On Friday, it wasn’t that surprising CBS Mornings would be inconsolable over the “very sad” “kick in the stomach” Thursday night that parent company Paramount would be canceling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in May, the home for late-night group therapy for liberals. While CBS said they “love this man” and are in awe of him, NBC’s Today even joined in and celebrated his “signature political commentary.”
It’s a farce to act as though he has broad appeal and given the mountains of research compiled by our Alex Christy. For example, 82 percent of Colbert’s political jokes in 2024 targeted Republicans at 2,340 vs. only 479 to the left and 15 jokes about Fox News to a combined two about CNN and one about MSNBC. And for political guest, Colbert has cozied up to 29 liberals thus far in 2025 to zero on the right.
To give one last example for good measure, Christy found in February Colbert and his fellow nighttime lefties focused on Trump nine times more in his first four weeks as President in 2025 vs. the first four weeks of Biden in 2021.
CBS Mornings had a remarkable four teases in the first half-hour and a brief discussion after the Eye Opener before the six-minute-plus segment to lead off the second half-hour. Co-host Nate Burleson first brought up even before the teases, assuring viewers they’ll discuss “the shocking, late-night shake-up[.]”
Co-host Gayle King acted in the brief banter like Colbert and not the show had died: “I know this is not going to be the same late night without Stephen Colbert. A lot – a lot of us waking up to this news going, what? Am I reading this right?”
She then added the show had “changed the media landscape forever.” For a Democrat donor and Obama family friend, that kind of reaction squares.
Featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers opened the lengthy wake with a tell on his politics (and as someone who’d know far-left “comedy” as his wife is a lead producer for HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver):
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert often brings the laughs, but he went on to say CBS is ending the number one show in late night. The final episode will air in May. CBS calls it a business decision. Colbert shared the news head-on, adding just a little bit of that trademark sense of humor.
Fretting this was “the end of an era of one of the crown jewels of late night,” Duthiers went down memory lane through David Letterman’s opening spin on The Late Show before describing Colbert’s tenure this way, which was a tacit admission the show they’ve been heralding all morning is an indictment of their liberal bias: “Over the next few years, Colbert drew in millions with his biting sarcasm and critical commentary of the Trump administration.”
Duthiers hawked Colbert’s awards before arriving at the Paramount settlement with President Trump over last fall’s 60 Minutes Kamala Harris interview. Then, to his credit, he played sound from Puck’s Matthew Belloni, who broke through with a reality check about the financials of largesse, late-night productions on linear TV being black holes (click “expand”):
DUTHIERS: The show is now the highest rated in its time slot and has earned 33 Emmy nominations and a Peabody award. It comes days after Colbert made headlines for criticizing leadership of Paramount, the parent company of CBS, for paying $16 million to settle a lawsuit with President Donald Trump.
COLBERT [on CBS’s The Late Show, 07/14/25]: I am offended, and I don’t know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company. But just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help. [LAUGHTER]
DUTHIERS: Trump’s lawsuit alleged CBS News deceptively edited an interview with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris before last year’s presidential election, an accusation Paramount has always said was completely without merit. Democratic Representative [sic] Adam Schiff, a guest on Colbert’s show last night, tweeted, "If Paramount and CBS ended [T]he Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.” In a statement, Paramount said: “This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
MATT BELLONI: This is a total shock to Hollywood.
DUTHIERS: Matt Belloni, founder of Puck, says late-night shows on every major network are seeing ratings decline as viewers turn to digital media instead.
BELLONI: Late-night television, as we know it, is a dying breed. In five years, it is very doubtful that there will be any of these shows left. The economics simply does not make sense anymore because people are not watching linear television late at night. They are watching the clips from these shows on digital platforms, but the monetization of that content is not the same.
Also on Friday, Belloni wrote at Puck that Colbert’s 200-person show cost “more than $100 million” to run but had been losing “more than $40 million” a year. Yikes.
Duthiers resurfaced live with the other co-hosts, emphasizing “we’re all sad about this,” but we “we’ve got ten months to talk about…the legacy of The Late Show” and Colbert, whom he called “one of the nicest human beings in television.”
The gush overflowed as they called him “genuine,” “immensely talent,” “sweet,” and “very good” and “a kick in the stomach” to see him go.
Even though he would say he “love[s] the guy” and even “get[s] nervous” around him, co-host Tony Dokoupil implicitly brought up Fox News Channel host Greg Gutfeld crushing all of them and plummeting TV revenue (click “expand”):
DUTHIERS: Such a sweet guy, such a genuine guy, an immensely talented guy. Whatever he does next is going to be successful, I’m sure.
KING: Very good at what he does.
DUTHIERS: So good at what he does.
