Speaker 1: Calarugashock Media. Well, we are at the end. It is
the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight.
It was last July when Steven Colbert looked straight into
the camera and announced that this season of The Late
Show would be the last. Tonight the final episode. You
may recall CBS, whose parent company, Paramount, was in the
midst of closing a multi billion dollar merger with David
Ellison's Sky Dance Company that required the Trump administration to
approve it. CBS insisted it was purely a financial decision.
The choice to cancel the number one show in late
night raised more than a few eyebrows. The Colbert decision
came just two weeks after Paramount had agreed to pay
Trump sixteen million dollars to settle a lawsuit over a
sixty minutes interview. In the time between, it has been
suggested that The Colbert Show loses forty million dollars a year.
As I've said on this program before, I find it
curious that they went straight to cancelation and not any
sort of budget adjustments. Do you need the Ed Sullivan Theater?
Do you need a live band? Can we tape two
on Monday. Do you need ex writers? Can you do
it with fewer writers? Could you take the summers off?
Can we do guest hosts on Monday? There's all kinds
of things they could have looked at, and they chose
to go straight to cancelation. The Hollywood Reporter spoke to
Stephen Colbert back in April, and I have held on
to that for today. They asked Stephen, what will tomorrow
look like. Stephen Colbert said, my brother's getting married, so
my whole family's going to be here tonight and then
we're all going to get on the train and go
to DC for the wedding. So immediately after the show's over,
there's something much more important going on. He told the
story of getting the news. His manager, James Dixon never
visits in person, and people were like, James wants to
talk to you, and Colbert said, I'm like, he's here
in person. What's going on? James says, this is going
to be the last season? So I sat up and said, really, huh,
well this comes as a surprise, and he goes, I
can imagine. So they said it's not making any money.
I'm like, okay, I mean it's their business. I'm a
company man. I understand that people here to make the
green stuff. We're not here to do free form polyrhythmic
jazz poetry. We're here to sell some breathewright strips. And
I have no qualms about that, and they've been great partners.
But I went, I don't understand. It hasn't been two
years since I signed my last contract, and they were
feverish to lock me down. It was the best negotiation
we'd ever had. I only do one hundred and sixty
shows now, only all that kind of stuff, Dixon said.
They said they could show me the numbers if we want,
But I'm not going to ask them to open the books.
I'm not here to talk anybody to me. The Hollywood
Reporter asked Colbert, does the forty million dollar figure sound accurate?
Steven said, came as a surprise. Look, there's no denying
that the broadcast models in a huge trouble. But our
model Late Night, within that overall model has been very
profitable for like seventy years, starting with Steve Allen. But
maybe we were the first show to be a detriment.
Maybe we were the first one to flip in the
other direction. I don't wish to litigate it. It's their
shop and they could do whatever they want. I'm grateful
for the time I've spent here. As I've said to
Dixon eighteen months ago, they could not nail me to
this building hard enough. But maybe everything changed after the strike.
And if that's the case, I accept that entirely. There
are many people who believe there was another reason. And
as I said in the most measured tones I could muster,
there's a reason why people believe that the network clearly
had already done it once by cutting that sixteen million
dollar check. I like this one. He said. Causality is
not the same thing as correlation. And I understand that
not just because I learned from the RJ. Reynolds Tobacco company,
which reminded us that, yes, you smoked and you got cancer.
But you know, correlation is not causality. So maybe my
cancelation was just a naturally occurring tumor that just had
to be cut out of the corporation. I mean, that's
entirely possible. I would also say, and this is what
feels most true to me, that two things can be true.
It can be that the broadcast models collapsing. And while
we're at it, as long as we're collapsing here, what
if we shove this one out a window first. I
mean this, Lamb's got a very cutable throat. Let me
chime in there. I've talked about this several times on
the show, but I think today's a good day to
repeat myself. This is my Tailor Tomlinson conspiracy theory, and
anytime I go into this, I cannot scream loudly enough.
