Bidding Adieu to the Late Show With Stephen Colbert: What Happens to Comedic Resistance to Trump’s Reign
- For millions of Americans, like myself, the last decade was made endurable by the show. And for that we will be thankful.
At the outset of the First World War, the British Foreign Minister, Sir Edward Grey, said, “The lamps are going out all across Europe. I fear we shall not see them lit in our lifetime.” I am hoping the same will not apply to America’s robust comedy and satire industry as the Late Show draws to a close. Helmed by the multi-talented Stephen Colbert (Col-bear not Col-burt!), it morphed from being David Letterman’s gig featuring silly interviews with Bangladeshi cab drivers in NYC and odd Top 10 Lists into a major source of political parody and satire of the high and mighty in America.
The Late Show was a relatively new entrant into the late night television compared to its older rival, The Tonight Show, which debuted in 1954 and was made great by Johnny Carson. After Carson, when there was a unstated competition as to whether Dave Letterman or Jay Leno would get the nod, the former was given a CBS rival spot in 1993 when the latter secured the NBC Tonight show. Letterman won the early competition until Leno’s famous interview with Hugh Grant on his sexual (mis)escapade with Divine Brown and from then on the Tonight Show reigned supreme…… UNTIL, Stephen Colbert took the Late Show to numero uno position, until now.
Colbert honed his craft at several places, notably as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – a veritable nursery of comedic talent – and then on the Colbert Report where he played an irreverent, bombastic, hyperpatriotic, seemingly rightwing TV host very similar to the persona of Bill O’Reilly. The transition to the Late Show was notable. Colbert removed most of the buffoonery from his act and played the affable TV host with wit, humor, and a sharp intellect that was (and IMHO is) missing in all his contemporaries. It helped that he has been a jack of all trades, singing (along with guests), dancing, and able to mimic some personalities in American life (although his Trump impersonation was, frankly, terrible). The show started with a long monologue on current affairs that rapidly became more political in content, and then had a comedic segment such as Meanwhile or The Sound of Science, before moving to the more traditional interviews with celebrities.
Colbert will most likely move to another platform where like John Oliver he will deliver material that holds a mirror for America to view itself.
The show had tried to find its oeuvre in its early years and stumbled into political satire and critique after Donald Trump’s first victory in 2016. From then on it bested the Tonight Show and other late-night contenders and even captured the key 18-49 demographic. Colbert relished the political and eschewed simple comedy similar to The Daily Show. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he was openly partisan — partly because the Republican party seemed to morph into a Trumpist cult rather than a substantive political vehicle. The show was definitely more cerebral than its competitors and the comedy required a higher level of knowledge, although there was the occasional straying into crude and silly comedy – Colbert would act surprised if it got laughs and say something like “we didn’t think this would work,” thereby inviting the audience into the nuances of making the show.
So why was it canceled? The simplest answer is political pressure. As CBS went through a merger, it ostensibly examined late night television and decided to cut off the show that was not making as much money as before. Lots of comedians had moved to YouTube where the advertising was cheaper and the costs were lower, the splintering and segmentation of the audience made the costs difficult. However, NBC reduced their show to 4 nights a week and cut off expenses, but CBS made no effort to do anything similar. The timing of the cancellation was suspiciously close to the merger where pro-Trump figures appear to have influenced the decision.
Even if economic arguments were valid, CBS should have looked at its cultural legacy. The Late Show had usurped the number one late-night spot over The Tonight Show and people eagerly awaited the next episode to see what was happening. There is also the matter of ads targeting a younger audience that are perhaps more susceptible to them rather than the more mature audience that is discerning in its purchases.
What did the show accomplish? It brought a light-hearted look at current affairs, made the intellectual within reach of the common person, and performed a robust defense of democracy and civility in public life. Colbert’s interviews were marked by a sharply intellectual (albeit humorous) vein even as he meandered into the populist ‘You are Known’ questions or skewered celebrities with a frozen mugshot and a biting comment of what the person looked like at that moment. More than anything, it was a hard resistance to the ending of democratic norms that had made America the first name in democracy for many years due to the tolerance of jocular criticism of its political leaders. That may sadly disappear now.
However, Colbert will most likely move to another platform where like John Oliver he will deliver material that holds a mirror for America to view itself. But it will be a paid platform inaccessible to many Americans who cannot pay for an additional channel after getting the network stations. And that is probably the greatest loss.
For millions of Americans, like myself, the last decade was made endurable due to the laughter from The Late Show. And for that we will be thankful.
Looking forward to a new avatar of Stephen Colbert and late-night TV. It won’t end, it will evolve.
Milind Thakar is Professor and Graduate Director of International Relations at the University of Indianapolis.