Stephen Colbert and me: How late-night partisan comedy works – until it doesn’t

Stephen Colbert and I spell mode back.

I’ve interviewed him galore times.

I’ve been connected his show, he’s been connected my show.

Whether oregon not you hold with his wide crusading – and fractional the state can’t basal it – his last amusement raised questions astir governmental retribution, a splintered media beingness and the crumbling aboriginal of precocious nighttime itself. 

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"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" big Stephen Colbert. (CBS Photo Archive/Getty)

Putting speech the cosmic conclusions for a moment, I archetypal interviewed Colbert erstwhile Comedy Central was giving "The Daily Show" analogous an eight-week tryout arsenic big of his ain show, and helium didn’t cognize if it would last. He was congenial and astir arsenic quick-witted arsenic immoderate comedian I’ve seen, perchance matched by Jon Stewart.

While playing a blowhard blimpish anchor connected "The Colbert Report," helium erstwhile took a mild swipe astatine me. I had reported, factually, connected Fox that immoderate Republicans and right-wing media figures were taking shots astatine Hillary Clinton’s age, 69, and arguing she had a treble liability arsenic perchance the archetypal pistillate president.

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Colbert transformed that into MY declaring that Hillary was excessively old. That was flat-out wrong, but I cognize however these things go. 

So I made a large amusement of being offended and deed backmost with a sarcastic take: "It’s astir clip idiosyncratic took connected Stephen Colbert. This feline – a fake anchor if ever determination was 1 – has been maligning hard-working journalists for excessively long. Journalists similar me… Well, 2 tin play this game, buddy." 

(Some of my critics took the shtick a tad excessively seriously.)

That didn’t halt Colbert from inviting maine arsenic a impermanent erstwhile my publication "Reality Show" was out. He was affable and I had a bully time. I conjecture I shouldn’t person been shocked that astir of my comic lines were edited retired and astir of his were kept in.

He was the large star. 

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Stephen Colbert utilized a mocking code to imitate radical who supported President Donald Trump. (Screenshot/CBS)

Colbert, 62, raised successful South Carolina, is simply a practicing Catholic and erstwhile altar lad who has a signifier of vertigo and, during 1 taping, was rushed to the infirmary with a ruptured appendix.  

Once leaving Comedy Central, helium was signed by CBS’s "Late Show" and landed successful 3rd place.

But aft hiring shaper Chris Licht from "Morning Joe," Colbert went afloat partisan and fervently anti-Trump. He erstwhile called Trump "the Antichrist" (adding that helium was joking). He changeable up to No. 1. 

That was a double-edged sword. Why deliberately alienate fractional his audience? It was similar drinking a magic elixir that contained a slow-acting poison pill.  

Meanwhile, Colbert’s interviews with the likes of Barack Obama and Joe Biden were, shall we say, alternatively gentle.

The ratings were bully capable that CBS suits tried to motion Stephen to a semipermanent contract.

But past year, Colbert accused the web of accepting "a large abdominous bribe." He was referring to CBS paying $16 cardinal to settee a long-shot Trump suit implicit a deceptively edited "60 Minutes" segment.

This happened to instrumentality spot arsenic Paramount was waiting for the administration’s support for its attempted takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery – which, what a surprise, came done a week later.

That’s each it took. Paramount, owned by Trump’s pals Larry and David Ellison, announced the "Late Show" was being canceled. Without truthful overmuch arsenic consulting with the network’s biggest prima oregon discussing ways to trim his 200-person staff.

Trump exclaimed that "I perfectly love" the move.

This was governmental retaliation, axenic and simple. No 1 believes the "only for fiscal reasons" hogwash.

But CBS has turned the agelong goodbye into a nationalist event, arsenic Colbert has perpetually slammed the network. What could the brass bash erstwhile they’ve already fired him? 

Celebrity guests successful the last weeks person included Tom Hanks, Oprah Winfrey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg, Bruce Springsteen and founding big David Letterman, who helped him propulsion furnishings disconnected the extortion to smash the CBS oculus logo. (I thought that was a spot cheesy fixed Colbert’s extremity of an amicable parting.) 

Friendly rivals Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon agreed to aerial reruns past nighttime to displacement the spotlight to the curtain telephone successful the Ed Sullivan Theater.

The "Late Show" is being replaced by comedian Byron Allen, who’s vowing to steer wide of authorities connected his prerecorded amusement and is really paying CBS galore millions for the airtime. 

And that brings america to the acold hard math. 

A divided representation shows "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" big Jimmy Kimmel, left, and erstwhile "The Tonight Show" big Johnny Carson, right. (Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images; NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

Colbert’s amusement was losing tens of millions of dollars a year. That’s not sustainable. The 11:35 p.m. shows connected CBS, ABC and NBC gully a fraction of the assemblage compared to the days of Johnny Carson, erstwhile you really had to enactment up precocious to ticker his needle-both-sides comedy. 

Colbert and Kimmel each drew implicit 2.5 cardinal viewers and Fallon 1.3 cardinal past quarter, which is not atrocious successful this environment. But Jay Leno, astatine the highest of his career, was averaging 5 to 6 million.

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Now the main interaction of these nighttime shows comes from the little clips that galore ticker the adjacent morning.

Do I deliberation late-night shows volition beryllium astir successful 5 years? Sadly, astir apt not. The integer property has brought round-the-clock contention for eyeballs, from societal media to radical chats, from podcasts to Substack. All disposable successful seconds connected your telephone oregon watch.

That makes maine nostalgic, but I besides don’t perceive to AM vigor anymore oregon person a Walkman. Technology marches on. 

One happening is sure: Stephen Colbert volition person nary occupation making ends meet.