of rap.

wow that was nuts

(TV nerdery: Some really nice editing and shot selections throughout, too.)

Yeah, the low-shot from behind Lamar, looking at the ceiling, that one will be used again on this show.

I hope sparingly.

I dunno, they seem pretty proud of that ceiling.

his habit of interrupting guests was cute, or at least made sense, when he was in character as right-wind blowhard "Stephen Colbert"

but it just seems like a nervous habit no. I think Scarlett Johansson actually had to say something like "I was saying..." twice.

the segment w/ clooney was an odd situation where two very smart people, who you'd think would be good talkers, failed to find any way of engaging meaningfully, or even entertainingly, with each other.

i'm guessing he'll look over his performance and course correct. because i doubt too many guests are going to want to come on his show only to be talked over every time colbert thinks he has something clever to add.

i found watching the interview segments a little uncomfortable, in the way that watching any interaction where one person isn't following the "rules" of conversational turns-taking is a little uncomfortable. maybe as a teacher i'm hyper-conscious of this stuff. and it might just be first-week nerves. (lord knows when i'm nervous i tend to talk over people.)

His desk is too big to do interviews there. They need a separate nook with two chairs or something like the Report had. With that desk, the guest feels a mile away.

otm. Set should be more like this:
https://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lr52vz6yrp1r2i7nxo1_500.jpg

or this:
https://31.media.tumblr.com/adb03c3fcdb978f528045631357b4729/tumblr_n6rrgrtJyl1td73xio1_400.gif

http://www.blazermediagroup.com/images/susskindBrooks.jpg

he interrupted biden horribly a couple of times

generally enjoying this though

he interrupted biden horribly a couple of times

He did, but he also gave him long periods of time to go full Joe Biden.

Even the interview with the Uber guy was a lot more competent than the one with Elon Musk the night before. I guess there's gonna be up nights and down nights for a while until everyone settles in, but the difference between Wednesday night's show and Thursday night's show was huge.

I'm never gonna see this show (my job requires me to get up at 5:30 AM, so watching late night talk shows would be out of the question even if I wanted to), but the story behind that Uber interview is interesting.

Whoa.

That's great. Has Colbert always been a great human being? I bet he'll write an incredible memoir one day.

he's been really grossly smarmy in interviews, i find it really off putting. intermittently there will be a jolt of old colbert but otherwise he's so overly gushing. it's bad.

so the CBS computers kept crashing as they were editing Tuesday night, and premiere almost didn't air on time. That woulda been nagl.

all shows take some time to find themselves, sez me who hasn't seen a minute of this

intermittently there will be a jolt of old colbert but otherwise he's so overly gushing

I'm sure they're all trying to make a point and they want those not familiar with Colbert to see him as an approachable friendly person. But Fallon's got the ass-kissing nice guy market cornered so it'd be better for Colbert to continue playing the smartest guy in the room.

xp That's true, and I'm sure the show will find a nice groove before long.

I think the thing that's making me most uncomfortable about it is the set. There's way too much going on. Catwalks, spiral staircases, nooks and coves and a smaller-than-usual alley between the desk set and the band set where the monologue takes place. It feels claustrophobic and maze-like.

maybe Colbert will be the one to take down Trump. guesting later in sept

he's been really grossly smarmy in interviews, i find it really off putting. intermittently there will be a jolt of old colbert but otherwise he's so overly gushing. it's bad.

― J0rdan S., Friday, September 11, 2015 10:36 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i think i get this. like during the jeb interview he said something like "there is a non-zero chance that i would vote for you" and then said nearly the same thing in the thursday night monologue. also maybe a calculated attempt to distance the new character from the old but definitely self-important/off putting.

He also said "On the last show I played a narcissistic conservative, now I just play a narcissist."

That non-zero chance bit is a favorite with some engineer types. But negative numbers are also non-zero.

i'm not asking him to be letterman or something but i feel like colbert swung hard back in the other direction and it really doesn't even seem genuine to me. i dunno maybe i'm just being really coldhearted but the solemness of the biden interview was laid on soooooooo thick.

but also like, he had on the uber guy and started off by telling this glowing story about the first time he got an uber, it was just weird and uncrticial and based in the sort of fantasy land that colbert existed to puncture! with fallon it's one thing because he came from a different arm of comedy, there should not really be an expectation of him doing prickly interviews that might actually illuminate an issue relevant to the world. and fallon doesn't even really have those sorts of people on. but colbert has purposefully loaded his first week with politicians and businessmen who to some extent control the future of the world and to what end has that produced literally anything worthwhile? to bring those people on and then kiss their ass really serves no purpose. if you're gonna do the happy go lucky late night thing just have on celebrities and keep it moving.

Nah you can still celeb pander and hold a network talk show wo stooping to Fallon levels of grovelling.

maybe Kissinger on his CC show was an omen

was deeply moving to see biden struggle with his grief.

sorry, that wasn't in response to anything above, just a stray note.

Not sure I see an issue with Colbert being acerbic with a politician on the campaign trail, empathetic with a public figure undergoing grief, and nonsensical with movie stars who don't have anything to promote.

he wasn't acerbic with jeb bush though -- he told him he might vote for him!!

