MovieChat Forums > The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015) Discussion > Why The Late Show Didn't Really Work At ...

Why The Late Show Didn't Really Work At The Beginning...


According To Stephen Colbert

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/m/5bebfe20-c69b-37ee-bab9-d170fbbb6b9b/why-the-late-show-didn%26%2339%3Bt.html

People have kept a close eye on Stephen Colbert over the past year, as he's struggled to find his voice in the late night realm. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been open about reworking the entire tone of the series over the past few months, and largely the tide has seemed to be turning for the late night host. Recently, Stephen Colbert explained why he thinks The Late Show really didn't work in the beginning. Here's what he had to say: People were watching me learn to play a new instrument in public. Now I really don't care and it's so much more fun. I tried so hard to be myself that I kept on fading away. I've surrendered to my natural instincts, and to how I actually feel on a daily

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and largely the tide has seemed to be turning for the late night host


What?! Which tide? Where? Recent ratings have been absolutely abysmal. He did well after the debate, but, then, everybody did well after the debate.

He's ever so slightly moving back to the harsher sarcasm of the Report persona, and, at times, he's a bit more comfortable than he used to be, but, contrary to how both he and the author are attempting to spin it, this 'reboot' (if you can even call it that), fixes only a small fraction of what's wrong with this show.

The stuff Brian Stack contributes is still just as subpar as it used to be. Cartoon Trump just isn't funny. The God skits are just as bad. Just about every day, Stephen gives Brian his own segment, and, just about every day, it falls on it's face. Stack used to do the occasional solid sketch on Conan. For instance, Wikibear was, the first couple of times he did it, pretty funny. But the Conan-Stack chemistry is very far from the Colbert-Stack dynamic. Until they fire Stack, at least 1/5 of this show is going be broken.

And they sure as heck haven't fixed Batiste, who, as many have pointed out, is still as annoying as ever.

Lastly, while Colbert can successfully incorporate his trademark political satire into his monologs, he can't do the Report-ish persona with his guests, so the guest segments are still just as lackluster as they've always been.

People were watching me learn to play a new instrument in public. Now I really don't care and it's so much more fun. I tried so hard to be myself that I kept on fading away. I've surrendered to my natural instincts, and to how I actually feel on a daily basis.


What the F are you talking about? Being yourself is difficult? Just cut the crap already. You're just a feeble, shallow narcissistic performer who desperate wants to be liked- so desperate that you'll bring back a character you were ecstatic to never have to play again.

Did you learn nothing in 9 years? Have you learned nothing from this election? Anger is good. Honesty is gold. You can be angry, brutally honest AND not be a racist, a facist or an a-hole. In fact, you can be angry, brutally honest AND be anti racist, anti-facist- AND be wildly successful. You did it for 9 years. The public, the universe, despises prevarication, abhors wishy washiness. Hillary Clinton is basically running against the next Mussolini, and, because she's so saccharine and manufactured, she's actually tied with this moron.

It is all me. Of course it's me. I thought of the character. It's my humor... If I do things that are like the old show, it was a good show.


Translation: I'm a one trick pony reluctantly being forced back into doing the trick that I didn't want to do any more, and abysmally attempting to rationalize the backward step as "I meant to do that."

Stephen, you can pretend to 'have fun' doing the old character from now until the cows come home, but nothing is going to remove the bad taste viewers have in their mouths from being fed garbage for months.

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I've only been watching Colbert on this show since the end of the Nightly Show. His monologues, and the continuation at the desk, are the strongest part of the show. Cold opens and sketches are hit or miss. He does a fine job in doing straight up interviews, my problem is they only work for me when I know the guest.

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I think Colbert had his chance when he started the show last year..and he blew it.

Shall we play a game?

