Late Night Final

Comedy and the Resistance are matter and antimatter

“What?! You’re telling me that I was supposed to be funny?”

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Albeit with no intention of doing so, CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has finally generated a moment of hilarity.

Last Thursday, Colbert broke the sad news to his audience: CBS has decided to ring down the curtain on The Late Show. The drop-dead date is nearly a year off, however: The show will go off air when Colbert’s contract expires in May 2026. And his replacement is likely to be a test pattern, for CBS is washing its hands of late-night programming.

The network explained its decision in straightforward business terms. CBC spends $100 million a year to air The Late Show—$10-15 million of which is paid to Colbert. In return, the show attracts a mere two and a half million viewers nightly, average age 68, and loses around $40 million a year. Is it any wonder that CBS decided to pull the plug?

It’s true of course that late-night programming has fallen on evil times: Together, the three broadcast network late shows attract around six million nightly viewers. FNC’s Gutfeld, a cable show, pulls in slightly more viewers than the three network shows combined. Compare those stats to those of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-92), which pulled in up to forty million nightly viewers. Viewed strictly as a business model, contemporary late-night broadcast TV is an obvious no-go.

Now of course, TV shows get cancelled all the time—often to the consternation of dedicated fans. But the reaction to The Late’s Show’s cancellation is honed to a high pitch of hysteria and rage, not because it’s any good, but because it’s part of the Resistance.

Completely ignoring the fact that (1) CBS is in business to make money and (2) that Cobert and his show lose money for CBS, the comrades have been screaming about censorship, the threat posed to “our democracy” by The Late Show’s demise, and CBS’s supposedly craven acquiescence to Trumpian blackmail. For instance, there was this from The Hill:

Democrats and press freedom advocates have said Paramount’s [CBS’s parent company] recent moves are a clear capitulation to Trump’s executive power to serve its business interest, while Colbert himself called out the media conglomerate last week, saying it had paid the president a “big fat bribe.”

The lovely and talented Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, who was Colbet’s guest—for the full, excruciating hour!—on the night of the tragic announcement, waxed indignant:

Just finished taping with Stephen Colbert who announced his show was cancelled. If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.

Well, boo-hoo. There’s no evidence that such is the case, and such complaints skate past the fact that CBS is indeed losing money on Colbert. The bottom line, though, is a matter of scant concern to progressives. To them it seems only reasonable that the network should fund their jihad against Trump to the tune of $40 million per year.

But even from the Resistance point of view, The Late Show is a poor investment. The only people who watch it are those already committed to the cause, and the show’s sole function is to confirm their priors, allegedly with sharp-elbowed humor. But despite the claim that Colbert’s brand of political comedy is some kind of cultural treasure, the truth is that guy’s Just. Not. Funny.

How could he be? Colbert’s singular subject is Trump/MAGA evil & etc. Now, one might argue that Trump/MAGA is a gold mine of potential hilarity, and in a way that’s true, but Colbert’s ideological guardrails prevent him from exploiting the available possibilities. Unremitting hostility is the mandatory keynote: Trump, his followers, and all their works must be mocked and reviled on grounds of evil and stupidity and the existential threat they pose to “our democracy.” As National Review Online’s Geraghty so very unkindly put it, in Colbert’s hands The Late Show became “Theme Time Therapy Hour for aging liberals who just want to watch a little TV in bed before turning out the light.” Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

Hence Colbert’s response when Trump enjoyed a laugh at his expense, gloating over The Late Show’s cancellation on Truth Social. Did he play it for laughs? Nah. He dropped the f-bomb—proof positive that comedy and the Resistance are matter and antimatter. As a matter of fact, it’s Trump who’s the funny guy, Colbert who’s the humorless nosebleed with the plastic smile. I like to think that deep in his gnarled little heart, Colbert knows this.

Though late night TV is past its prime, Colbert could have looked at his miserable ratings and asked himself, What can I do to fix this? How might I grow my audience? He could have made an effort to be funny. But no: He was content to collect his princely salary while grinding out the same unfunny sludge, night after night, for a miniscule audience of never-Trumpers. Okay, sure, he did have Stacy Abrams as a guest four times—which when you think about it is pretty funny.

But apparently, CBS was not amused.