In the same sense Jim Carrey has a chance with Lauren Holly in Dumb and Dumber.

And I see him inviting entrepreneurs onto this high-profile first week as a move toward elevating them to celebrity status, and surreptitiously cutting business-as-usual movie stars down to size (tho mentioning Darfur to Clooney and then not giving him a chance to actually say anything about it was nagl).

Also, that Kendrick Lamar set.

the biden thing, whatever. i dunno. it wasn't the subject of the interview but the fawning. he kept saying things like "service to your country" that just give me the willies

But I'll grant that we're asking for some level of personality consistency from the man behind the desk because that's almost literally the only one important thing a late show host has to provide.

Somehow it passed me by until now that Colbert teaches Sunday School. Is that a detail that was fed to the media in this image makeover campaign?

xp yeah during the jeb interview there was a point where he was really needling him about his motto in a funny way and walked him right into a huge laugh line but then the rest of the interview was like, "jeb i feel like you can fix the scourge of partisanship in washington"

I didn't get that sense (e.g. "you do know Vito Corleone was the villain right?") but then again I know plenty of people who think Colbert dumping a vat Sabra hummus over Jeb's head would've been a fair and balanced interview.

i guess i'm not looking for him to necessarily filet the guy, i think the bigger problem is that his serious questions aren't even interesting. to jeb: "why do you want to be president?" to biden: "how did your faith help you?"

Somehow it passed me by until now that Colbert teaches Sunday School. Is that a detail that was fed to the media in this image makeover campaign?

This is way old news. He's a super-active Catholic and he's been teaching Sunday School at least since his time on The Daily Show.

It does seem like he needs to relearn the art of non-arch interviewing skills.

Or, you know, just admit that "Colbert" was really Colbert and go back to playing each and every one of his interview subjects for fools.

i guess he was just thanking Joe for writing the Patriot Act?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/surveillance-joe#.neNXawxbd

I'm sorry his son died. He's as big a shit as Jeb.

it was kind of a weird choice to make. to make it the saddest interview with a vice-president in history. i'm sure biden would have yucked it up about the presidential race if colbert had wanted to.

he'll be back if the Dem dons draft him to torpedo Sanders.

xp yeah & it's not like his son died *super* recently? we've seen biden perform his grief. whatever a lot of people thought it was compelling. the angle i see in that conceptually is that colbert and biden both lost several members of their families in an accident but biden was the one who had to even make that connection known

"Colbert" was such an extremely well-defined character, but if you've seen non-Report interviews he's done with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Oprah and Letterman and whoever else, you realize the differences between the character and the real Colbert are so small. "Colbert" is more like hard liquor, and Colbert is like a glass of lemonade. Both drinks, each leaves you feeling different afterwards.

Love the phrase "a lot of people." It's so exactly how it sounds.

xp yeah & it's not like his son died *super* recently?

I know, right? That was all the way back on May 30th! That was eons ago here on Internet World!

yeah, we've all seen you perform your grief, biden, give us something new!

yeah, i can have deep reservations about biden as a politician and public figure and still empathize with his grief. there's a mirror neuron thing happening there, you see his face crumple and it's hard not to moved.

no father should bury his son, it's a horrible thing. biden has some real responsibility for that happening to many other fathers, as he voted for the second iraq war.

Imagining that as a follow-up question right now. It's playing weird.

I only learned yesterday that Colbert lost his dad and brothers in a plane crash as a young man. I guess it's common knowledge?

I think I heard about it back when the Colbert Report began

Not a young man -- he was 10. xp

I did not know that. I did know he is a Catholic who teaches Sunday School and always thought it was cool bc he would do stories about religious hypocrisy by using his knowledge to quote and distort Bible verses in a way that subverted them and hinted at a more compassionate, progressive, rational Christianity. The week after he left the whole anti-gay Christian pizza place story hit and he was sorely missed.

I learned about the crash through wikipedia one night, as I was browsing plane crashes by year (as one does.)

whoa, check out the date: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_212

he wasn't acerbic with jeb bush though -- he told him he might vote for him!!

― J0rdan S., Friday, September 11, 2015 3:12 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Didn't he also preface a question by saying "Say there is a non-zero percent chance I vote for you..."?

Biden interview was good, too bad Joe had nothing to say

Didn't he also preface a question by saying "Say there is a non-zero percent chance I vote for you..."?

― Evan, Friday, September 11, 2015 4:57 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

yeah that's what i mean except i don't think he even said "say" -- he was just like "there's a non-zero chance i vote for you"

I remembered it as "say" because it prefaced a question about that hypothetical scenario iirc. "There's a non-zero chance I vote for you" is just a statement.

Paul Simon's voice is completely shot at this point.

Jon Batiste's suit tonight >>>>

I feel like the band on this show were wormholed in from the early 1990s.

Colbert's attempts at humor last night were not that funny. Plus his singing with Paul Simon was worse than Fallon joining in with musicians

I liked the pre-taped bit about Yesterday's Coffee with Laura Linney.

