Late Night Talk Show Thread: (9/9/'15 Late Show w/ Stephen Colbert Begins)

He is really good at what he does period. His political satire is one thing. His skills as an interviewer/showman is awesome.
 
I think he would be good at the interviewing portion because he's not scared to ask the hard questions. Btw there was a whole Louie episode devoted to him taking the gig.I think the show ended with him standing outside of the studio flipping Dave off and yelling "f*** you Letterman" lol
 
zitothebrave said:
He is really good at what he does period. His political satire is one thing. His skills as an interviewer/showman is awesome.
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Colbert would be excellent. Great interviewer and great off the cuff comedy. KL- Shouldn't pigeon hole because his writers go all political satire on him....that's the show. If the show was Late Night with Colbert they would write that type stuff .
 
I hate the way they announce this a year ahead of time so they can milk it for all it's worth. Just give them 2 weeks notice and leave. Nobody cares. You're not Johnny. No one is. Sorry, but there's Johnny Carson and then there's everyone else.
 
Runnin said:
I hate the way they announce this a year ahead of time so they can milk it for all it's worth. Just give them 2 weeks notice and leave. Nobody cares. You're not Johnny. No one is. Sorry, but there's Johnny Carson and then there's everyone else.
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LOL 2 weeks notice.

Chipper was no Johnny Carson either.
 
As great as Carson was, I don't think he re-engineered the genre the way that Letterman has. Tastes in television were changing, Letterman recognized that and rode that wave.

But let me be clear, I'm not dissing Carson. He perfected the genre that Steve Allen hatched and handed off to Jack Paar. Carson had such an easy style it was difficult not to appreciate how easy he made it look (and my guess is that it was very difficult). The other thing about Carson is that his dedication to young comics basically created the geography of stand-up in the 1960s through the 1990s.
 
50PoundHead said:
As great as Carson was, I don't think he re-engineered the genre the way that Letterman has. Tastes in television were changing, Letterman recognized that and rode that wave.

But let me be clear, I'm not dissing Carson. He perfected the genre that Steve Allen hatched and handed off to Jack Paar. Carson had such an easy style it was difficult not to appreciate how easy he made it look (and my guess is that it was very difficult). The other thing about Carson is that his dedication to young comics basically created the geography of stand-up in the 1960s through the 1990s.
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It's also worth noting that Letterman was on the air longer than Carson, The Late Show was out not quite as long as Carson being on The Tonight show, but combined with his 9 years of experience on Late Night, he's been on the air consecutively for 3 decades. I'm OK with there being a big deal being made about him retiring.
 
50PoundHead said:
As great as Carson was, I don't think he re-engineered the genre the way that Letterman has. Tastes in television were changing, Letterman recognized that and rode that wave.
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What has Letterman done to "re-engineer the genre? It looks pretty much the same as it always has.

Larry Bud Melvin was funny. Hecklers in the audience worked for a while but for some reason he doesn't do stuff like that anymore. Or does he?

I always liked Letterman above all the other talk show hosts but I think the Bush years turned him sour.
 
Runnin said:
What has Letterman done to "re-engineer the genre? It looks pretty much the same as it always has.

Larry Bud Melvin was funny. Hecklers in the audience worked for a while but for some reason he doesn't do stuff like that anymore. Or does he?

I always liked Letterman above all the other talk show hosts but I think the Bush years turned him sour.
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To me, Letterman brought back the more absurdist tone that was part of Steve Allen's schtick. As good as Carson was, he was as safe as safe can be (and very good at it). Carson would have never done the kind of interviews Letterman did with Pee Wee Herman and Chris Elliot. Letterman played the fool as much as the pilot of the show. Carson never did that.
 
I love Colbert and think he'd be funny no matter what he does. But, his character on his show is what's so funny. If he can't be his "fake" self and play a character, I'm not sure I'd want to see that over his show. I would love for him to be on more than just a half hour, though.
 
yeezus said:
I love Colbert and think he'd be funny no matter what he does. But, his character on his show is what's so funny. If he can't be his "fake" self and play a character, I'm not sure I'd want to see that over his show. I would love for him to be on more than just a half hour, though.
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I agree that will be a challenge for him. He would have to go back to when he was a reporter on The Daily Show and after more than a decade developing a character and a schtick, that might be almost insurmountable. I think he definitely has the interviewing chops.
 
I think Colbert is a pretty witty interviewer. Hopefully he'll be fair politically on this show. They may not want that though.
 
KeithLockhart said:
Eh. I love Colbert, but his thing is political satire... that's what has put him on the map and I'm not sure if the regular Colbert would be as good.
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What put Colbert on the map were his hilarious interviews on The Daily Show, which started in 1997—two years before Jon Stewart even entered the game. That's his strength: that, and the fact he's a consummate ****ing showman. The satire streak will always be there, but I think he'll be able to shuffle off the institutional politics part of it as much as he cares to and still have a lot of success.

It was the Report, and his Colbert "character"—obviously—which brought the quasi-transcendent status he enjoys today, but he'd earned plenty of plaudits prior to it.

I like Conan—I grew up watching Late Night—but these days I really don't make time to watch any of the late night shows (and really haven't since I shipped off to college so many moons ago). With Colbert moving to that medium, however, I might have to make the effort to start, because dude done changed the game if he brings it like he always does.
 
I think the politics du jour on late night television is in that classic American vein of "they're all idiots" and although Colbert is pretty clearly ensconced on the left politically, I'm sure he'll skewer everybody.
 
weso1 said:
I think Colbert is a pretty witty interviewer. Hopefully he'll be fair politically on this show. They may not want that though.
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I don't think he'll be overly political aside from like other late nighters making fun of politicians.
 
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