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On Thursday, CBS announced that it will cancel Late offer with Stephen Colbert After the completion of the Colbert’s contract in May 2026, the news comes in a political, CBS and its mother company, Paramount Global. It is also Capper on the long arc of political comedy late at night, a type of COLBERT that has an effective role in construction, which now seems finally on its last legs.
In a statement, CBS said its decision to finish Late offer – Who started with David Litrman as a host in 1993 – He was “purely financial”.
“We are proud that Stephen called CBS Home,” CBS statement said. “This is a purely financial decision against a difficult background late at night. It is not related in any way to perform the presentation, content or other things that occur in Paramount.”
This last line, that Late offerThere is no relationship to canceling the “other matters that occur in Paramount”, and aims directly to reduce speculation about CBS and Paramount Global political motives to cancel network formulations for decades.
Paramount Global is currently trying Merge with Skydance MediaThe company’s leadership was They act as if they were worried President Donald Trump may try to prevent integration. Earlier this month, CBS and 60 minutes She announced a $ 16 million settlement in a lawsuit with Trump regarding the editing of a segment on the former democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris – an unusual concession for a media company in case Experts agree that CBS is likely to win in court. Executive product for a long time 60 minutes He also resigned earlier this year, pointing to threats to his press independence.
Days before the cancellation, Colbert said in his presentation, “I am interested” in the settlement. “I don’t know if anything – anything – will fix my confidence in this company. But, just take a stab in it, I would like to say that $ 16 million will help.” He added that the payment was “a large fat bribery.”
The overthrow of Colbert feels a symbol, not only from the CBS decision that appears to bend to Trump, but at the end of the political comedy late at night as a kind.
Two days later, Reports sayCBS Kulber told that they were abolishing its offer.
The declared network reason to cancel the display is the credibility of the credibility. It is true that the ecosystem late at night is struggling. However, the Kulber width has constantly led the categories of the time opening. CBS and Paramount Global, The Atlantic Ocean confirmed on ThursdayIt is no longer worth taking advantage of doubt.
On the social truth, Trump celebrates – the repeated goal of Colbert’s jokes -.
“I love absolutely that Colbert shot”, ” Trump was published on Friday morning. “His talent was less than his assessments.”
The overthrow of Colbert feels a symbol, not only from the CBS decision that appears to bend to Trump, but at the end of the political comedy late at night as a kind. Certainly, John Oliver Last week tonight It continues wonderfully on HBO, but this type of offers late at night, which was urgent and necessary 20 years ago-angry, angry host who was wisely about the resistance of the corrupt federal government and the reliable ecosystems system that enabled it to fade for a long time. Now, her moment is approaching her end.
John Stewart and the rise of political comedy
View political comedy late at night as we know it was developed and installed Daily presentation During the reign of John Stewart throughout the 2000 presidential elections, it was also the question of whether the Al -Gore or George W. Bush had won the electoral college on its way to the Supreme Court, Daily presentation Take a central role: Stewart and his colleagues, including Colbert, TV characters were the best to talk about how strange and confusing everything.
After the appearance of Bush is victorious, Daily presentation It became more important. Their skills collection was uniquely suitable for Bush years. While the administration took a frequent fall from the emotional province, it was lying to the American people and involved the country in an endless foreign war. Stewart and his mothers knew how to call Bush outside their hypocrisy and be funny about it as well. They were young and excited, as they made one of the most exciting shows on TV. I felt as if they were saying the truth at a time when no one was.
Stewart has always insisted that he was not a real journalist Daily presentation It was not a real news program. However, a 2007 opinion poll from the Pew Research Center found that Stewart is linked to fourth place in the list Most trusted journalists in AmericaAlong with Brian Williams, Tom Brocao, Dan instead, Anderson Cooper. For many liberals, especially young people, Stuart was ever journalist, and the comedians were rising.
In 2005, Colbert developed his property Daily offer spin off, Collery report. More than biting Daily presentationand Collery report Watch the host playing a copy of Bill Awarely, then the biggest star in Fox News. Like O’reillly, Kolbert’s character was more beautiful and disappeared, as he was wearing his fans applauding and installing him.sincerityAnd the American dream. In 2006, the White House correspondent dinner was in his nature and merged into Bush directly on his face, at the moment Vanity Fair will say Kolbert turned “a popular hero for the left”.
with Collery report An acceptable institution, developed Colbelt and Soystart. They held a 2010 gathering to restore fear and/or reasonWith Stewart, the argument for rationalism and Colbert fear. In the past, these years represent its popularity.
Colbert was the first Stewart Akolit to get a Daily offer The cross, but it will not be the last. John Oliver won his own offer in 2014. Samantha B received her salary in 2015. Daily presentation The political comedy model that focuses on the news is widespread through the TV scene, which is no longer vibrant, but it is an institution, what we understood as what was supposed to see TV late at night.
They were unable to criticize Hidebound media for their failure to perform their jobs anymore, because now they It was media institutions.
There were two big problems with all this success. The first was that the jungle years had ended. In 2008, Barack Obama became president, and while his administration had many weaknesses of liberal caricatures to collapse, the central joke of the new conservative hypocrisy is no longer available to them. The urgency of their comedy, which is a feeling that they were meeting a moment as no one else could, to fade.
The second problem was that success means this Daily presentation The comedy brand is no longer punctured exclusively. They were unable to criticize Hidebound media for their failure to perform their jobs anymore, because now they It was media institutions. What could this mean when, in 2015, Colbert took over Late offer And the face of the CBS assortment late at night?
How he lost the TV late at night
When Trump won the 2016 presidential elections, part of the wisdom received was that this would be great for the comedy. Trump, after all, was a joke. All of these will provide Daily offer A lot of feed comes out to their routine.
Instead, liberal comedy stumbled. The group of skills they had developed for years of bush, and cooling the religious lies to reveal the violent truth below, did not have any special impact on a personality, little and direct like Trump.
One by one, offers Daily offer The conditions began to overthrow. Patriot behaves with Hassan Minhaj He went in 2020. Full front with Samantha B He left in 2022. Daily presentation Hell, hosted from 2015 to 2022 by Trevor Noah, The assessments that toppled it.
Kulber broke his personality to host Late offerHe, but often criticized Trump and with a loud voice himself. Every soul, his work no longer feels biting or urgent anymore. Young people, especially young people, were more likely to find right -wing comedy to be separate and mortal.
However, in some way, with the head of this delicate skin and the leadership of this companies, Stephen Colib has become a threat again.
“If something is at the height of fashion 20 years ago, this is reverse makes it unlikely that it seems that the hip and cold at the present time,” Matt SienKiewicz told me in 2022. It is not very cold for adolescents. “
This is part of what is striking about Paramount’s decision to cancel a Colbert’s offer in a clear attempt to lie with Trump: Colbert’s work has not felt dangerous for a long time. We are far from the 2006 White House correspondent dinner, when Colbert delivered his journeys to a tense crowd and scandal, and Bush is angry. Colbert is the definition of the prevailing comedy now, and no one seems to have any illusions that the jokes that are cracking between celebrities and the work of the crowds are essential culturally.
However, in some way, with the head of this delicate skin and the leadership of this companies, Stephen Colib has become a threat again. A man who does not calm down for teenagers, under this administration, is dangerous enough to shoot.