Alright, I guess that was kinda humorous, but it dragged on a bit too long for me

i haven't watched it yet and i totally sympathize with his desire to get away from a character that, while so rewarding, was so taxing. but i'm worried he's in a weird "get bigger, stop giving people what they want" zone - like a hard rock band choosing to go acoustic for their first stadium tour.

"the audience for your blistering fox parody skews younger than most talk shows, wanna do a talk show?"

"Yeah! now i can stop doing blistering parody and just do amiable interviews with interesting people! like a more whimsical charlie rose!"

I only caught clips of the first show, but wondered if Colbert is trying to channel Dick Cavett or something.

I only caught clips of the first show, but wondered if Colbert is trying to channel Dick Cavett or something.

― Darin, Saturday, September 12, 2015 10:21 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i WISH this were the case. not getting this vibe at all tho

love that he had justice breyer on, tho as I watched I wondered if he was reconsidering; while breyer was talking at points it was so amazingly quiet there was like a low but audible background buzzing

Colbert has a manic aspect to his personality that keeps me on edge all the time.

Not sure if this is good or bad for a talk show host.

I really like his version of the Carnac the Magnificent gag.

I am enjoying the show a lot

He's not locked into bits & things kinda move around & it all feels very easy, it's fun & informative without trying super hard

he's got good bookers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3HMZsDioB8

musical guests have been a+ so far

Wasn't expecting him to hold Trump to the fire, but was maybe expecting more than that.

To see the reactions rn it's as if everyone expected Colbert to be the one to end the Trump nightmare.

Being just old enough to remember Carson's The Great Carnac, GTFO here with that hat bit.

That was from the first week. They haven't revisited it.

they just did!

he's terrible interviewing actors. he obviously just doesn't really care. which is kind of admirable, actually, but makes for awkward television.

yeah i've noticed an uptick in him having to break eye contact with the interview subject to, like, read the titles of their most popular movies off of a card on his desk, or really well known facts. i mean, i guess him being an actor doesn't mean he necessarily cares about keeping up with TV shows/movies but it's kinda surprising if he's just totally indifferent to that stuff.

"it says here... you're on a show... that's about... people... who live in chicago. what's that like?"

he asks a lot of versions of, "wow, you're really successful. that must be exciting!"

i like his somewhat self-conscious and stagey attempts at sincerity/authenticity/warts-and-all/what have you. he's got a long ways to go to lettermanland, but his space is a nice one.

i still don't find him funny in more than the slightest, if that

He's great at this kind of sketch comedy, maybe moreso than he is being himself:

http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/video/b_HvqaVOaU6Jzi__Kd2I56QknYWkmSdo/daniel-craig-reveals-a-mind-blowing-scene-from-spectre-/

Wait, so the singers for this band Lucius are chicken ladies?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/business/media/letting-stephen-colbert-be-stephen-colbert-whoever-that-is.html

looks like a new showrunner has been brought in. i haven't watched since the first week or two (thought i'd give him a year or so to figure things out) - has anyone else?

I've been watching semi-regularly. It's alright! Not much chemistry with the bandleader/band, who doesn't seem like he has any banter skills at all. Shame.

CBS is like some convenience store bathroom you need to ask for a key to get into, but the cashier is fighting with his girlfriend on the phone so you just decide to use a bush outside (Hulu)

Reading that article, I keep hearing Garry Marshall as Sumner Redstone.

Not much chemistry with the bandleader/band

I don't know who decided on Baptiste and Stay Human, but yeah, weird fit for the show and even the moments where they almost achieve an amusing anti-chemistry don't quite make it. I like the show overall but it's so mediocre compared to the Report, part of which is just a function of format and time slot, obviously.

I thought he decided on them, didn't he? In the podcast he said that the way Stay Human interacted with the Report audience made Colbert think they would be a good fit for the show. I feel like Colbert has overestimated the extent to which the live experience bleeds through to the audience at home. Any time I watch it, I feel like I'm missing a great blues gig that keeps being interrupted by dull chat.

the band def. seem to exist in a different show altogether. there are these awkward moments in the would-be "repartee" with batiste where you realize they don't know each other at all. they don't have enough camraderie to even engage in the sort of gentle ribbing/roasting that seems an essential part of the dynamic for a contemporary talk show host/bandleader.

i mean, i don't actually expect coworkers to be best friends, but at least jimmy fallon and questlove at least give the impression that they know and like each other enough to needle each other in a mildly entertaining way.

the show i wonder about how is seth meyers'. does that show have /any/ fan base? does anyone watch it?

I watch it. It's good. They basically reset him to where he's doing a Weekend Update type opening, he has a few good bits.

Yeah, the few times I've watched Seth's show since they put him back behind the desk for most of the opening half of the show (WU style), it's been a lot better than it was when it began. I still don't think he actually enjoys music in any way, though, and his band full of 90s indie rock pensioners plays the limpest, most polite music in late night.

Every once in a while I catch Kimmel's show and, while it's cool that his bandleader is also his childhood BFF, they don't act any more familiar with each other than Fallon and Quest typically do.

I've been watching more Conan recently than I have in quite a while, mostly because I'm still not that into Trevor Noah, and Conan is still basically the Conan of 8-10 years ago when the clock was winding down on Late Night—except now it's more sad than comically awkward, there's way less interplay with the band (which was always one of my favorite parts of his old Late Night show).

