After more than 20 years as the host of “The Late Show,” David Letterman will give up his late night throne and pass the proverbial torch to none other than millennial icon Stephen Colbert. It was announced April 10 that Colbert would become the new host of “The Late Show” in lieu of David Letterman’s retirement.
Colbert, who is widely popular among the millennial demographic, could be just the change “The Late Show” needs.
“The Late Show” often has the lowest rating of all the late night talk shows, and perhaps that is simply because Letterman has gotten too old, or at the very least lost relevancy.
Colbert, on the other hand, seems to always find his way onto to the top of all of our newsfeeds. With Colbert’s cult-like following, “The Late Show” certainly has the potential to become the most popular of all the late night talk shows.
It will be interesting to see how Colbert does as a late night talk show host and what Colbert’s fans think of his new role. His fans are rabid, but they are rabid about the character Stephen Colbert plays on “The Colbert Report.” Surely Colbert won’t bring the character so many people fell in love with to “The Late Show,” and on the flipside Colbert fans may be in for a surprise if they watch. “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” may not carry the same semi-conservative caricature viewers have been fond of.
What will become of “The Colbert Report”? Or perhaps a more appropriate question is what will happen to Comedy Central’s now hour-long news block? Surely “The Colbert Report” will be no more, but what will Comedy Central do in response to the loss of one of their most popular programs?
Perhaps we will see a whole new comedy news show (I’m thinking John Oliver or Wyatt Cenac as hosts), but I don’t think any show that has to follow in “The Colbert Report” footsteps will ever be as successful. So maybe Comedy Central won’t do anything and let “The Daily Show” with John Stewart, the very show that gave Colbert his comedy news start, to become reigning king of nightly news satire.
Be sure to tune in to “The Late Show” April 22 to see Colbert take the stage as Letterman’s guest to hopefully gain some insight as to what the future holds for Colbert and his report.
