For the past 10 months, we’ve known that Stephen Colbert was taking over David Letterman as host of CBS’s Late Show, but we never knew he was going to do this well. He brought in 4.5 million viewers during his premiere week, compared to 3.9 million watching Fallon and 2 million watching Kimmel in the same timespan.
In that first week alone, Colbert brought on George Clooney, Jeb Bush, Scarlett Johansson, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Amy Schumer and Stephen King. Having celebrities alongside politicians and tech business magnates helps him stand out among the likes of Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and James Corden. Americans love hearing celebrities talk about their new movies or what they like to do on Sunday afternoons. Now, on The Late Show, American viewers see an interview with Tesla Motors/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who tells Colbert the quickest way to terraform Mars will be to nuke the polar ice caps, or see Uber CEO Travis Kalanick plug UberEats, or watch Joe Biden recall his son’s humility in a remarkably visceral and intimate interview for a politician seated in a national office.
A great example of both Colbert’s candidness and his show’s ability to facilitate great conversations was his interview with Biden. On only his third episode, Colbert brings up Biden’s deceased son Beau, whom he lost to cancer just four months prior, and Colbert, whose mother passed away two years ago, while he was still a conservative mouthpiece on Comedy Central. This is a risky move for late-night television – and a very touchy subject. You won’t find this on Fallon. As sad as this is for the Biden family, this kind of exchange between a politician, a TV host and a late-night audience is a very good sign not only for the Late Show but late-night TV in general. If this trend of humanization continues on the Late Show, we might see it continue onto other late-night shows and have something meaningful to watch at midnight.
We also have another newcomer to late-night TV, Trevor Noah, who is replacing beloved, cynical pundit Jon Stewart on Comedy Central’s Daily Show, from whom the majority of college students got their news for years. Noah is not yet a well-known name in the U.S., but he is extremely popular in South Africa. Many worried Noah wouldn’t be able to relate to American viewers, but his premiere episode showed that he is indeed able to cross barriers and speak to the American public about the issues it’s facing today. It will take some time, but Noah may very well gain the success that Stewart had during his run. The revolution may not be televised, but the late-night one sure will be.
The late-night TV revolution: brought to you by Stephen Colbert
Alex Ruby
October 10, 2015
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