I think Conan's gotten better lately, marginally. There's been some dark/weird shit that kind of reminds me of his heyday; he should realize he's probably not going to lose his audience and just do whatever bizarre bits he wants to.

I still don't think he actually enjoys music in any way, though, and his band full of 90s indie rock pensioners plays the limpest, most polite music in late night.

I totally agree on both accounts! I kind of wish they had a cool booker who would just throw some interesting new bands on (because Seth doesn't care anyway), but it's clearly not a priority. The guest musicians are clearly just an attempt to do the sitting-in thing Fallon does while distracting from Armisen's absence.

can someone tell stephen colbert aussie isn't pronounced awsee

I don't think anyone here knows him.

what's the point of this thread then

The jazz lessons made me laugh.

Colbert's response to Orlando seemed, of all the major talk show hosts, the most scripted, forced, insincere and just... weird. I'm out on this guy.

So do all of these recent Daily Show/Colbert Report tie-ins represent a course correction?

so that Trump-Putin-cock-holster joke by S.C.... standard 'obscene' thing the FCC has a history of investigating, that's just a fact.

(also unfunny and homophobic, but that's allowed)

God deliver us from Dems shouting 'fire' at bullshit while Trumpism runs rampant.

It doesn't scan homophobic to me. If he'd said Trump's mouth was the cock holster for all kinds of dicks, sure, but this was very specifically about Vlad. Context matters.

I don't want to dismiss a homophobic read out of hand, but I've also been somewhat dubious about that claim. The pejorative end of that joke's stick is everything COMING OUT of Trump's mouth.

not gonna do a 1990-vintage argument, jf, but that is soooome bullshit

it's homophobic but mostly it's just not funny

colbert report was good but i have zero interest in his late show. anything is preferable to jimmy fallon though

when all concerned are getting outclassed by kimmel it's time to reconsider the entire concept

Not funny, not homophobic, but forgettable. Nail Trump, as he is, in 4 words or less and you've won immortality on the cheap.

If homos buy into this tempest, they get what's coming to them.

And it is coming to them.

Colbert (and Stewart, for that matter) left their posts at respective peaks but way too early. At least Stewart basically pulled a Letterman, but Colbert immediately shifted into an inferior role hampered by a calcified format. Kimmel seems most comfortable in this role. Fallon found a way to bring it down to his level. But Colbert, it sort of feels like Conan - a gifted guy cast by fate/greed/bad timing into purgatory. It doesn't help that Colbert really romanticizes the more traditional/stodgy aspects of late night TV, but his strengths lie in being more subversive.

i just watch the trump-era monologues and they are totally worth watching. i never see anything else. though i do get really tired of his bandleader's yukking it up during the monologue. cock holster didn't bug me but forced laughter by black bandleader in 2017 does kinda bug me. reminds me of how bad i used to feel for kevin eubanks.

^^ yeah cosign all of that. idk if his show is as good as Kimmel's but the monologues and certain interviews are alright. I do wonder how his old character would have translated into the Trump era, if that would've worked or if it's one of those things that's just beyond parody.

It would have worked because Trump would have totally believed he was real.

last night's episode, which brought back a bunch of ex-Daily Show people, was pretty nice

i noticed they only invited people with a certain.... pigment

Stephen left TDS in 2005. Aasif was the first person of color to be a correspondent and he didn't arrive until 2006, plus he's in Los Angeles now (and, according to his recent appearance on WTF, elbows deep in a project).

Trevor Noah appeared (briefly)

they probably sent invites to everyone he worked with, I imagine?

It would've been funny if only, like, Mo Rocca, Rachael Harris, and Vance Degeneres showed up.

Vance! He was really good. I think.

is it weird that mo rocca is one of the first people i think of when i think of 2004 election era TDS (when the show was most relevant)

i can't actually remember anyone other than him and stewart/colbert/carrell

You tend to not forget about guys named "Mo Rocca"

I had no idea John Oliver was around back then. I thought he came on way later.

apparently mo rocca wasn't even on the show by 2004

(i mean he left in 2003, not that he started after 2004)

he fit in pretty seamlessly with everyone else from that era who went on to have as much success as is possible in comedy, i wonder if he's sad

you know I might've had Mo Rocca and young John Oliver confused

pretty much everyone on the Daily Show kinda fit the same mold back then, didn't they?

I had no idea John Oliver was around back then. I thought he came on way later.

He wasn't. He was playing the part of "Steve Carell" last night.

he fit in pretty seamlessly with everyone else from that era who went on to have as much success as is possible in comedy, i wonder if he's sad

he got a gig as a CBS correspondent and had a kid's show on Saturday mornings, so I think he's fine

Oliver apparently joined in 2006 - I thought he was like...2011

he looked about 14 in the clip they showed

gotta say I did love Stewart's "why did age hit me harder than any of you?" quip

Death to America. pic.twitter.com/StY5SgZ3ru

— Malcolm Harris (@BigMeanInternet) September 18, 2017

may we celebrate Indictmas henceforth every halloween eve :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbXO52kWT9g

Jimmy Carter rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQR5G3kvfNQ

returned to a live audience last night. man, his shtick works so much better in front of a crowd.

