CBS cancelled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert back in July amid falling ratings and mounting losses. But rather than pull the plug immediately, the show is set to be on the air until next May. That has given Colbert plenty of time to remind us all why he was cancelled in the first place.
The latest came during an interview with GQ. Colbert was awarded one of the covers of the outlet’s annual “Men of Year” issue, and he used the interview with GQ senior special projects editor Zach Baron to complain about being fired and show absolutely no self-awareness as to why he got the axe.
On Saturday, Megyn was joined by Adam Carolla at her ‘Megyn Kelly Live’ tour stop in Duluth, Georgia, to discuss why smug elitists like Colbert have lost their viewers and their relevance.
Colbert on Cancellation
Colbert told Baron that he was “surprised” to learn The Late Show had been canceled. And while he initially kept it professional with the standard “it’s the nature of the business” line, things quickly devolved from there.
“I called a friend of mine who’s also in late night, and I was trying to work out my feelings and I said, ‘You got any thoughts on this?’ And he goes, ‘No, no one’s going to have any thoughts on this. No one’s ever been the number one show for nine years in a row and then been canceled,'” Colbert claimed. “And so that surprised me.”
He said he was informed of the show’s demise by his manger – not the higher ups at CBS directly. According to Colbert, his manager was told that the network is “getting out of the late-night space altogether because it’s no longer profitable.” And while he admitted that “television’s in huge trouble,” he still said he found the decision “very surprising.”
Baron asked Colbert if he agreed with the likes of Democrat Sens. Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren who called his dismissal “politically motivated.” Unsurprisingly, Colbert did not waste the opportunity to once again sound off on the $16 million settlement CBS’ parent company reached with President Donald Trump over edits to a fall 2024 60 Minutes interview with then-Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
“I can understand why people would have that reaction because CBS or the parent corporation—I’m not going to say who made that decision, because I don’t know; no one’s ever going to tell us—decided to cut a check for $16 million to the president of the United States over a lawsuit that their own lawyers, Paramount’s own lawyers, said is completely without merit. And it is self-evident that that is damaging to the reputation of the network, the corporation, and the news division,” he railed. “So it is unclear to me why anyone would do that other than to curry favor with a single individual. If people have theories that associate me with that, it’s a reasonable thing to think, because CBS or the corporation clearly did it once.”
Justifying His Existence
When asked if late night TV is a relic of the past, Colbert said he views the format as “indispensable as part of some American’s experience or daily experience.” In turn, he seemingly views his work as an indispensable part of the landscape.
“We are like your friend who at the end of the day paid attention to what happened today more than you did. And then we curate that back to you at the end of the day,” he explained. “But it’s really more about how we feel about—or I, as the person who is the vehicle for that—how we felt about today. All those things that might’ve made you confused, angry, or anxious or happy or surprised or something like that. I feel that way at the camera, or to the audience, really. I’m really performing for the audience and the camera captures it.”
Once upon a time, Megyn noted, late night hosts were in the business of making people laugh. Period. Instead, she said Colbert had “arrogance oozing out his pores” as he discussed his gatekeeper-type role.
“I have actually said to the audience before: I understand you have busy lives, you have jobs, you have families, you probably do not sit there all day looking at every headline and refreshing it. That is what we in the news business do,” she explained. “But the way he said that was so condescending. Like, ‘I read the news you don’t read.’ ‘I know more than you do’… He wants to use all of that to educate us because he’s clearly our better.”
The Comedy ‘Elites‘
Carolla said Colbert is not alone in his attitude, and understanding that helps clarify what is wrong with the late night comedy scene. “I think a lot of it goes back to… the college campus… because a lot of these guys are academia-type guys… There is a lot of Ivy League sort of elitism,” he explained. “I think somebody said a sense of humor is some sort of marker for intelligence, and they all just jumped on it and held it with both hands. And it can be true sometimes, but… these guys haven’t been in the real world for a long time.”
As he sees it, many of the late night comics went from college to improv troupes with “more like-minded people” to “The Daily Show… and everything else” without really getting to know too many “common… hard working people” along the way. “They have disdain for those people, and that is why not going to college is, like, the end of the world for these guys,” Carolla noted. “[Meanwhile,] I’m always telling people, get a trade, go to trade school. You won’t be replaced by AI.”
Ultimately, Carolla sees this as the cause of the massive disconnect between these hosts and the general public – which explains why the ratings are circling the drain alongside their relevance. “These guys are elitist, and Colbert is an elitist,” he concluded. “It is why they don’t know what they sound like when they talk. They don’t realize they haven’t been in that world for a long time. And like I said, they have a certain amount of disdain for those who are.”
You can check out the full ‘Megyn Kelly Live’ show from Duluth, GA, on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch Megyn live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.