I'm not blaming Taylor Tomlinson for anything, but let me
just remind everybody of a timeline and my theory. Taylor
Tomlinson's twelve thirty show had been picked up, it had
been renewed, and then Taylor decided she didn't want to
continue hosting it, and then CBS went, eh, maybe we
shouldn't even have a twelve thirty show, and they sold
the time to Byron Allen. Now I'm wondering, did that
start a conversation where somebody in a room somewhere went,
you know, if we don't have twelve thirty, what if
we didn't have eleven thirty? And I imagine the first
time somebody said that out loud, that was crazy talk,
but maybe perhaps possibly As they started a look at that,
they went, yeah, what if we didn't have eleven thirty?
And again, so let me ask you this question. Had
Taylor Tomlinson said yes and signed some sort of contract,
would they have a twelve thirty show and no eleven
thirty show or would we be looking at starting next
week Taylor Tomlinson hosting the eleven thirty slot, which would
have been differently interesting if, among other things, a woman
hosting the eleven thirty show on a major broadcast network
would have been news in itself. So maybe you'd have
Taylor at eleven thirty and Byron Allen at twelve thirty.
That would probably discussed people a little less than what's
going on right now. The Holland reporter said to Stephen Colbert,
your boss paramounts George Cheeks delivered the news not to
you but to your manager, which didn't sit well with you.
Did you ultimately have a conversation on your own? No.
Here's Colbert's very short answer. He called me eventually. The
Hollywood reporter followed up, what did that call look like, Stephen?
I don't think George would mind if I characterized our conversation.
It was later in the summer and he called to
express that he wished it had gone down a different way,
and I said me too. I'm not over here grinding
a knife, but we're going to make jokes about how
this one down and about the forty million dollars and
about CBS the parent check cutting spree. To the president,
that's the show I want to do for ten more
months because I like working for CBS and I'm not
going to change that relationship between now and the end
if you'll allow that to happen. And he said, I
promise you that's what will happen. So that was it.
What's the use of being mad? All I want to
do is go have fun for an audience that appreciates it.
And that's what my goal has been for ten months.
When this is all over, I'll probably have a different
or rather fuller perspective on all this. But I really
don't have time to be mad about anything right now.
THHR has the Brandanny outreach from David Ellison since the
Paramounts Guidince merger closed in August twenty twenty five. Steven's
answer no again. This interview was in April. I don't
know if they've spoken in the meantime. Thchh R. You've
said a few times you've been about to re enter
show business. Have you been approached with scripts? Steven, Yes,
immediately and listen, people have been patient because I've had
to say, like, I'm sorry. When I no longer have
to think about this show all the time, I'll have
a better idea of what I want to do. But
it's been very nice. He was asked if he's talked
with people like Conan or John Stewart about what life
after Late Night looks like. Stephen apparently started laughing. THHR
was curious why. Steven said, because I've been having those
conversations with them for a long time. John Stewart's like,
you like ice skating, but you know how great it
feels when you take the ice skates off. It kind
of feels like that. And for years, Conan's like, I'm
been telling you there's so much other fun to have,
to the point where I've been like, do you not
like my show? THCHR. Conan has built his own empire podcast,
travel show, some acting. John went back to the Daily Show.
Those are two very different paths. Steven, Yeah, and I
don't think I'll do either one of those. So he
seems to like podcasts, but has said a couple of
times he doesn't want to host a podcasts. I've said
on this program, I am highly confident, knowing how serious
ExM works, that they've either reached out to him previously.
We'll reach out tonight in the wee hours at twelve
thirty seven AM, when Steven's a free agent, or however
his contract works. All right, Stephen Colbert, if you had
gone out on your own terms, what would have looked like?
Stephen said, I mean a lot like this, just be
a little older, and it would have been my choice,
and I probably would have known what the final show
was going to be a little earlier. I'm a Colbert rapport.
I picked that Dad. I didn't tell anybody, but I
knew two years ahead of time. Well, we didn't pick
this day, but maybe they gave me a gift because
I had a lot of jokes I could make about
the end of the show, and if I decided in
the show, then I'm the bad guy. Hard to make
jokes about that. Dhr Lenell left late night and added
more dates to the road. Trevor Noah did the same.
