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Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” signed off for the last time, marking the end of an era. But what’s next for the celebrated host amid political controversies and an evolving late-night landscape? From legal battles and political pressure to new creative projects like a high-fantasy film, we explore the challenges and future prospects for Colbert and the fate of late-night television in America.
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00:00What is this?
00:02Stephen, maybe I can help explain.
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:06And today, we'll be discussing the potential future of Stephen Colbert
00:10and the late-night talk show industry following the cancellation of The Late Show.
00:14Have a good show. Thanks for being here.
00:17And let's do it, y'all.
00:20On May 21st, 2026, Stephen Colbert signed off on The Late Show for the last time.
00:26Thus ended a late-night talk show franchise that David Letterman began in 1993.
00:38With his predecessors' unstoppable success as a media personality and political activist,
00:43this is surely not the end for Colbert.
00:45But the satirical commentator has always made it clear that the situation is bigger than himself.
00:50This whole thing is the latest and boldest action in a long campaign against media critics.
00:58Trump has personally sued ABC, CBS, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,
01:04The Des Moines Register, and his bathroom scale.
01:06Plus, he defunded PBS and NPR and has already found his next target.
01:13The Late Show's cancellation coincided with a legal battle
01:16between parent company Paramount Global and U.S. President Donald Trump, whom Colbert frequently lampooned.
01:23The subsequent controversy sparked debate about whether political censorship
01:26is worsening American talk show's greater industry crisis.
01:30Whether Colbert is a martyr, he's being met with many prospects that his chops can back up.
01:35Who knows? Maybe CBS saved my life.
01:39Because it takes a lot of bone marrow to do the show every day.
01:42Now I'll be stepping down with enough time, enough energy to do other things that I want to do.
01:47Colbert's qualifications.
01:49It took a lot to earn the Late Show seat after David Letterman ended an almost 22-year run.
01:55Stephen Colbert began his career working with the improv comedy troupe The Second City from 1987 to 1994.
02:02He then wrote and acted on several sketch TV shows
02:05before becoming a correspondent on Comedy Central's satirical news program The Daily Show.
02:10Colbert was such a fan favorite that he hosted the spin-off The Colbert Rapport,
02:14which specifically spoofed conservative-leaning infotainment.
02:17What Lincoln said at Gettysburg was, 87 years ago, we said that all men are created equal.
02:24As long as they're equal to me, of course I'll give them equal rights.
02:27But right now, they're choosing to not be equal.
02:29All in all, his 17-year tenure with the franchise won him nine Emmys.
02:33So after the end of The Colbert Rapport, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert premiered on CBS on September 8,
02:392015.
02:40I'm so excited to be here right now.
02:43The funny man has taken over the Ed Sullivan Theater after months of renovations and anticipation.
02:48And after a two-and-a-half-hour taping, the crowd left energized,
02:52and many were newly-minted Stephen Colbert converts.
02:55The talk show was well-received for the surreal comedy, social commentary,
03:00and natural charisma that the host has long showcased on film and television.
03:05With Colbert foregoing his ironic conservative persona to espouse more serious progressivism,
03:10many criticized him as increasingly partisan.
03:13Still, he exudes the intelligence and talent to land on his feet after 29 years of poking fun at the
03:18system.
03:19We call it the joy machine because to do this many shows, it has to be a machine.
03:24But the thing is, if you choose to do it with joy,
03:27it doesn't hurt as much when your fingers get caught in the gears.
03:30Current and future prospects.
03:33Colbert is likely getting plenty of job offers kept under wraps.
03:37One notable exception is the National Marine Mammal Foundation's public invitation
03:41to join a research team in Colbert's hometown of Charleston, South Carolina.
03:45He did have a childhood dream of becoming a marine biologist, after all.
03:49What we do know is that he's living the dream of a superfan of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth
03:55mythos.
03:56Well, Shelob's mother is ungolient, okay?
03:59And she died by consuming herself in her own webs of darkness.
04:04He's got it!
04:14Colbert suggests that Peter Jackson's adaptations are his favorite film franchise.