It's going to be such a shock when John Oliver is once again getting consistently interrupted with whoops and hollers.

Update the thread title:
2015-2026

https://deadline.com/2025/07/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-ending-next-year-cbs-1236461787/

Holy shit

Huh.

At least two U.S. senators (Schiff, Warren) have openly wondered if it could be politically motivated.

It'll be replaced with MATLOCK: AFTER DARK.

Already seeing Conservative outlets chortling about "Go Woke, Go Broke!" re:this, forgetting that CBS is by far the least "Woke" major network.

https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social/post/3lu76msjrbs2u

It's not hard to believe politics is involved. Not because of Colbert shit-talking CBS — he's done that plenty — but because of Trump appeasement, and also I have no idea what the finances of that show are but TV in general is in kind of bad shape. Doesn't have to be one or the other, it's most likely a bunch of reasons, financial and otherwise.

I don't mourn "woke corporations" because I don't believe in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma0z1EZ81PY

Already seeing Conservative outlets chortling about "Go Woke, Go Broke!" re:this, forgetting that CBS is by far the least "Woke" major network.

Also an 11 year run is really good!

Maybe related:

There has been growing speculation that both Colbert and Jon Stewart, who hosts one broadcast of Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” each week, could be under growing scrutiny from executives at Skydance Media, which is slated to acquire Paramount Global, the parent of both CBS and Comedy Central. David Ellison, who leads Skydance, has projected an image of being intrigued by the politics espoused by President Donald Trump, who Colbert and Stewart routinely skewer in monologues and commentary.

Yeah, it probably has something to do with that massive lawsuit that John Oliver talked about and the head of the FCC and so on. A combination of Trump appeasement and cutbacks.

just for some context Colbert was the #1 late night show and his ratings have only been getting better over time

I'm sorry, but the actual number one late night show is Gutfield!

Colbert's entire run CBS run was a dud but he had some great musical guests. It's unfortunate there will be one less place for them to get exposure.

I'd be very surprised if he went scorched earth a la Conan. He'll probably welcome Bari Weiss with open arms once she gets that 60 Minutes gig.

he was spitting fire last night on Trump.. if politics played into this decision, Colbert shows no sign of moderating his voice

What he says about Trump has no impact on anything and never has, although I guess the network feels otherwise. Best thing he can do is try to embarrass the new owners and I think he’s become too much of a company man to do that. but we’ll see. A LOT is probably going to happen before the scheduled end date.

What he says about Trump has no impact on anything and never has, although I guess the network feels otherwise. Best thing he can do is try to embarrass the new owners and I think he’s become too much of a company man to do that. but we’ll see. A LOT is probably going to happen before the scheduled end date.

so he'll obviously just play nice and welcome Bari Weiss with open arms, but also nothing he says has any impact on anything. good points, got it.

perhaps i am being credulous but i think if they saw 'late night' as an invaluable property but colbert as a politically problematic host they would have just fired him and brought in a more palatable replacement. if your motivations were that tied to politics, instead of cancelling the show outright, wouldn't you install a host who broadcasts your politics? they aren't cancelling '60 minutes' they are going to using it as a way to platform bari weiss. they would have offered colbert's job to shane gillis

i think the more relevant context is the rapid de-investment in film and TV by the entities that control entertainment production these days. one of the main issues during the last writer's strike was the fact that tv and film writing jobs are disappearing, writers rooms are all smaller, the amount of writers who are allowed to be on set is being slashed, etc. these companies do not want to employ people the way hollywood has typically employed people. i read that over 200 people worked for colbert -- the traditional networks are all trying to cut the number of people they have to pay to make things down to the bone. i would read this recent article about the evaporation of hollywood

https://www.vulture.com/article/hollywood-movies-film-industry-los-angeles-california-production.html

beyond any sort of politics, to me, the saddest truth is that what this reflects is that the people who run TV and film networks largely no longer care about in the artistic merit of what they're producing, do not take pride in quality, do not aspire to prestige, etc. whatever ills existed in previous iterations of hollywood the people who ran it at the very least typically cared about the shows & movies being good, had reverence for institution/tradition and things like that. this has not been the case long enough that it's basically the thesis of 30 rock but as all of these companies continue to combine and contract it's only going to accelerate

i agree with j0rd, but it’s also partly political. my prediction is they will replace the late show with a cheaper late night talk show, modeled on video podcasts and run on a shoestring budget. like the taylor tomlinson show that replace the late late show. and the host of that show will be center-right

whatever ills existed in previous iterations of hollywood the people who ran it at the very least typically cared about the shows & movies being good, had reverence for institution/tradition and things like that. this has not been the case long enough that it's basically the thesis of 30 rock but as all of these companies continue to combine and contract it's only going to accelerate

it’s not just a change in the people running hollywood though, it’s a reduction in demand and increase in competition eating into the excess profits that allowed the previous generations to splash out on prestige. hollywood used to be an oligopoly and the rents were partially spent on prestige

The 4 major networks haven't cared about prestige in a long time. When's the last time they dominated the Emmy nominations for best comedy or drama series?

