Stephen Colbert (archive photo)
TOI correspondent from Washington: American late-night television, that uniquely raucous institution where presidents are ridiculed, celebrities fawn and audiences applaud on cue, is preparing for a funeral.
After 33 years, CBS has decided to pull the plug on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, as its eponymous host took his final bow this week — ending not just a show, but perhaps an era in which comedians doubled as political opposition.CBS insists the decision is “purely financial,” which may be true, as one person noted, in the same way that the Titanic had a “water management issue.” According to the network, late-night television is hemorrhaging money in the streaming era, as younger audiences migrate to social media memes, clips and podcasts hosted by hosts broadcasting from basements and bunkers.
Advertising revenues for late-night television programming have declined dramatically in recent years even as production costs have risen.However, few in America believe that money alone explains the demise of the top-rated nighttime movie series. Doubts intensified after Colbert criticized Paramount Global — CBS’s parent company — for settling a lawsuit brought by President Trump, calling the payment a “huge bribe” on air. Days later, CBS announced the show’s cancellation as Paramount sought regulatory approval for its merger with Skydance Media amid surprise that late-night shows had become politically and commercially inflammatory.
At MAGA USA, comedians are now treated less like jokesters and more like hostile political actors. Trump has long viewed the late-night hosts as enemies, routinely attacking Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers on social media. The three, along with Jon Stewart and John Oliver, have turned to political satire after Trump’s rise, turning monologues into nightly pretense summaries. Critics called it liberal, but it was a treat for the masses.As this weekend approached, the sisterhood united late into the night with surprising tenderness. Kimmel and Fallon reportedly chose to rerun the show rather than compete with Colbert’s farewell episode, and appeared with Meyers and Oliver in a symbolic group hug on air. They joked that Jon Stewart, who was not with them, was a “designated survivor.” Even David Letterman, the patron saint of late-night television satire and Colbert’s predecessor, recently joined in in gleefully throwing CBS office furniture off the roof in mock rebellion.
Clearly, American television executives can cancel programs – but they do not have the right to cancel their beloved theatrical shows.Colbert himself has alternated between gallows humor and downright bitterness, noting with some disbelief that his staff would effectively be evicted immediately after the final show. What’s next for the 62-year-old host? Amid reports that he will co-write the Lord of the Rings movie with his son Peter, he is also expected to migrate to streaming and podcasting.Interestingly, India has often featured in Colbert’s comic universe. During a period of concern over outsourcing under Trump, he once joked that American jobs were “being sent to a call center in Bangalore, where even fraudulent calls have better customer service.” He often mocked Indian Americans for their academic intelligence, joking that spelling bee champions looked “less like children and more like junior tax consultants.” When Prime Minister Modi visited the US, he joked that Trump and his relationship with large rallies was “a geopolitical version of two DJs comparing crowd sizes.”
“But the greatest resonance with India may lie elsewhere. As global political polarization deepens, comedians on both sides of the globe have discovered that satire now comes with legal notices, armies of trolls, and ideological censorship. Indian comedians know this pressure firsthand from police complaints, canceled venues, and legal issues. Only now are America’s night owls discovering what they have long understood: that power laughs loudest at jokes directed downwards, not upwards.
Once upon a time, late-night television promised Americans catharsis before bed. Soon it will be the next morning.