04:18And he even had a cameo in The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug.
04:22So when he and his screenwriter's son Peter McGee pitched a film based on lesser-known chapters of The Lord
04:27of the Rings,
04:28Jackson applauded the idea.
04:29It took me a few years to scrape my courage into a pile to give you a call,
04:34but about two years ago I did.
04:36You liked it enough to talk to me about it.
04:38And ever since then, the two of us have been working with the brilliant Philippa Boyens on how to develop
04:44this story.
04:45The Lord of the Rings, Shadow of the Past, is currently in development at Warner Brothers.
04:49While we can trust the writers' reverence for the source material,
04:52a high-fantasy epic is pretty different from political comedy.
04:55There's just as much concern about whether Colbert's satire will become a challenge for him.
05:00Ooh, a text for me!
05:04Oh, no biggie.
05:05Just a message from my best Gandalf asking me to save Middle Earth.
05:09Again.
05:11Comments and concerns.
05:13In 2025, President Donald Trump accepted a $16 million settlement
05:18after alleging that a 60 Minutes interview was misleadingly edited in opponent Kamala Harris' favor.
05:23The late show offered its own interpretation on the matter.
05:27Now, I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official
05:31has a technical name in legal circles.
05:33It's Big Fat Bribe.
05:35Because this all comes as Paramount's owners are trying to get the Trump administration
05:40to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance.
05:47Paramount then canceled the show officially because of major production cost losses.
05:52Colbert hasn't dismissed this motivation,
05:54but believes there's merit to speculations that his termination was politically motivated.
05:59$40 million is a big number.
06:01I could see us losing $24 million,
06:03but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million?
06:07Oh, yeah.
06:12Oh, yeah.
06:14Trump himself has embraced this theory,
06:16publicly praising CBS for silencing one of his harshest critics.
06:20Colbert responded by condemning the president's agitation
06:23and intensifying his mockery throughout the late show's final season.
06:26The gloves are off.
06:28I can finally...
06:29Yeah.
06:32I can finally speak unvarnished truth to power
06:36and say what I really think about Donald Trump,
06:39starting right now.
06:41Guests like Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff
06:44bluntly called for an investigation into possible corruption
06:48behind Paramount's controversial deal.
06:50Offset, Colbert has been more hesitant about endorsing these accusations,
06:54but believes that the threat against free speech is very real.
06:58We're clowns.
07:00How much does it diminish
07:02the office of the presidency
07:04to even notice what we say?
07:07You know?
07:09That guy needs to know how to pick his battles.
07:11I mean, metaphorically, I'm literally.
07:13A political debate.
07:15Donald Trump has clashed with mainstream media
07:17since before his first term as POTUS.
07:20His public feuds with left-leaning satirists like Colbert,
07:23Seth Meyers,
07:24and Jimmy Kimmel have been especially heated.
07:27I hope you'll accept my apology.
07:29And I just want to give you the opportunity.
07:30Is there anybody you'd like to apologize to right now yourself?
07:35No.
07:36No?
07:38No one to apologize at all.
07:41Trump has every right to respond to his critics,
07:44including with civil suits.
07:46However, dealing punishment in his capacity
07:48as the U.S. government's chief representative
07:50could violate constitutional protection of speech and press.
07:54Whether he did have a hand in Colbert's downfall,
07:57it's widely believed that his administration
07:58went too far with Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2025.
08:02I give interviews.
08:03I don't do them.
08:03You don't usually take them,
08:05and I appreciate you taking it.
08:06So you found out about...
08:10Like a champ.
08:12I take it like a champ, my friend.
08:14When we're in Guantanamo Bay together.
08:16Trump appointed FCC chairman Brendan Carr
08:19threatened ABC's broadcast licenses
08:21after a monologue made light of the assassination
08:23of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
08:26Disney suspended Kimmel,
08:27only to reinstate him six days later amid backlash.
08:31Trump has since pushed for Kimmel's termination
08:33with the claim that his rhetoric has become dangerous.
08:35Late-night talk shows have indeed been growing
08:38more politically engaged and partisan
08:40since the beginning of Trump's political career.
