Judging by all the stories I’m seeing online, many of us are still processing the end of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, days after his extended finale Thursday where he referenced 62 years of history by having Paul McCartney turn out the lights, recalling everything from Rick and Morty to St. Elsewhere in a trippy conclusion.
I myself did A LOT of talking about Colbert for various media outlets last week, from this piece for German public TV (it shows up about 75 minutes into the broadcast), to a talk with a news program on the CBC — which created both a digital story and a TV report — using my comments on how this might be a short-term boon for late night TV, though it’s also a signal to viewers that CBS has given up on a significant part of its broadcast day.
In the world of American public media, I talked about Colbert with Jim and Margery on WGBH, and about Colbert alongside his ABC counterpart Jimmy Kimmel with Colin McEnroe at WNPR.
I also had a blast talking over the situation on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast with host and longtime colleague Linda Holmes, crafting my own feature story for radio and text online on Colbert’s career with my thoughts alongside comics Hasan Minhaj and Roy Wood Jr., a series of essays for NPR.org looking at each of his episodes last week leading up to the finale AND an analysis of the finale on NPR’s broadcast show Morning Edition.
One more thing: my colleague Ailsa Chang had an amazing interview with the media mogul who will take over Colbert’s timeslot on CBS, Byron Allen. A one-time standup comic, Allen has built up a company which now owns several TV stations, The Weather Channel, The Black News Channel and just purchased the online news platform BuzzFeed in addition to leasing Colbert’s timeslot for his panel shows featuring standup comedians, Comics Unleashed.
I had interviewed Allen for NPR three years earlier, back when he was trying to buy BET from the company which would become CBS’ owner Paramount and was suing McDonald’s claiming they had discriminatory advertising practices. I told Ailsa a bit of what I experienced in interviewing Allen, and was so gratified to see her produce a really impactful and interesting talk with him.
But of all these interviews, I may have enjoyed the appearance on Commotion most — both because host Elamin Abdelmahmoud keeps the atmosphere informal and fun, and because my follow panel members comedian Ashley Ray and political columnist Justin Ling were so smart and insightful.
Check out our discussion below, where I wax on a bit about how Colbert was late night TV’s most empathetic host and later insist that the genre will likely see a short term boost, as Colbert’s fans flock to likely next King of Late Night, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel.
And to end everything on an even more fun note, I’ll also post Colbert’s return to host the public access TV show Only in Monroe — which he did on Friday AFTER his show’s finale, reprising an appearance he did before debuting on The Late Show 11 years ago. Enjoy!
