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

weso1 said:
I just don't think he's going to work out. He's perfect for his show on E! but I just don't see it in regards to late night.
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Agree. That's how I feel about Colbert. Some people are better and perform better in Thier niche vs the big stage.
 
Jon Stewart announced he's stepping down from The Daily Show at the end of this year.

Sucks for Comedy Central to lose Colbert and Stewart in a year's time. Wilmore has been pretty good.
 
zitothebrave said:
We'll see how Wilmore trends if it's negative they may ditch the news at 11 thing and go some other way.
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doubt that

A little over a year ago, the line of succession at "The Daily Show" was clear, and it was deep. If Jon Stewart were to step down — maybe to finally take that broadcast network late-night job he'd always been rumored for — then Stephen Colbert would get the job. If Colbert didn't want to leave "The Colbert Report," then John Oliver had just wrapped up a brilliant stint filling in for Stewart over the summer. And if Oliver was somehow unavailable, well... "The Daily Show" had a lot of talented people on that bench like Samantha Bee, Jason Jones and Larry Wilmore.

And then... things got complicated. Oliver left to do "Last Week Tonight" for HBO — a decision he doesn't seem to regret in the slightest, based on the sheer joy on his face during each installment. David Letterman retired, and CBS moved quickly to hire Colbert to replace him. Wilmore was promoted to succeed Colbert as host of the new "The Nightly Show."

So now that Jon Stewart has announced his "Daily Show" retirement, who's left to succeed him?

Bee and Jones are still there, and the married duo could bring a new energy to the show as co-hosts. Or if Comedy Central wants to promote from within while continuing to bring more diversity to late-night (which is all-male and, save for Wilmore, all-white), Jessica Williams or Aasif Mandvi have put in their time in the trenches. The instant creative success of both "Last Week Tonight" and "The Nightly Show" suggests "The Daily Show" has become a well-oiled host-producing machine, and it's entirely possible that anyone from the current roster (including occasional contributors like Kristen Schaal) could step up and do the job.

As alums go, I wouldn't expect Steve Carell or John Hodgman to come back to host, but Comedy Central could also reach outside the group affiliated with the show. Remember, waaaay back in the days of ancient Rome Craig Kilborn, Brian Unger seemed like he was being groomed to take over the show, and instead Comedy Central brought in Stewart, who completely reinvented "The Daily Show" from a superficial parody of local news into what it would become: an institution that eventually grew more respected than the many straight journalists it was lampooning.

And Comedy Central will find a successor for Stewart. The franchise is too important at this point. Johnny Carson got replaced. Letterman is about to be replaced. No cow is too sacred in this business, no matter how great Stewart was.
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Reading that 2 former daily show correspondents come to mind as someone I'd like to see get a show. Demetri Martin and Mo Rocca. Mo Rocca has a weird cooking channel show, Demetri Martin has tours but I don't think he's doing much else.
 
zitothebrave said:
Reading that 2 former daily show correspondents come to mind as someone I'd like to see get a show. Demetri Martin and Mo Rocca. Mo Rocca has a weird cooking channel show, Demetri Martin has tours but I don't think he's doing much else.
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I'm a big fan of Demetri Martin. I really enjoyed his short lived "Important Things" show on Comedy Central a few years ago
 
I'm sure they're out there somewhere but I don't know of anyone who can replace Jon Stewart. He's got that perfect combination of sincerity and wackiness.
 
Colbert starting off on fire.

Using a lot of elements from the Report.

Interesting to see if he'll continue using elements from the Report, or slowly transition to new stuff once the audience is there. So far I'm sold on him, which you will find in this thread I was initially skeptical he could go from political satirist to generic late night talk show host.
 
He was using his style of humor. Without pandering to his "character" of being a pro-Bush, O'reilly disciple.

It's good but I hope he evolves as well.
 
zitothebrave said:
He was using his style of humor. Without pandering to his "character" of being a pro-Bush, O'reilly disciple.

It's good but I hope he evolves as well.
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I have no doubt he will succeed. He simply so much smarter than the rest of his competition. Give him time and he will have the late night format mastered.
 
I thought the show sucked. Such a waste of his talent. Like the world needs another talk show host, though I'm sure he'll do clever things. The genre is already past the saturation point. The best Shakespearean actor just got a soap opera. Whoopee.

At least he had Derek Trucks and Buddy Guy on.
 
I thought he did well. A bit over the top at a couple of points, but generally solid. Thought his interview with Jeb went really well (for both of them). I think they were both a little nervous. Fun to watch Clooney simply be a goof. I agree with chop2chip that he's simply a lot smarter than either Fallon or Kimmel (which shouldn't matter because the target audiences are somewhat different). Colbert has a chance to be both funny and weighty.
 
Colbert's opening show destroyed Fallon and Kimmel. Higher rating than both of them combined. I remember when Leno used to double Letterman's.

After Colbert, Ferguson and Stewart all left I had no reason for late night but now I think I may keep my dvr alive at 1130 now.
 
The Don said:
Colbert's opening show destroyed Fallon and Kimmel. Higher rating than both of them combined. I remember when Leno used to double Letterman's.

After Colbert, Ferguson and Stewart all left I had no reason for late night but now I think I may keep my dvr alive at 1130 now.
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His guest list has been great and I'll be curious to see if he can keep that rolling. The other things I've noticed about the show is that it is pretty much all Colbert and that he has a fabulous writing staff. No announcer or second banana. Pretty short monologue, but a lot of Colbert-centric stuff. He's been a better interviewer than I thought he'd be although he "jumps" his guests' responses periodically.

Fallon and Kimmel will likely be hipper, but I think Colbert will build on Letterman's audience.
 
50PoundHead said:
His guest list has been great and I'll be curious to see if he can keep that rolling. The other things I've noticed about the show is that it is pretty much all Colbert and that he has a fabulous writing staff. No announcer or second banana. Pretty short monologue, but a lot of Colbert-centric stuff. He's been a better interviewer than I thought he'd be although he "jumps" his guests' responses periodically.

Fallon and Kimmel will likely be hipper, but I think Colbert will build on Letterman's audience.
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I actually think Colbert is more popular with the younger audience than Fallon or Kimmel.

And yes it is kind of strange to not have an announcer as that was usually the Late Night tradition. But I guess that's part of his character's ego.
 
The Don said:
I actually think Colbert is more popular with the younger audience than Fallon or Kimmel.

And yes it is kind of strange to not have an announcer as that was usually the Late Night tradition. But I guess that's part of his character's ego.
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One of my favorite lines of his so far was his quip: "I used to play a narcissistic conversative pundit; now I'm just a narcissist."
 
I thought the interviews with both Bush and Biden were well done - and did different things and that he was up front and honest in a humorous way with his own political biases. In the Biden one, there was more depth as should be expected per Biden's losses. I think that Colbert can pull that off because that's a part of who he is.
 
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