The only network series to be nominated for best Drama series since 2012 is "This Is Us"

San Francisco Bay Area had a news talk AM station called KGO, which I believe was founded in the 1920's... all local hosts, they had their lefties they had their questioning right wing guys, and plenty of centrist voices... you could hear it for hundreds of miles, it was ranked very high (for AM) and had a decent amount of ad revenue - a successful station

Some group bought the station, fired everyone, and now it's essentially a 24/7 sports betting podcast which is not created locally... called "The SPREAD".. it's cheap to produce, taps in the manosphere advertisers (boner pills, testosterone supplements)... that's where the world is heading these days

it’s also partly political. my prediction is they will replace the late show with a cheaper late night talk show, modeled on video podcasts and run on a shoestring budget. like the taylor tomlinson show that replace the late late show. and the host of that show will be center-right

If they even try. CBS is pretty cheap when it comes to late night spending. They've already sold off the After Midnight slot to Byron Allen for Comics Unleashed reruns. Having a late show used to be a tool for holding audiences from primetime to the local news and bring up the affiliates' ad revenue (this was the reasoning behind the whole Leno-Conan debacle, that the latter's version of The Tonight Show wasn't holding audiences during initial sweeps periods).

I could see CBS proceeding by selling off the Ed Sullivan Theatre and/or running in the now-vacated timeslot a center-right news-y show ala Night Line (which itself is a pretty diminished entity these days).

WGA chimes in: https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/writers-guild-bribery-investigation-colbert-cancellation-1236464878/

Given Paramount’s recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that The Late Show’s cancelation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration as the company looks for merger approval.

Cancelations are part of the business, but a corporation terminating a show in bad faith due to explicit or implicit political pressure is dangerous and unacceptable in a democratic society. Paramount’s decision comes against a backdrop of relentless attacks on a free press by President Trump, through lawsuits against CBS and ABC, threatened litigation of media organizations with critical coverage, and the unconscionable defunding of PBS and NPR.

The Writers Guild of America calls on New York State Attorney General Letitia James, no stranger to prosecuting Trump for illegal business practices, to join California and launch an investigation into potential wrongdoing at Paramount. We call on our elected leaders to hold those responsible to account, to demand answers about why this beloved program was canceled and to assure the public that Colbert and his writers were not censored due to their views or the whims of the President.

It is still a very lucrative program and has 1/3 more viewers than Jimmy Kimmel. Deeply sus of them to nuke such a source of revenue, which gets more eyeballs the closer we get to federal elections, before primary season much less the midterms.

also, if finances were the primary concern, they could’ve cut the show’s budget by some amount less than 100%. the fact they had an expensive but popular show and went straight to full cancellation is suspicious

Because of course he did: https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/trump-absolutely-love-stephen-colbert-fired-jimmy-kimmel-next-1236464640/

“I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday morning. “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!”

The president then went on to praise Fox News late-night comedian Greg Gutfeld, who Trump said “is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show,” referring to Jimmy Fallon.

Part of what gives such credence to the conspiracy theories about this is that MAGAs, from Trump on down to your racist uncle, don't want any "Liberal/Woke" art and entertainment out there. "We can have our shit, and you get nothing!"

whatever ills existed in previous iterations of hollywood the people who ran it at the very least typically cared about the shows & movies being good, had reverence for institution/tradition and things like that. this has not been the case long enough that it's basically the thesis of 30 rock but as all of these companies continue to combine and contract it's only going to accelerate

What you're describing is basically what old time Hollywood ppl said happened in the 60's - the old movie moguls who cared about money first and foremost but nonetheless also cared about the industry on some level were replaced by corporations that didn't distinguish between selling movies and selling any other product. So I guess it's been accelerating for a good half century now, though you can always go lower.

you can always go lower

New politics thread title. New ILX description. New tattoo idea.

Thought this was compelling, from Michael Penn (the music one) on Threads:

It seems to me an important aspect of the sidelining of Stephen Colbert by the pressures of this regime is not only to restrain his political views and criticisms, but also to silence one of the very few mass media personalities occasionally giving voice to actual Christian theology

So there's an upside?

No myth for you, eh?

I have a very short list of people whose scholarly takes on Christianity interest me and they are Johnny Cash, Stephen Colbert and Jeannette Winterson.

You should check out the Apocrypals podcast!

Yeah, guess we don't need anyone of that faith bringing a humane and empathetic perspective on TV.

I'd be very surprised if he went scorched earth a la Conan. He'll probably welcome Bari Weiss with open arms once she gets that 60 Minutes gig.

― Chris L

friendo i'm a chronic doomer and i won't even go that far

Colbert actually takes seriously that love your neighbor as yourself and turn the other cheek stuff and that’s not allowed.