08:42And this has been a measurable factor
08:44in the comedy format's waning commercial value.
08:47I never even imagined there would ever be a situation
08:49in which the president of our country
08:51was celebrating hundreds of Americans losing their jobs.
08:55But somebody who took pleasure in that,
08:58that to me is the absolute opposite
09:00of what a leader of this country is supposed to be.
09:04What the polls say.
09:06One argument for the political theory
09:08of the late show's cancellation
09:09is that it was the highest rated late night talk show
09:11for nine years.
09:13But is that really saying much?
09:15CBS reported that it was losing
09:17approximately $40 million annually
09:19on the show's production.
09:20Still, that's still a lot of money.
09:22I mean, where does the late show rank?
09:24Jim, what other companies lost
09:25that kind of money last year?
09:27Red lobster?
09:29Damn it, I told them we should stop
09:32offering the audience unlimited shrimp.
09:34Nightly talk shows are becoming a financial burden
09:37as the market trends away from the format
09:39and American network television in general.
09:42Multiple studies have found that the ratings decline
09:44is partly due to rising political satire.
09:46Whether viewers disagree with the rhetoric
09:48or simply crave escapism.
09:50I don't believe in the Republican Party
09:52or the Democratic Party.
09:53I just believe in parties.
09:56Private companies have the right in the U.S.
09:59to fire employees
10:00if their public statements jeopardize business.
10:02But government representatives
10:03do not generally have the right
10:05to directly coerce or order that action.
10:08Disney has shifted to vocal defense
10:09of Jimmy Kimmel Live,
10:11and ratings for that show and the late show
10:13were bolstered by the scandals.
10:15Still, networks may have to take drastic actions
10:17to salvage late night
10:18or keep up the appearance
10:20of defying government pressure.
10:21It looks like it's the end,
10:22and I wish it wasn't.
10:24But that's not for me to decide.
10:26All we have to decide
10:28is what to do with the time that has given us.
10:30Tomorrow for late night.
10:31Since the end of the late show,
10:33CBS's resident late night placeholder
10:35Comics Unleashed has filled the void.
10:37Comedian-turned-billionaire media mogul
10:39Byron Allen has the savviness
10:41to save the network money
10:42while entertaining audiences
10:44with panel discussions about pop culture.
10:46However, Comics Unleashed is notably designed
10:49to be as apolitical as possible.
10:51I don't care who you vote for.
10:53I just don't care.
10:54That's your business.
10:56Go do what you're gonna do.
10:57You know, I'm just here to make you laugh.
11:00Critics fear that this foreshadows
11:01American networks moving away
11:03from political commentary
11:04for fear of backlash.
11:06It could just represent
11:07a politically lucrative renewal
11:08of editorial neutrality and escapism.
11:11Ratings for Comics Unleashed improved
11:13after it's moved to an earlier time slot,
11:15but CBS has fallen from the top
11:17of the late night block to the bottom.
11:18A projected profit off of the show
11:21is still a huge upside
11:22compared to the losses reported
11:23with the late show.
11:24Allen says he will lease the time
11:26from CBS and sell the ad revenue himself.
11:30I'm putting a lot of money
11:32in their cash register.
11:33I am a gift from the money gods
11:35and the comedy gods.
11:37Politically charged talk shows
11:38could be great for business
11:39if networks can properly restructure
11:41their investment in that industry.
11:43If the threat becomes undeniably
11:45more political than financial,
11:46then there is a greater issue
11:48in the U.S.
11:49than the survival of talk shows.
11:50Don't worry so much
11:51about Colbert's career.
11:53He has a fantastical adventure
11:54ahead of him.
11:55The real concern has always been
11:57what's next for late night.
11:59As we all understand,
12:00you can take a man's show,
12:01you can't take a man's voice.
12:03So that's the good news of me.
12:08Cheers, cheers.
12:10What do you think is next
12:11for the hosts and institution
12:12of late night talk shows?
12:14Chat it up in the comments below.
12:17cop theomoxic.com
12:17Bye.
12:18I love you.
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