Stephen Colbert is taking over The Late Show

Books, comics, TV, music
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Now that David Letterman is going, the speculation is official. Colbert will take over The Late Show.

The CBS Television Network today announced that Stephen Colbert, the host, writer and executive producer of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning “The Colbert Report,” will succeed David Letterman as the host of THE LATE SHOW, effective when Mr. Letterman retires from the broadcast. The five-year agreement between CBS and Colbert was announced by Leslie Moonves, President and CEO, CBS Corporation, and Nina Tassler, Chairman of CBS Entertainment.

Letterman, the legendary, critically acclaimed host of the CBS late night series for 21 years, announced his retirement on his April 3 broadcast. Colbert’s premiere date as host of THE LATE SHOW will be announced after Mr. Lettermen determines a timetable for his final broadcasts in 2015.

Specific creative elements, as well as the producers and the location for the Colbert-hosted LATE SHOW, will be determined and announced at a later date.

“Stephen Colbert is one of the most inventive and respected forces on television,” said Moonves. “David Letterman’s legacy and accomplishments are an incredible source of pride for all of us here, and today’s announcement speaks to our commitment of upholding what he established for CBS in late night.”

“Stephen is a multi-talented and respected host, writer, producer, satirist and comedian who blazes a trail of thought-provoking conversation, humor and innovation with everything he touches,” said Tassler. ”He is a presence on every stage, with interests and notable accomplishments across a wide spectrum of entertainment, politics, publishing and music. We welcome Stephen to CBS with great pride and excitement, and look forward to introducing him to our network television viewers in late night.”

“Simply being a guest on David Letterman’s show has been a highlight of my career,” said Colbert. “I never dreamed that I would follow in his footsteps, though everyone in late night follows Dave’s lead.”

Adding, “I’m thrilled and grateful that CBS chose me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go grind a gap in my front teeth.”

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I’m gonna miss The Colbert Report :-(

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Sigh, I hope this doesn’t end the Report, but can he realistically do both?

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Of course the Colbert Report won’t be sticking around.

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Also, if you wanna laugh, check out the comments to this EW story. It got linked to from Drudge, so you can imagine what happened.

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okay, some of the outraged comments from those who arrived from Drudge are hilarious. And not in a laugh along kind of way. Someone also mentions a website called wellaware1 and it’s freaking great. Of course, I’m just going to assume it’s parody because the alternative would be…well…disturbing.

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So is he going to be keeping up his Colbert Report shtick? Or will he finally be more himself in this new role?

EDIT: apparently that question is answered in the EW article

Colbert is expected to shed his ultra-conservative Colbert Report character for Late Show, which leads to perhaps the biggest question mark surrounding his hiring. Though he’s been going through the broad motions of being a late-night host since 2005, he hasn’t been “himself” on the air — so what does that look and feel like, exactly?

Colbert’s fellow Comedy Central host Jon Stewart assured Vulture: “He’s got a lot more he can show. He’s got some skill sets that are really applicable, interviewing-wise, but also he’s a really, really good actor and also an excellent improvisational comedian. He’s also got great writing skills. He’s got a lot of the different capacities. Being able to expand upon [those] would be exciting.”

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Colbert has let the mask down a number of times, and (no surprise) he’s a very likeable, bright, and witty guy.

I almost think he’ll be thrilled to leave that old persona behind.

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Good for him, I guess.

I think this is going to require a period of adjustment for many of his fans. Stephen Colbert, the character, is firmly entrenched in people’s minds as Stephen Colbert, the person. It’s going to be tough for a lot of people to watch Colbert be something other than the mock-person he’s been.

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The funny thing about those folks complaining about someone they believe is an ultra liberal taking over is that Colbert himself is a pretty outspoken Catholic who even teaches Sunday School.

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I think it’s sad to see him leave his cutting edge show (yeah, I get it. $$$$ Comedy Central is a pretty low-rent place to work) to embrace the dying, old-school format of late night television.

RIP The Colbert Report.

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With recent numerous changes to hosts, it may be that late night television is now embracing him.

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Ugh. Ferguson should have got the job, he’s the best one on the air right now, and on too late for me to watch without time-shifting.

Aside from a famous name, Colbert brings nothing to the late-night host table. In fact, his play-acting schtick is the opposite of what I want to see in a late-night host.

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Ferguson isn’t interested in handling the usual talk show host duties. He doesn’t go by script, he improvises, and many guests can’t keep up and are clearly uncomfortable. He clearly doesn’t give a shit.

Funny guy, though. But he’s not 11PM material.

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As has been stated numerous times (and even by Colbert himself in the press release), Colbert will not be playing his Colbert character on Late Night in any way, shape or fashion.

Assuming he would be is like assuming Ferguson was going to play a Scottish hair dresser on his late night show.

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If only it had already been pointed out in this very thread that he’ll be dropping the play-acting schtick.

Reading is hard, I guess.

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It’s really not an unreasonable assumption. Colbert has regularly appeared in-character in lots of places where the character was inappropriate, and his show has some things in common with Late Night. He does interviews in character, and Late Night is mostly about that. I think, it’s been a decade since I watched.

That said, it’s good that he’s dropping it. It sucks for interviews, particularly since he tends to emphasize zingers and jokes about his persona so much that he will override a guest who is giving an answer I want to hear.

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I didn’t say he would not drop the schtick. Reading IS hard.

My point (that you clearly missed, since now we are throwing internet poo at each other) is, does Colbert have anything BUT the schtick to his name? The only thing I can recall is the obscure Wigfield book with Amy Sedaris. There is no vast reservoir of public affection for Colbert the man himself. Was Tom Green particularly interesting without the schtick? How about Paul Rebuens or Andrew Clay?

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He’s got a pretty lengthy resume.

As for any public reservoir of good will, Letterman was hardly king of the entertainment world when handed his first talk show. Leno was just a stand up comic with his appearances on Letterman’s show as his claim to fame when he was given what was widely considered the number one name in late night talk shows. Fallon was they guy on SNL who laughed at his own jokes and had made some truly, truly horrible films. And let’s not even bring up Seth Myers. ;)

As for his supposed lack of interviewing skills mentioned elsewhere, I think that’s an erroneous opinion. If you go back and watch his show, you’ll find that he was able to put even the most cantankerous of guests at ease a great deal of the time. And he did so while playing a character that was limiting his ability to be more empathetic to his guests.

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Wow, I had no idea he was ALSO Reducto on Harvey Birdman. Impressive!

BACKOFF!! SHRINK RAY!