As much as I love Stephen Colbert, and I do, the news that he’s taking over The Late Show from David Letterman in 2015 is the sort of non-surprise that still manages to unsettle me.
Late night looks exactly how it did 20 years ago. Five white dudes and an Arsenio.
— Fed-Up Hipster (@thewayoftheid) April 10, 2014
When we learned last week that David Letterman would retire, many names were bandied about as possible replacements, and many people wondered if this was a chance for a woman or any person of color to break into the late night big time. Tina Fey, Aresenio Hall (it would be a promotion from his current slot), Amy Poehler, Wanda Sykes, and many more new faces offered us a little hope for a new face in network late night.
Instead, Stephen Colbert, of #CancelCobert fame, has been tapped. Yes, he’s funny and yes he’s got progressive values that should shake up the ass-kissy atmosphere of the time slot usually dedicated to top ten lists and making fun of Lindsay Lohan. But does he really do anything to add diversity that would reflect America today?
No.
In fact, if Colbert carries forward his satirical Republican character of “Stephen Colbert” into this role, his brand of edgy progressive comedy may, in some ways, contribute to a normalization of racist humor, as we learned with Suey Park‘s now-notorious hashtag. It’s controversial, but #CancelColbert at least got us talking about who should and should not be using race-based satire to raise awareness about racism. And as much as some people may want to say that Park failed in her mission with #CancelColbert, the dialogue has been launched. And dialogue is what is needed.
Faulting Suey for not ending Colbert’s career is vibrantly missing all of the issues she was raising with #CancelColbert.
— Brian Stuart (@red3blog) April 10, 2014
And so we’re back to late night status-quo and networks afraid to mess with white Baby Boomers’ fears of change.
Who do you think should have been chosen for the coveted Late Night spot? Is Colbert a good choice?
I’m all for diversity, but I can’t think of a person I’d like to see take over the Late Show more.
I think this is a great decision. When Jimmy Fallon took Leno’s place, he brought with him an entire generation of young people who really had no connection with, or reason to follow the increasingly-irrelevant late night TV posse. He has already brought new life to the show, and made the stage his own. Colbert, just like Fallon, has an enormous following of millennials. He’s said that he will be retiring his Stephen Colbert character with the Colbert Report show, but knowing that he’s capable of pushing boundaries, and bringing some edge, and energy to a stereotypically boring space (politics… Read more »
Colbert is super super talented. I actually like him way more than Jon Stewart lately, though if I had to choose between him and John Oliver I think it’d be impossible.
Once we played FMK with Jon Stewart, John Oliver and Stephen Colbert and I chose to F Colbert, Marry Oliver and kill Stewart.
In a situation like that, I would seriously consider polyamory…
Personally I see the late night shows as being the comedy equivalent of the Sunday morning Washington talk shows. That is they are big dinosaurs that it doesn’t necessarily make sense to try and overhaul. In the age of digital technology the actual host of a late night show just isn’t as culturally relevant as it was in the 70’s. And the same goes for the Sunday shows, yes they are hosted overwhelmingly by white men and their guests are largely the same, but as Jonathan Bernstein has pointed out, they really don’t serve much of a purpose anymore as… Read more »
john hits it on the head.the tonite show provided a common consensus for america.letterman was a shared experience for a large part of america(when he was on nbc) leno was someone who seemed to carry this forward,but everything since johnny carson has held less space in the common zeitgeist. at this point the culture and the media are completely splintered and there is no commonality of experience in the recreational media of today.
After the nonsense that was CancelColbert, this is a perfect choice. Long may the baiting of such silliness continue.