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http://uproxx.com/tv/stephen-colbert-trump-election/

These are the first words I’ve written since the election, which did not go the way I’d hoped. On Wednesday I barely got out of bed. I felt paralyzed by the whole thing. I’ve now hit the bargaining stage of, “Well, Trump seems to like repairing infrastructure. So maybe that could be good? If he focused all his time on that, well, that would keep him preoccupied until 2021.” On Wednesday night I decided to take solace with some comedy. It can help. I had already watched Seth Meyers’ monologue (which was released early online), which was fantastic. It was the perfect tone of speaking to us, his audience, about his own fears, mixed with some comedy about apple picking. I smiled for the first time since Tuesday night.

Stephen Colbert’s Late Show was broadcasting another live show on Wednesday night and I thought watching this could bring more comfort. I am desperate for comfort right now! And The Colbert Report used to bring me comfort. Now, Colbert has already been run through the ringer a bit for his bizarre live election night performance. I kind of want to give him a pass for this because no one saw this coming. Not even President-elect Trump (!!!) saw this coming. So an, let’s say, erratic show might be expected while the election results are processed live.

On Wednesday night I wanted to hear from Colbert. I wanted to hear him tell us things would be okay. Actually, he could have told us things won’t be okay. He could have told me anything. I was ready to listen. After a monologue that was fine, but seemed a little too lighthearted considering the circumstances, it was the time in the show Colbert could have sat behind the desk and just talked to us, his audience, about what has happened. Instead, Colbert decided to do shtick. A large image of God appeared on the ceiling and Colbert had a conversation with God. For the life of me, I can’t figure out the mindset here. “God” appears and says, “That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” I honestly don’t understand what they are thinking over there.

This is why Colbert’s show is failing. On a night people just wanted to hear from Colbert and have him talk to us like adults about what happened, he punted. What happened to the Colbert who criticized George W. Bush to his face at the Whitehouse Correspondent Dinner? Why does Colbert keep punting? He punted when he had Trump as a guest (Colbert now admits he didn’t do a good job with that interview) and now, when people just wanted to see something real, he punted again. We got shtick. When Colbert drops his guard and gives us something real, he can be passionate and moving. But he does that so infrequently. And last night, more than any other night, called for it. But instead we got shtick.

I’ve been thinking more about why we liked The Colbert Report so much. And to be honest, I’m not sure it would have worked quite as well as it did without Jon Stewart as its lead in. Together, it was a perfect hour of political comedy. Jon Stewart spoke to us as adults about what was happening, pointing out the lunacy and hypocrisy of any given day – then Colbert would skew it even further, almost bringing it full circle. It was a symbiotic relationship. Now, Colbert has a full hour, on network television, and he’s trying to do a watered down version of both. It’s not working and Wednesday night was a huge glaring example of why.


Some people are hurting right now. But we got Colbert talking to a “God” who says, “That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” His show will probably never succeed until he learns how to consistently be himself. People like him, but we rarely see him. No one wants “shtick” right now.

There’s an obscure Bruce Springsteen song called “30 Days Out” that was recorded for the Human Touch album, but only released as a b side to “Leap of Faith.” There’s a line that sticks out to me right now,

Tried to talk about what’s goin’ on/You just smile and tell me ‘Baby there ain’t nothin’ wrong.’

In your smile there’s a sign in red/It said ‘Thousand miles of hard road dead ahead.’

That’s us right now. It hasn’t really even started yet, but that thousand miles of hard road is coming. But it would help tremendously to have a viable Stephen Colbert. And from what I saw on Wednesday night, that isn’t happening.

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Colbert has failed miserably at CBS. I have a feeling Moonves will start slowly phasing him out starting early next year.

Shall we play a game?

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https://www.datalounge.com/thread/18192618-fallon-flops-at-globes

Colbert is likable but didn't have the advantage of working out the kinks in his talk show in a later time slot for a few years unlike Kimmel and Fallon. He also seemed caught off guard by the shift away from traditional talk show formats and was unprepared to do viral videos. Additionally, he has the burden of being thought of as a "liberal" which has turned off some viewers. CBS also didn't seem to have a long-term strategy for filling David Letterman's spot whereas NBC always had some type of succession plan in place for Leno.

—Anonymous

reply 53 3 hours ago

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