Also Strangers With Candy is one of the funniest shows of all time.

never too late to do takeies-backsies on tartikoff's Rural Purge ig

on consideration i've decided i'm not actually anti-christian or anti-catholic. i am anti-patriarchy. nnnnow christianity is an inceptionally patriarchal religion. catholicism is openly and explicitly patriarchal. that doesn't mean there isn't room for...

my grandfather, he was a Kennedy Catholic... before November 22 1963, politically, if you were Catholic you kinda had to align with the Democrats. i mean i could be wrong on that, i wasn't there, that's just my understanding. and since that time... my uncles and aunts are all either ex-Catholic or (in one case) ex-Democrats. i don't really talk to the ex-democrats. but Colbert, i see him as part of that heritage, the heritage i grew up with. my personal beliefs.. i don't think my personal beliefs matter. if someone supports me and also calls themselves a Christian, i'm not the one to say they're not a Christian. i do have an opinion on the stuff he does and says, politically, and it's a positive opinion.

I'd be very surprised if he went scorched earth a la Conan. He'll probably welcome Bari Weiss with open arms once she gets that 60 Minutes gig.

― Chris L

as far as going "scorched earth"... i mean trump is bad, but he's no _jay leno_.

that's not sarcasm, by the way. objectively trump is way worse than jay leno, but for some reason i hate leno more. he's like the ted cruz of comics.

Colbert seems exactly the kind of lib who would be chummy with Weiss. Hell, he was chummy with Kissinger. As for him being a company man, genuinely the angriest I ever heard of him getting at Trump was when he insulted the guy who hosts Face the Nation.

maybe he can hold another bothsides Rally To Restore Sanity

Was Letterman better/worse from this angle?

Letterman's politics are not drastically different from Colbert's but he was a far more compelling broadcaster, and much saltier when he wanted to be.

When Letterman retired it felt long overdue because he had been checked out and the show had been running on fumes for years, but Colbert seemingly got zapped with an unfunny ray as soon as he got the gig. So The Late Show remained bad and now the host had less of a spine.

Genuinely hope this is the last generation of guys who convinced themselves that getting an 11:30 PM network time slot means you have to retire everything that was interesting about your comedy.

idk I think Colbert is still funny...the "Meanwhile" segments are good, he's pretty sharp in interviews, they just don't really have good comedy writers I think

Netflix should give Craig Ferguson free rein for a weekly show.

maybe Colbert's shtick just doesn't work in the Trump era...I do remember the monologues in the first couple years of the show being pretty funny. Jimmy Kimmel's more lowbrow style I think works much better right now.

I guess SNL is left as a widespread way for people to see a band play live in a mass-media way.

Kimmel and Fallon both have bands play.

I thought Fallon just imitated the musicians

I just feel like clips I've seen of bands in this decade have been from SNL, Colbert, a bit of Seth Meyers, and Fallon goofing with guests. And recently a few from Mulaney's short-run show.

Kimmel's studio actually has two spots for music: an indoor faux-club and an outdoor stage for bigger acts.

Club:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmQAG-huHPQ

Outside:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYeDnOLfl0g

I noticed when looking for these that it seems like Kimmel's recently been booking a lot of nostalgia acts (Offspring, Simple Minds etc.) doing old songs, so it's understandable to not have those come up in one's recommendations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_B4ojYSyJ0

The cancelation might be political, but I suspect Colbert's audience is on the old side. Advertisers want a young audience, and that could affect things too.

CBS has been the old people network for a long time

on the one hand CBS has its lineup of fascist cop shows on the other it has a bunch of multiracial woke sitcoms as the lead in to those fascist cop shows

Former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell who was fired after CNBC anchor alleges sexual harassment against him is the guy pulling the strings to do the Paramount skydance merger, hire Bari Weiss, and fire Colbert. He will be in charge : NPR https://www.npr.org/2023/04/23/1171525533/nbcuniversal-ceo-jeff-shell-inappropriate-relationship

Def. a pretty clear current PR push on the part of CBS claiming that the Late Show was hemorrhaging money. Which may be true, who knows, but it's a talking point pivot away from politics.

There was an interesting discussion of the $$ on The Town podcast, basically saying that even though Colbert is the #1 late-night show, that his show doesn't have as much digital reach as the NBC shows or Kimmel, which all create content designed to perform well on YouTube and social media, which helps them to earn more revenue. Also that Kimmel and Fallon pull double-duty by hosting prime-time game shows and awards shows, whereas Colbert is really just his show. They were saying it's telling that CBS seemed to have no interest in replacing After Midnight with anything special, and that also they are cancelling Late Show entirely, not just firing Colbert. (See also: firing Seth Meyers' band last year and just using canned music.) While you can't say politics don't play a role--they do!--these moves to fully eliminate their late night slate seem to be saying that they really don't want to spend their money this way. The sheer quantity of episodes--40 weeks per year--make it really expensive, while ad revenues for late night shows across the board have fallen by 50% over the last few years.

The "Hemorrhaged" money is all lost ad revenue. Some commentators are seizing on that CBS apparently never tried to slim down the Late Show budget like at all--no attempts at staff reductions, cutting the band etc.

A telling thing about the end of After Midnight was that it meant the shuttering of the CBS West Coast Late Night division after about 30 years in business (Snyder->Kilborn->Ferguson->Corden->Tomlinson) which certainly freed up some money and forecast further savings by 86'ing the mothership.

