Things are not going so well with left-wing comedian talk show hosts over the water. Last week came the news of the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert by CBS/Paramount. And Ellen de Generes, whose daytime chat show was chopped back in 2022, revealed this weekend that she’s moved permanently to the Cotswolds, where she is currently farming chickens (she was keeping sheep too, but they kept running away from her).
Both of these developments are being attributed to the reelection of one Donald J. Trump as President. Colbert’s firing by Paramount came very soon after his outburst on his show about the company settling a lawsuit by Trump, who had accused them of favourable editing of a campaign interview with Kamala Harris. Many have linked Colbert’s exasperated blast at his bosses to them firing him – which occurred less than 48 hours later.
There is a place for lectures and spluttering rants, but it is a small place
Paramount/CBS, for their part, issued a statement saying that the axing ‘is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount’. Though it also states that the decision was a ‘financial one’, taken ‘against a challenging backdrop in late night’. Which looks very much like the ‘performance’ of the show was indeed their main consideration.
All linear TV is in its death throes, yes, and the late-night talk show is no exception. Hilariously, this week we kept hearing that Colbert has the highest-rated of these shows; which, as commentator Matt Osborne noted on X, is ‘like saying he’s the hobo with the biggest shopping cart’.
One of the strangest spectacles of the culture wars of the last decade has been that a formerly ruthless business – television – has been so absorbed by its role on the ‘progressive’ side, that its previously sharp edge when it comes to a show’s ‘performance’ has been blunted. American TV in particular was always legendary for pulling under-performing shows – even if they were critical hits – the moment that their bottom line was threatened. The history of American TV is littered with cancelled shows, yanked off the air mid-season, of hard business decisions and orders relayed to studios from above to down tools, right now.
But, according to Puck News, Colbert’s show was losing $40 million (£30 million) a year – and costing $100 million (£74 million) a year to produce. Lest we forget, this is not a sci-fi spectacular or a razzle-dazzlin’ showbiz extravaganza. It is just Colbert, riffing to the camera and then talking to a few other people on sofas. Why did it cost so much to make, and why has it taken Paramount so long to can it?
The reaction to the canning explains why, I think. It is a truism of the TV industry (or it used to be) that dying, unwatched shows attract the most public comment. ‘If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better,’ tweeted California Senator Adam Schiff. ‘America deserves to know if his show was cancelled for political reasons,’ fumed Elizabeth Warren.
Personally, I think America ‘deserves to know’ why the show was kept on air for so long when it was losing cash hand over fist. My suspicion is that CBS/Paramount delayed the agony until the last possible moment because of the show’s politics, to try to avoid losing face and taking a culture wars hit, to deny commercial reality because thousands of conservative Twitter accounts gloating ‘go woke, go broke’ would’ve been too unbearable. Anything but that! It was more acceptable to lose millions and millions of dollars.
And my goodness, this show was political. The friendly format created by David Letterman – your pal easing you into the night after a hard day – was exchanged for Colbert’s increasingly insufferable exasperation and ranting.
I get tired of viewers saying that they are ‘disappointed’ in entertainers who take stances they dislike; it’s not as if we have relationships with these celebrities. But I’ve watched Colbert’s trajectory with sadness. He was one of the funniest people on TV, a long time ago. He co-created, produced and starred (as teacher Chuck Noblet) in the bad-taste sitcom Strangers With Candy (1999-2000), a gem of a forgotten show – swiftly yanked from the air for low ratings, ironically. His transformation to a partisan ranter was horrible to behold. Doing angry stuff very last thing at night, when people are looking to unwind, seemed particularly wrong-footed.
Similarly, Ellen de Generes dropped what made her special – a light comic touch – and became something of a deranged culture wars activist. Her asylum flight to Gloucestershire is the funniest thing she’s done in years, though sadly unintentionally so.
Because I am an awkward sod, political comedy of the ‘clapter’ kind – where the performer and audience are united in a partisan way – automatically makes me antsy and I start rooting for the other side, even on the rare occasions when the performer aligns with where I stand. British attempts at this style – The Mash Report, The Last Leg – are even more repellent than their American inspirations.
Hopefully the return of the bottom line will mean that TV comedy, both in America and over here, can just be funny again. There is a place for lectures and spluttering rants, but it is a small place.
The other day, scrolling through YouTube, I stumbled on a sketch from ancient BBC hit Three Of A Kind (1981-1983) in which the stars David Copperfield and Tracey Ullman perform a ridiculously silly spoof of the then-current hit makers Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes as ‘Joe Cock-Up and Jennifer Prawn’. It was crude, obvious, kind of pathetic in its perfunctoriness – and very, very funny.
This is the comedy we desperately need in today’s horrible world: knickers falling down, limericks, smut and sauce, the surreal and the silly. Ellen should extend an invite to Colbert to join her in her rural idyll. Perhaps he could rustle up her lost sheep. Let them rave and fume at each other while we have fun again.
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