Late-night TV says goodbye to Stephen Colbert as his chapter closes
Entertainment ı By Tyler Brooks
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From Struggling Host to Late Night Leader
The Late Show has long been a centerpiece of American television history.
For a generation late-night TV was ruled by Johnny Carson on NBC. Carson retired in 1992; a year later CBS launched The Late Show with Letterman as host. Colbert took over the desk in 2015 after years of portraying a bombastic political persona on Comedy Central.
His early transition was not smooth.
Bill Carter, the author of four books about TV, including The Late Shift, says: “I thought he was brilliant almost beyond description in his previous late-night show. It was like no one’s ever done. He was doing essentially a sketch for nine years. It was satire on such a high level.”
But adapting from satire to hosting proved difficult at first. Industry insiders say he struggled to find his footing until key changes behind the scenes reshaped the show.
Political America Transforms Late Night Television
The rise of Donald Trump reshaped Colbert’s voice and late-night comedy itself.
Each night Colbert delivered a perfectly honed mini-state of the nation address, caustic, piercing, witty, redemptive, that included his own Trump voice impression. Future historians struggling to comprehend this era could do much worse than study them.
Stephen Farnsworth, a co-author of Late Night With Trump: Political Humor and the American Presidency, says: “If late-night comedy wanted to build a foil, it would look just like Donald Trump.”
He added: “You’re talking about someone who is an extraordinarily target-rich environment for late-night humour: his bluster, his demeanour, his inconsistency, his aggressiveness – all of these things create a very rich environment for mockery. The Arc de Trump, ingested bleach, arguing that an election he lost he didn’t really lose. This is a through-the-looking-glass time in American politics.”
Colbert Rejects Claims of Political Partisanship
Despite criticism, Colbert has pushed back against claims that late-night television has become politically biased.
In a recent New York Times interview, he said: “I don’t have any problem with Trump being a Republican. I have a problem with Trump being a complete narcissist who is only working for his own interest and does not appear to care if the entire world burns. That’s not a partisan position.”
He added: “I have eyeballs and ears, and I think calling late-night partisan is just roughing the ref. And we don’t even want to be refs, but they perceive us as refs. I reject the partisan description. Partisan means you’re never, ever going to make a joke about a Democrat, and that’s just not true. There’s just no comparison of how fertile the fields are.”
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