Some commentators are seizing on that CBS apparently never tried to slim down the Late Show budget like at all--no attempts at staff reductions, cutting the band etc.

this came up in a similar discussion to the one pgwp is describing between matt belloni and bill simmons on the latter's podcast and simmons asked belloni why they didn't offer to cut colbert's production down to the bone, to "reimagine" the format etc and belloni made the argument that downsizing the show -- which is to say making colbert fire hundreds of people, take a huge reduction in salary himself, relocate the show to a small dingy studio somewhere -- is a less dignified end than just outright cancelling the show. and having been thru the online media version of this process on several occasions i do agree that nobody ever feels happy about something they built with a group of people being left on life support to be tended to by the few people who were "lucky enough" to be "spared" layoffs. i don't want to impart undue humanity onto skydance executives but i do think it's likely that colbert would have turned down an offer to continue the show in such a fashion

I guess they can just film these late night shows in the host's living room and have the guests join on Zoom.

they all did that during the pandemic and none of them were any good. the monologues don't really work without an audience.

Yeah, but the savings!

Does anyone enjoy those opening monologues? When I was in my early teens for some reason there was a NBC Europe broadcasting the Tonight Show and Late Night, and while it quickly became clear to me that Leno was lame and Conan was cool, the actual jokes in their monologues were almost identically hack shit - when Conan was nevertheless funny it was because he was mocking the jokes or veering off into clownish tangents.

belloni talks about this on the simmons podcast too but the imprimatur of the brand matters -- everyone can lowkey understand that at this point the tonight show just exists as a content mill for viral online media, but if NBC turned the tonight show into "jimmy fallon's living room" the level of talent that would show up for the song and dance when it's not attached to a legendary tv show that conveys prestige and import onto its guests would be severely reduced

otm. conan’s career is the best evidence of that

this all reminds me of that Seinfeld episode when Kramer had to fire Raquel Welch, and all of the talk about overseas markets and budget overruns is him doing the whole "Well, it seems that, uh, due to the vagaries of the production parameters, vis-à-vis the fragmenting of the audience due to cable television, carnivals, water parks" routine while "You don't don't use your arms when you tap-dance!" is "Trump!"

Does anyone enjoy those opening monologues? When I was in my early teens for some reason there was a NBC Europe broadcasting the Tonight Show and Late Night, and while it quickly became clear to me that Leno was lame and Conan was cool, the actual jokes in their monologues were almost identically hack shit - when Conan was nevertheless funny it was because he was mocking the jokes or veering off into clownish tangents.

Meyers is the best at this right now. He’s good at mocking his own jokes, and he dispenses with the traditional monologue quickly and then gets into the more biting “Closer Look” stuff.

Colbert and Kimmel are sort of the inverse. Their monologues feel required to be 8 minutes of Trump jokes before they eventually segue to another segment that allows them to talk about other things. I don’t have a problem with them like others itt do—I watch Colbert nearly every night—but I agree there’s nothing too innovative happening here.

I agree both Kimmel and Colbert are best when they're not talking about Trump but I think Kimmel is better at it because he's got so much contempt for the guy and I think his more lowbrow style matches a more lowbrow administration. Colbert seems a bit too nice

If he’s not doing an extremely mainstream daily show, i would imagine Colbert could be uniquely biting

I do genuinely look forward to what he ends up doing next

He's already done Broadway, hasn't he?

He works best when he’s doing a character.

Though I guess that #cancelcolbert campaign finally succeeded

He could definitely do the touring circuit that Steve Martin + Martin Short and David Sedaris do. I could see him taking that route more than Letterman or Conan did.

A far-right classmate I disassociated with in 2016 used to claim Colbert was racist for reasons I don’t remember (something to do with Ted Cruz who she had no problem with) and seemed to get infuriated pretty easily by him. Obviously quite a few nuts felt the same, which is one reason I’m sorry to see the show end.

I always thought it was funny that people get so incensed by Colbert, I'm pretty sure he's personally shoehorned prog references into some of the scripts, he's a bona fide dork. score one for us guys I guess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncOCu2ErLe4

I always thought it was funny that people get so incensed by Colbert, I'm pretty sure he's personally shoehorned prog references into some of the scripts, he's a bona fide dork. score one for us guys I guess

― frogbs

greatest ally since Sherman Helmsley

imagine living in a grey future dystopia where merest mention of hocus pocus by focus is taboo

sir, you may take my ludicrously fast dutch yodeling from me when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers. god. what would dutch yodeling _feel_ like to the touch? wait, hold on, i have synesthesia, i can answer that. cold, clammy, greasy. wow, i mean, i love listening to hocus pocus by focus but it feels kind of gross to the touch.

the funny thing is that looking at thijs van leer feels like touching grass. fresh, new-mown grass. peat and dew. yeah, i wasn't expecting that either. life. life is full of mysteries.

With that in mind, who came up with "heavy metal goes to college"? They used that line in a Late Show/Colbert sketch while discussing King Crimson, but I forgot it was actually in John Sayles's Return of the Secaucus Seven (applied to prog in general, including Crimson)...however, there was something about the delivery that made it seem like the character in the film was repeating some common belief. Was that something people said in the '70s?

Jon Stewart went pretty nuclear on CBS for this last night