Stephen Colbert’s Long Goodbye
Colbert. (This file is a work of a U.S. Army soldier or employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain in the United States.)
And good riddance.
Finally, the most venomous comedian on late night television is being cancelled, but not soon enough. CBS will retire the “Late Show” franchise in May of 2026, so if you’re into Colbert’s style of nasty, political humor, you can knock yourself out until then.
I make it a point to miss his show, but his clips are on social media.
He had a particularly nasty one years ago about Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump that was as vile as anything I’ve ever seen on television. On the radio, I called Colbert “unfit for human consumption,” and I urged local affiliates to drop his show.
None did, and Colbert continued with the nastiness.
Unfortunately, what caught up with him was not his classless so-called humor, but rather the changing times.
It seems late night comedians are not in vogue anymore.
The days of three legacy networks hogging the ratings are over. So are the days of local, network-affiliate TV stations simply fending off first-run scripted shows on cable, stuff like “Mad Men,” and “The Walking Dead.”
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It seems like the more that time goes by, the more choices people have. Now, there’s a cornucopia of streaming services with big-budget series such as “Game of Thrones.” There’s DVDs and Blu-ray discs, and so some people (like me) wait for a show to end and then purchase the entire series and binge that way.
Some even say podcasting is something of a replacement for the late-night shows, with hosts like Joe Rogan chatting up celebrity guests without any time constraints.
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That’s part of what’s caught up with late-night comedy.
But there’s more to it. According to an article in Axios, the late shows are expensive. Colbert is being paid somewhere around $15 million dollars a year to spout his profane and tasteless brand of humor – which appeals mostly to young Trump haters. Colbert is much older than his target audience, which is awkward.
Video: <choke> Colbert announces his cancellation.
Axios notes that some hosts have hung it up already – such as James Corden of CBS’s “The Late Late Show” and Trevor Noah of Comedy Central. Even the much-loved Conan O’Brien left TBS and the cable net did not search for another host.
Only Greg Gutfeld on Fox News Channel seems to be sustaining an audience, but his business model is different. To earn his salary, Gutfeld does another show, “The Five,” and for his late-night show, he brings on panelists like Tyrus and Kat Timpf who also show up elsewhere on Fox News. It’s a show on Fox that utilizes existing resources making it much easier to work into the budget. Plus, Gutfeld has a built-in Fox News audience that is repelled by foul-mouths like Colbert.
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When Trump became President, Colbert did a particularly foul monologue that many people thought was over the line. This is from “The Wrap,” May 3, 2017:
Colbert drew charges of homophobia after ripping into Trump and declaring, “The only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s cock holster” on Monday night’s episode of CBS’s “Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” The joke drew criticism in both the media and on social media, with the hashtag #FireColbert gaining steam on Tuesday night.
That’s the joke that made me despise the man. This joke is what caused me to state on the radio that Colbert’s humor was and is not fit for human consumption. I stand by that.
Video: Colbert’s cock-holster joke that comes in at 3:53 in the clip
Some of us remember the days of Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, and Jay Leno.
Paar was the biggest TV star this side of Milton Berle for years. But he had his run-ins with NBC after he took over from “The Tonight Show” host Steve Allen who pretty much started the genre. Allen had his political leanings, but his talent was astounding in many fields and America loved him.
Video: “Tonight, Starring Steve Allen,” the very first episode from 9/27/54.
Paar was an iconoclast who once walked off the set, Dan Rather-style. Paar was upset with NBC for deleting a routine that the network considered to be in bad taste.
Video: Jack Paar walks off the Tonight Show 2/11/60.
Johnny Carson came along and made American forget about Paar – not an easy trick. Carson, a former game show host, could do political comedy in his monologues and in skits, and even the targets of his punchlines would laugh. ABC and CBS, try as they might, could not dethrone Carson. When he retired, Jay Leno brought his own brand of family-friendly comedy until NBC decided he was outmoded and made a change to O’Brien and then to Jimmy Fallon.
Video: Carson as Reagan. Funny but not mean. 5/7/82.
At some point, late-night hosts took the mildly biting humor of Carson and turned it into hard-left political satire that you wouldn’t want your young children to see. As bad as Jimmy Kimmel was on ABC, Colbert was worse. While Jimmy Fallon on NBC worked to keep the partisan political stuff to a minimum, he still got in trouble for mussing Trump’s hair and for “humanizing“ him.
Video: Jimmy Fallon has his way with Trump’s famous hairdo.
By that time, late-night hosts either hated Trump or they lost audience. That’s where we are now. The three late-night shows are shadows of what they used to be, and feature aging hosts trolling for a young, college-indoctrinated left-wing audience that hates Trump. Add to that all the high-tech competition for eyeballs, and the inevitable is happening. I expect the nets to find some kind of really cheap late-night programming, or we’ll get re-runs of scripted shows.
So, mark your calendar for May of 2026.
That’s the month that Colbert and the entire “Late Show” franchise will go the way of the late-night Pat Sajak Show. Unfortunately, it’s a harbinger for television as a whole. People are buying Roku TVs and most young people have no concept that there is a 6 o’clock and 10 o’clock newscast on your local channels. It’s my guess that many, if not most, young people do not understand the concept of local TV channels.
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Most young people get their “news” from social media.
Social media is delivered on the internet. And the internet destroys anything it touches. The era of the late-night comedians is drawing to a close. And so is broadcast television. It’s just a matter of time. In the meantime, pop the champagne corks and let’s all celebrate the cancellation of the vilest show ever to be on broadcast television. It’ll be a long goodbye for Stephen Colbert, but it’s coming!
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter. Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us. Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoolley.
Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site.
Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
Yes, I know printed books are going away, too, You can order this one as a eBook on Amazon or B&N.