Does that hold any appeal, Steven, I didn't come up
as a stand up. Improv is collaborative in its nature,
and all the shows I've done have been collaborative. It
doesn't mean that I wouldn't do a live show at
some point, but it's not like I'm going to go
out somewhere night and do a tight tened zenies. Is
it better or worse being replaced by Byron Allen than
another traditional late night comedy show? Stephen said, none of
my business. Stephen. How are worried to you about the
future of late night? Stephen said, I don't know what's
going to be and I don't know what I can
do to help other than what he did last eleven years.
But one night I'll turn on the TV and probably
no one will be there. Stephen Colbert recently discussed with
President Obama the idea of Colbert running for president, which
I don't think is the craziest idea. He's well spoken,
he doesn't seem like the sort of person who pops
off emotionally, not the worst looking guy, looks good into suits.
I mean, there's a lot there to consider. What does
Stephen Colbert run for president.
Speaker 2: I'm looking for a new gig soon, and a lot
of people tell me I should run for president or
you certainly have the look, thank you, you have the hook.
Speaker 1: Well, for the.
Speaker 2: Record, I think it's a stupid idea. How dumb. How
dumb do you think it is for people to say
that I should run for president? Well, you know, the
bar has changed, that is true at times subterraneous, So
I don't have to limbo so low this way.
Speaker 1: I think that you could perform significantly better than some
folks that we've seen. All right, Yeah, I have great
confidence in that, Thank you very much. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Is that an endorsement? It was not.
Speaker 1: If Colbert is not your thing, Well, Jimmy Kimmel will
air a rerun tonight. Kimmel is doing so out of
deference to Colbert's send off. Kimmel did the same thing
in May of twenty fifteen for David Letterman's final show.
Jimmy Fallon also will air a rerun in a sign
of late night solidarity. The Washington Post wrote, this isn't
how things were supposed to turn out when Colbert was
hired to take over for Letterman. You could tell from
the last episode of The Colbert Report, which aired December eighteenth,
twenty fourteen, that Colbert wanted to unite, not divide. In
the final segment, he began to sing We'll Meet Again
as a comically absurd number of celebrities from every corner
of entertainment and politics joined him on stage, from Kareem
Abdul Jabbar to Mike huckabat a cookie Monster. To watch
that segment today is to be beamed into a different universe.
Can you imagine a world where Michael Stipe is singing
and dancing alongside Henry Kissinger and four star General Raymond Odierno,
David Remnick with Mike Tabe, George Saunders with Toby Keith.
That's the world Colbert wanted to live in. It is
his misfortune, then, that the one he found himself in
was the world of Trump, where everything, and especially late
night television, would become instantly polarized. When a joke about
the president went from being satirical to immediately personal and globalized.
Colbert recognized the change quickly. It's why his show got
more political after struggling in the ratings his first year.
But to use his own jacket metaphor, never quite fit
him right. The skating improv comic and the smiling talk
show host didn't mesh. The Late Show was a perfectly
fine talk show, but it was never transcendent in the
way the Colbert Report was. It was just another show
in which an older white guy told safe jokes from
behind a desk. Wash Pro writes the thing about late
night TV today, it really aren't any big tens anymore.
Everyone's in the culture war, whether they like it or not.
It makes me grateful that David Letterman retired when he did.
His late night career came before Trump's political one, before
the entire world was required to engage in political discourse.
Letterman had his political beliefs, but he didn't have to
be ruled by them the way everybody in the culture
arena now seems to be a de illustrate Washington Post
point here. And when Dave does speak, he's very political.
Now when he goes on things like the Barber Gain Show,
I don't know about very political, but somewhat political. I
think Dave's made it clear he's not a fan of
the current administration. Back to wash Poe, Dave was just
able to do a show he wanted to do the
big tent show that somehow never felt either compromised or defanged.
Letterman himself seems to recognize this. He once joked that
if he were still hosting The Late Show, he'd talk
about trumpettil people have to come and take me off
the stage. Colbert wanted a Late Show in the era
of Trump that could no longer exist. The show he
replaced it with was a rating success, but it never
approached the creative heights of the Colbert rapport. And that's
it single topic today. Stephen Colbert of The Late Show,
congratulations sir, and best of luck to whatever happens next.
And boy, what a shame that that franchise dies tonight.
I'll see you guys tomorrow.