Stephen Colbert To Succeed Letterman On ‘Late Show’

[AAAAAAAAH!]

After having slept on it...

Talk shows suck (except Graham Norton). No host is going to make the "Late Show" or the "Tonight Show" watchable. They are straight up sales pitches for whatever celebrity is making the rounds. The jokes are watered down and safe... and aren't funny.

Colbert is a tremendous talent. But we're essentially losing everything that made him great. He'll do fine hosting the Late Show. But it won't matter because the show itself sucks. I doubt I'll watch a single episode.

So from Colbert's perspective, this is a great move. The position is an obvious upgrade. His stock is rising... which is good for him.

But overall, it's a net loss.

Are you suggesting the free market is making a mistake? Why do you want to destroy capitalism?

[The Mad Monk]

Artistically, Colbert is probably making a mistake. Economically, he probably isn't, though CBS might be. The Market doesn't "make mistakes" but individual actors can.

[rah]

I always preferred Leno, he was funny without being mean or bitter. Letterman was both, especially after the move.

In general if I remember the demographics correctly (big if) The older generation like Leno better and the younger generation liked Letterman because he was more edgy.
But the late night audiences were generally older sitting at home while the younger crowd was out partying.
It depended on who you talked to when asked who you thought was funnier. I'm sure if searched we could find many articles that would say Leno was funnier/safer because the writer didn't appreciated the edginess of Letterman's material. And you'll find many that think Letterman lost that edginess and it has been replaced with a crotchety attitude which has reduced the level of humor considerably.

[Sava]

I always thought of Letterman as a bit "crotchety". But I liked that about him.

[rah]

How old were you in 92 when he first moved to CBS? He was less crotchety then.

[Sava]

12.

I recall starting to watch him just a little later than that... '93 or '94

[rah]

And thank you for making me feel just that much older.

[Sava]

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm sure if searched we could find many articles that would say Leno was funnier/safer because the writer didn't appreciated the edginess of Letterman's material.

Go ahead then. It is a widely held critical opinion that Letterman was the funner host, who was, by far, the more innovative and influence and was essential in moving humor into the more irony ladened mode we have today. You have all of the late night hosts saying just how much of an impact Letterman had on talk shows as well as humor in general - I don't remember that many gushing statements made about Leno from his fellow late night hosts.

And you'll find many that think Letterman lost that edginess and it has been replaced with a crotchety attitude which has reduced the level of humor considerably.

Which may be true, but does nothing to diminish that Letterman had that edginess and innovation humor at ALL. FWIW, the crotchety attitude had been there since the beginning and was partially what was so new - if a guest came on his show peddling BS, he'd call them on it - it's why Madonna cursed him out on a show (imagine that ever happening to Leno).

[DinoDoc]

I'm curious if we'll see any appearances by Bill O'Reilly on Colbert's Late Night.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm kind of fond when Letterman said the "I know I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I suspect that you don't either" to O'Reilly.

[rah]

As I've already stated, I think Letterman was the funnier of the two, and will agree that he changed the landscape of humor. But funny is what people think is funny. What you think is funny is different then what someone from a different country might find funny. It doesn't make you wrong, but it also doesn't give you the license to make fun of a person because they didn't think something was as funny as you. There are many people that think Monty Python is stupid. While I may disagree with them, I won't call them stupid for not agreeing with the majority of people that do.

And AS I said, he was funnier than Leno, but not by as much as you seem to believe. But again that's just my opinion and I always liked Leno's style,
It's like JR said, JC was an awful sketch comedian but he used that style to his advantage and made it part of the comedy.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well I will say it is 'stupid' to not acknowledge that critical consensus, even in humor, exists. Simply falling back to "it's all subjective" is simply lazy and shows an unwillingness to actually engage in actual critical evaluation. In my opinion, of course .

(and one can quite easily say they don't agree with the critical consensus, while acknowledging its existence)

[DinoDoc]

Letterman used to be funnier than Leno as he neared what is now the end of his career that became less and less true.

[Nikolai]

And thank you for making me feel just that much older.

I became 28 a few days ago. Lately everybody and their dog wants to remind me I'm soon 30, and while that is still young, it does feel like a big thing.