Stephen Colbert‘s replacement on CBS, Byron Allen, will drop a core element of The Late Show’s format. Stepping into the 11:35 p.m. slot on May 22, the media mogul begins a new chapter for late-night television. The shift trades CBS’ in-house, single-host model for a syndicated comedy block.
Stephen Colbert’s CBS replacement Byron Allen reveals he would not add this Late Show element
Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen will fill Stephen Colbert’s soon-to-be-vacant CBS slot, promising familiar laughs, minus the politics.
After Colbert’s final broadcast on Thursday, May 21, Allen’s roundtable of comedians. a format he created in 2006, takes over at 11:35 p.m. However, unlike Colbert, who made political satire central to The Late Show, Allen intends to leave that arena behind.
“No politics,” he announced on CBS Mornings. “You come, you laugh… We’ve had on a thousand comedians — every shape and size, you name it. I want to bring people together using comedy.”
Allen’s mandate to prioritize comedy and sidestep politics tracks with the context surrounding The Late Show’s conclusion. Last year, CBS canceled Colbert’s version of the show, closing out the franchise’s 33-year run. “We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire The Late Show franchise at that time,” the network said in a statement, calling the move “purely a financial decision” driven by late-night’s tough economics (via BBC).
Reports indicated the show was losing more than $40 million annually. Yet many skeptics have linked the cancellation to Skydance Media’s acquisition of CBS parent Paramount Global, suggesting the new owners wanted to avoid conflict with President Donald Trump, who was frequently the subject of Colbert’s monologues.
Additionally, David Letterman, who once helmed The Late Show, recently claimed that Colbert was “dumped” to keep him from causing more “trouble” for CBS. “I’m just going to go on record as saying: They’re lying,” Letterman said. “Let me add one other thing… They’re lying weasels” (via The New York Times).
The Comics Unleashed deal is seemingly unique for CBS. Byron Allen bought the time slot, with Allen Media Group handling ad sales for the hour in exchange.
Originally reported by Sibanee Gogoi on Mandatory.
