The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is an American late-night news and political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Spartina Productions and CBS Studios, it is the second iteration of CBS' Late Show franchise. The program is taped at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, the same studio as its predecessor Late Show with David Letterman. It airs live to tape in most U.S. markets weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT, as with its competitors Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
A Late Show with Stephen at Home / A Late Show with Stephen Colbert (COVID-19 pandemic; March 2020 – June 2021)
- Stephen Colbert
- Jay Katsir
- Opus Moreschi
Ariel Dumas
Jay Katsir
(co-head writers)
Stephen Colbert
Jen Spyra
- Jon Batiste
"Everyone (Intro)" by Stay Human (2015–2016)
"Humanism" by Stay Human
"I'm from Kenner"
"The Art of the Bumper"
United States
English
8
1,482 (as of April 18, 2024) (list of episodes)
- Stephen Colbert
- Jon Stewart
- Chris Licht (2016–2022)
- Tom Purcell
- Barry Julien
- Ed Sullivan Theater, Manhattan, New York
- Colbert's homes in New Jersey and South Carolina (2020–2021, COVID-19 pandemic)
40 minutes
- Spartina Productions
- Busboy Productions (uncredited)
- CBS Studios
September 8, 2015 –
present
Colbert was announced as the new host in April 2014, after existing host David Letterman announced his intention to retire earlier in the month; Colbert had previously hosted Comedy Central's news satire The Colbert Report, a program where Colbert portrayed a character named Stephen Colbert as a parody of conservative pundits. As such, the series has carried a stronger focus on discussing and satirizing current events, especially within U.S. politics. Some of Colbert's staff moved to The Late Show, along with Jon Stewart – who previously hosted The Colbert Report's parent series The Daily Show – serving as an executive producer.
The Late Show has remained the highest-rated U.S. late-night talk show for seven consecutive seasons as of 2023, marking the longest winning streak in franchise history over its competitors; since 2019, it exceeded The Tonight Show in key demographic viewership.
Reception[edit]
Ratings and viewership[edit]
The Late Show debuted to 8.26 million viewers (with Live+7) according to Nielsen, beating out all late-night competition.[79] The show's highest ratings to date – and highest for the Late Show franchise – were achieved by a live episode that ran after Super Bowl 50 in 2016, which averaged 21.1 million viewers.[52] Despite this, the show's initial ratings trailed its competitors.[80][81] The show began to shift its focus onto politics,[82] and in 2017, The Late Show began to see major ratings gains, aided by the program's satire of the incoming Donald Trump administration. After Trump's inauguration, Colbert narrowly beat Fallon for the first time in average weekly viewership,[83] and it continued to see ratings gains over the ensuing months.[84] It ended up becoming the highest-rated late-night talk show for the 2016-2017 season, averaging more than 3.2 million nightly viewers.[85] The show continued to see improvement throughout the 2010s; in the 2018–2019 season, The Late Show beat The Tonight Show as the top program among the key demographic of adults 18–49, marking its first win in Colbert's tenure, and only the second in franchise history, since the 1994–1995 season.[86]
The Late Show has remained the highest-rated U.S. late-night talk show for seven consecutive seasons as of 2023, marking the longest winning streak in franchise history over its competitors.[87]
Reviews[edit]
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has garnered mostly positive reviews.[88] The Guardian's Brian Moylan praised the show's humor: "This opener was by no means a perfect show, but there were enough really inventive jokes to make Colbert already seem like an innovator."[89] Robert Lloyd of Los Angeles Times deemed it a "strong start",[90] while Variety's Brian Lowry felt it a "mostly terrific" debut, commenting, "Colbert looks like he has the skill set to settle in and make this job his own, night in and night out."[91] Many critics considered the show's more political segments as reminiscent of The Colbert Report.[90][92]
The show's post-Super Bowl episode in 2016 proved polarizing. "Sunday's live episode felt mostly like a wasted opportunity – one that probably won't win many converts among those football fans sober enough to stick around," said Brian Lowry at Variety.[93] Daniel D'Addario of Time dubbed his performance "stiff and uncomfortable", writing, "Colbert might have been better advised not to bother trying with football at all and just put forward a program of pure entertainment."[94]
The Late Show has received positive reviews following the inauguration of Donald Trump as president. "Colbert may not be the sarcastic, irony-laden character he once played for Comedy Central, but as Trump has dominated the news every day since taking office, The Late Show has become the home for reasoned, but incisive, discussion, on the perceived overreaches of the White House," said David Sims of The Atlantic.[95] James Poniewozik of The New York Times commented, "Mr. Colbert's comedy hasn't become radically different, but it has been more frank and caustic ... The network-TV Mr. Colbert is more cheery than his cable character. But it's as if the Trump administration had solved the problem of reconciling his new comedy with his old by making truthiness America's official language."[96] In a profile made by the Wall Street Journal on Colbert, actor Andrew Garfield said: “The openness and ownership that he has with seemingly culturally taboo subjects, such as grief, allows his guests permission to be in contact and reveal those aspects of their own selves and experiences. In turn, the audience gets to have a genuine, deep, and connected experience. So the show feels like an act of service to people. I think Stephen would have made a great priest.”[97]
Accolades[edit]
The show was a recipient for the Peabody Award and earned Primetime Emmy Award nominations including six times for Outstanding Variety Talk Series, as of the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards.[98][99][100]