Stephen Colbert To Succeed Letterman On ‘Late Show’

[DinoDoc]

I'd also argue that his first few years at CBS were pretty danged good. It was one he started losing in the ratings (to THAT unfunny host) is when the wind seemed to be taken out of his sails.

I figured it was Sarah Palin that did him in creatively. Or was she merely a symptom?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Leno is way funnier than Letterman and always has been.

You are a little too young to be Jay Leno's mother, aren't you?

[rah]

Humor is subjective and relies a lot on personal taste. So While I agree that Letterman in general is marginally better than Leno, you probably shouldn't make fun of a person because of his taste in humor. Besides there are so many other tangible things that you can make fun of him for. Just saying.

[Lorizael]

If that's where we're going, I'd rather keep Colbert on Comedy Central and have Space Ghost take over for Letterman.

[Sava]

Letterman is fine. Leno is the worst. Absolute worst.

[Lorizael]

The only thing funny about Leno was Jaywalking, which was funnier than anything I ever saw on Letterman.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Humor is subjective and relies a lot on personal taste. So While I agree that Letterman in general is marginally better than Leno, you probably shouldn't make fun of a person because of his taste in humor. Besides there are so many other tangible things that you can make fun of him for. Just saying.

One can say this sort of thing for any artform. There are, however, some critical standards which allow us to say things like thinking Dane Cook is funnier than Monty Python is ridiculous and the person making the claim lacks any sense of humor whatsoever.

[Ben Kenobi]

CraigyFerg gets a nice payoff for being passed over, as he had a Prince of Wales succession clause in his contract.
Supposedly about $5mill, and he can walk away if he wants.

I'm a bit surprised he'd get passed over. He's the better host.

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

Ferguson comes off crazed in a way I bet makes the suits nervous...

[Guynemer]

Yeah, he has a lot more freedom to do significant things (like the SuperPAC stuff) as a character than he would as a regular host. That said, I saw a couple references to the shake up being that he was going to bring the character with him. That would be interesting on a network channel.

If that's where we're going, I'd rather keep Colbert on Comedy Central and have Space Ghost take over for Letterman.

Absolutely.

I'm sure Colbert will do great on CBS, but there is no way he'll be able to do the same sort of satiric commentary on politics and media on the network, nor will he be able to interview science and politics and education and culture authors like he does now.

While Colbert on CBS > Letterman on CBS, Colbert on CC >>>> Colbert on CBS.

[rah]

One can say this sort of thing for any artform. There are, however, some critical standards which allow us to say things like thinking Dane Cook is funnier than Monty Python is ridiculous and the person making the claim lacks any sense of humor whatsoever.

Yes there are critical standards, but I don't think the delta between the two of them was that large. It all depended on the night sometimes they're on and sometimes they weren't.
Neither one of them would I consider great.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yes there are critical standards, but I don't think the delta between the two of them was that large. It all depended on the night sometimes they're on and sometimes they weren't.
Neither one of them would I consider great.

Which is great and all, but critical standards in this case (in 20-30 years, esp) will credit Letterman to not only be funnier, but far more influential in Late Night. His ironic detachment and crazy "what can I get away with" have strongly influenced the genre, from Jon Stewart to Jimmy Kimmel (a massive Letterman fan himself) to Stephen Colbert to Conan O'Brian and even to Jimmy Fallon (whose sucking up to guests is more reminiscent of Leno, but whose skits have a crazy, lets see what crazy stuff we can do quality that is Letterman-esque). Letterman is widely praised for changing late night comedy and his influence.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/04/the-irreplaceable-david-letterman.html

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/david-letterman-year-one-20110929

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/03/showbiz/tv/david-letterman-retiring-influence/

http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/04/03/david-letterman-legacy/

I'll focus on a quote from the Rolling Stone article (done in 2011, mind, before Letterman's retirement announcement and people puffing him up because he's leaving):

Today, talk shows work off the model that Letterman, not Carson, built. "You see his influence in every talk-show host – Jon Stewart, Conan, Colbert, all those guys," says Kimmel. "We're all 100 percent guilty of stealing from Letterman. That show changed everything, and it changed the humor of the United States more than anything I can think of. We all got a lot cooler all of a sudden." Because of Letterman, celebrity is no longer treated with unquestioned reverence, the audience is in on every mocking joke and pop-culture reference, and self-knowing humor and showbiz sarcasm pervade the work of avowed Letterman fans like Tina Fey and Howard Stern. "As a kid I would watch The Mike Douglas Show, but it felt like a different world," says Apatow. "When Letterman was on, I thought, 'I know these people and this sense of humor – this is a world I have to find a way into.' There were six or seven people or groups who changed comedy in the Seventies and Eighties – Saturday Night Live, Monty Python, National Lampoon, Richard Pryor and Steve Martin – and Letterman is at the top of that list."

(That's Jimmy Kimmel and Judd Apatow quoted in that part, of course)

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

-While Leno is widely credited for being old and fat.

[DaShi]

Leno is way funnier than Letterman and always has been. Leno hasn't been that funny for a while but Letterman just sucks.

Jesus Christ! Were you dropped as a child?

[DaShi]

Also, I guess #CancelColbert got what it wanted afterall.