OT - Colbert officially named David Letterman's replacement
CBS has finally announced who David Letterman's replacement will be when he steps down in 2015. Stephen Colbert! Not the most U of M centric news at the moment, but I'm sure there are few late night tv fans on here that were waiting to find out who the lucky person would be. There is no set timetable just yet for when this transition will take place (waiting on Letterman to decide exactly when he's leaving), but apparently the contract inked is for 5 years.
I personally haven't watched late night talk shows since the whole Conan/Leno fiasco, and I never really cared for the Late Show, but now I just might be intrigued enough to tune in.
Link? Link.
I like Conan but I liked his show better when it was in the 12:30ish spot. It was alot more edgy and he doesn't seem comfortable now.
He always had more of a cult following during those days and I'm not sure he fits better in a more primetime slot.
Conan and Ferguson are both best when they can just do bizarre shit, which you're really only allowed to do at 12:30. It's generally believed Ferguson is self-aware enough to know that.
They totally neutered his show. It didn't help that there was all of this legal nonsense that prevented him from doing a number of his bits.
best part is that they're all good friends. I will miss the questions to Letterman about Leno where the response is basically, "Yeah, yeah we're friends. I mean I've known him for a long time. Something I admire about him? Uhh."
Maybe John Oliver will come back to comedy central then and leave HBO, and have his own show after the Daily Show.
I've seen people mentioned John Oliver in multiple places, but I'm not buying him as a good replacement. Part of what was great about The Colbert Report is that while the material complemented The Daily Show very well, Colbert's schtick made it a distinct and different show. While Oliver did a good job replacing Stewart last year, having him replace Colbert and do that would just make it The Daily Show Part II. I don't think that's a good idea.
(Of course I don't have any suggestions about who would be a good idea. But I think something to make it different from The Daily Show is a must).
Unlike in college sports, usually contracts mean things. Plus it frees him up to show up on the inexplicably probable sixth season of Community, which makes me happy.
Mostly he just needs to keep making The Bugle though as far as I'm concerned. If you haven't, go listen to the latest one for the long, long segment on Napoleon's penis.
Colbert is one of America's great political satirists, and he won't taking his satire to his new format. As a talk show host, I have no interest in him, or anybody else cuz talk shows bore the shit out of me.
Colbert's actually funny, unlike Jimmy Fallon, so it's a good step for late night. The fraction of talk in those talk shows is just too high without amazing guests however. The half hour format gives a much smaller fraction of banal conversation.
I'm still surprised to see this happen just because late night does not seem like a meritocracy.
Thank you for saying this. Everyone I know loves Fallon and I think he's terribly unfunny. He stutters, can't do an interview to save his life, bad at monologues. The only thing he has going for him is cheesy cover songs and skits which anyone with singing talent could do. Glad to have someone funny finally doing late night since Conan left.
Fallon is loved because he is a crazy kook and does weird stuff with his guests. His monologues are okay and his interview are awkward.
Watch an interview of either the character or the real Colbert. He could charm the pants off anyone and makes people who interview him look like it's their first day on the job.
I don't care much for Fallon, although some of his skits are funny. However, I am forever thankful that he chose The Roots as his band. Seeing them perform their old hits with artists like Mos Def on national television is quite the treat.
Fallon and Colbert >>>>>> Leno and Letterman
putting them together by style, it is more Letterman and Colbert v Leno and Fallon.
It's the old guys vs. their replacements...who I think are much better.
Sigh. The satire and sarcastic nature of the Colbert Report is probably my favorite form of humor. I would hate to lose the the Colbert Report charachter, although I imagine Colbert the person is talented enough to do the Late Show succesfully. The Daily Show/Colbert Report is really the only late night TV I watch, so I'm pretty bumed. I don't like the celebrity centric shows like Fallon, Letterman, etc.
This a hugely bold move. I actually think that Colbert will be better without the satire, not worse. I know that I am an outlier in this, but I never found his character to be even remotely funny. I found it to be more of a strawman stereotype designed to satiate people who have pre-formed opinions about what he is making fun of. I get the impression that beyond that though, the dude is insanely talented at comedy and will be able to come up with good consistent material.
FWIW, social commentary and satire will probably still be there, but in a different form. I actually might tune in, since the show will have potential to provide some good content rather than the shallow junk food that most late night TV seems to be.
1) If it was a strawman, it wouldn't fool the people he's making fun of.
2) The entire character is worth it for the White House Correspondant's Dinner routine, which is the most brutal takedown I've ever seen. Made all the more hilarious because the target (the media) totally missed the point.
People who watch the show for more than 10 minutes aren't fooled by it. I have seen him do some in-character interviews off of his show (like on Bill O'Reilly), and it's pretty clear to me that the interviewer is in on the joke.
And the previously mentioned quote from Rush Limbaugh makes it extremely obvious that he isn't fooled either.
There was a recent study I can't seem to find again that showed that people on the right don't recognize the satire, which has been consistent for years.
EDIT: Found it.
The short summary from that study doesn't support your statement.
They are. He has publicly said that he tells them backstage to be serious, try and make their point and genuinely promote what they are they fore. Meanwhile, he will willingly be a professional, ignorant idiot. He says something like "Let's both make a fool out of me and we'll have a great time."
It doesn't really challenge its viewers. Mostly the Colbert Report is just a feel good "ha ha, the other side is dumb" for viewers of a particular persuasion.
Better satire makes you question yourself, even when you agree mostly with the author. This is why South Park is the best social satire on Comedy Central, at it isn't close.
April 11th, 2014 at 11:16 AM ^
Strawman my ass. He's directly satirizing the most powerful cable news network, its approach to news, and its various personalities.
CBS hopes the Colbert Report viewers will switch to LATE NIGHT WITH COLBERT which some might but many might not like the fact that Stephen will have to actually be himself instead of the character he plays on his show now. And there is a big risk that many existing late night viewers won't particularly take to Stephen. Bold and risky move. My guess is that he will struggle but time will tell.
I've seen a little of Colbert out-of-character and think he's a decent, articulate, and obviously highly intelligent guy, but he's not that entertaining. His character, though, is iconic if only because he's so rarely distinguishable from the people he's satirizing-- and oftentimes they're exaggerations of him instead of the other way around. He's like a cartoonist whose subjects are more cartoonish in person.
Can't blame the guy for taking it... his audience will expand by an order of magnitude, just hate to see him dropped into that preformed environment and lose the nice complement to the Daily Show. I'm bummed.
Tears... Love Colbert... Does this mean John Oliver or one of Jon Stewart's "correspondents" gets the current Colbert Show slot?
This change is gonna suck.
Love Colbert and his show, but CBS and the major networks all suck big time donkey.
If Jon Oliver takes over, that's maybe a silver-lining. I thought he did great in Jon Stewart's absence.
But I guess Colbert Report is over.
The news that he's not going to do his character seems a little weird. The entire reason for Colbert's success working on The Daily Show and then The Colbert Report is due to the wildly popular character that he plays.
Stephen is an extremely talented guy, so I'm not saying he can't succeed just being himself, but this seems odd. The reason you're selecting him is based on his success, which is due to the character that he plays, and then you're telling everyone he isn't going to do his character, which is the reason he got the job in the first place? Seems pretty odd to me.
The Colbert character would do just fine on Late Night, and it's not like guests would be perturbed. Pretty much all of the guests that do rounds on the late night shows do Colbert and Stewart's shows anyway.
April 11th, 2014 at 10:20 AM ^
Why not do what other europeans are doing and go with a nice busty topless babe to interview these hacks from hollyweird? I'd watch it!
April 11th, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^
Ugh.