KING: When you get the news, though, it does feel like a little bit of a kick in the stomach.
DUTHIERS: For sure.
KING: It’s very difficult to hear that this morning.
DOKOUPIL: You have to explain to people, number one network show in late-night, but that slot has been shrinking.
DUTHIERS: As Matt explains in our piece.
BURLESON: The late-night slot.
DUTHIERS: That late-night slot because people aren’t watching linear television.
DOKOUPIL: And people are watching comedy of a right-wing variety on cable. That’s still growing. And, so, you got to put it into larger context. You’ve got hosts like Trevor Noah walking away….You have James Corden’s show….Other shows have been canceled, like Samantha Bee, not replaced. And revenue is apparently down 50 percent in the last six, seven years in the late-night category.
DUTHIERS: Yeah. I’ll just say: many years ago, when I was at this Paramount and CBS party, all these famous people around, and I’m sitting wallflower against the wall, I don’t know anybody, I’m sort of holding my drink, and Stephen comes over to me and goes, “Vlad, good to see Ya. How you doing? Merry Christmas.” And I was like, “Stephen, you don’t have to talk to me.”
(….)
DOKOUPIL: I get nervous around him. He is such a genuine star.
DUTHIERS: He really is.
DOKOUPIL: I love the man and I wish the show was still going to be with us.
BURLESON: No doubt it’s a tough pill to swallow.
KING: He may be done at CBS in ten months, but I don’t think he’s done.
DUTHIERS: Boom. I agree.
DOKOUPIL: I agree, Gayle. He’ll be fine.
DUTHIERS: I agree.
BURLESON: And I’ll be watching whatever he does.
KING: Me too.
NBC’s Today was crestfallen, starting with having three teases about a competing network. Co-host Craig Melvin and Carson Daly said in the first and third teases respectively they would take a look at Colbert’s “place in TV history.”
Entertainment correspondent Chloe Melas – who would admit she was a Colbert Report intern – conceded this was something “none of us expected, and it is pretty shocking news for late night fans, who were confused and angry about why CBS would pull the plug on such a popular show.”
There again, the disconnect between the left and the rest of the country as the former views Colbert as a unifying force and the place to be, rather than late-night group therapy for liberals where potshots at conservatives as ignoramuses are played for applause and laughter.
“Stephen Colbert’s announcement sending shockwaves through the television world…It’s a major shift in the late-night landscape and for the famous host. Colbert got his start on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and later won fans on the satirical The Colbert Report before taking over the network’s seat from David Letterman,” she added.
Melas gushed the Colbert took over in 2015 by “making his own mark with interviews, performances, and his signature political commentary.”
“Political commentary?” What quackery. Given the guest and joke breakdowns our Alex Christy chronicled, it’s wildly misleading to make it seem anything except for fiercely liberal.
No word on whether Melas believes it’s just “political commentary” for Colbert to say Trump is Vladimir Putin’s c**kholster.
She ignored Gutfeld’s success and touted the partisan claims of “Senator Adam Schiff” (so no party ID) (click “expand”):
MELAS: Despite an overall decline in late-night ratings, Colbert had the number one show for nine straight seasons.
BILL CARTER: There’s nobody bigger on CBS than Stephen Colbert right now. Literally, they’re dropping their – their biggest star.
MELAS: CBS executives saying in a statement: “This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related to the performance or content or other matters happening at Paramount. Colbert recently criticizing the $16 million settlement CBS’s parent company Paramount made with President Trump ahead of a pending merger with Skydance. Last night’s guest Senator Adam Schiff, saying: “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for public reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.” Colbert thanking his 200-person staff, leaving fans to wonder what’s next when the show ends in May of next year.
Back live, Melas admitted “other hosts have found success beyond late night” with Letterman having had a Netflix series and Conan O’Brien branching out to travel specials for HBO Max.
Melvin expressed concern for his staff, which Melas reiterated is 200 strong. Daly had a smart follow-up, though: “Chloe, do you think this is a sign of like a decline of the late-night franchises across the board or does it seem like a one-off that’s related to the merger?”
Melas intimated what her fellow corporate liberals have since said openly, which is Colbert is the victim of ruthless censorship by dictator Trump: “I think that this could be related to the merger. But at the end of the day, ratings for late-night are on the decline. I think that other late-night hosts should be a little concerned because these shows are really expensive to make and I want to point out that many – Stephen’s such a good guy. I interned for him.”
She closed by taking a shot at CBS: “If they wanted to cut costs, there were other ways that CBS could have done this, cutting a night out of the lineup Colbert. Maybe reducing the staff size.”
To see the relevant transcripts from July 18, click here (for CBS) and here (for NBC).
