CBS announced today that Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert will replace David Letterman for its 11:35 p.m. late-night host slot.
Letterman, 66, announced his retirement last week on his show and said he will leave sometime in 2015. A specific date has not been announced though Letterman's contract is up in August, 2015.
Colbert's contract with Comedy Central for his satirical news show "The Colbert Report" ends later this year. USA Today reported Colbert signed a five-year contract with CBS.
"Stephen Colbert is one of the most inventive and respected forces on television," said CBS president Les Moonves in a press release today.
“I'm thrilled and grateful that CBS chose me," Colbert said in the same release. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go grind a gap in my front teeth," referencing Letterman's signature gap-toothed grin.
Letterman himself in a statement said, "Stephen has always been a real friend to me. I’m very excited for him, and I’m flattered that CBS chose him."
“Stephen has always been a real friend to me,” David Letterman said in a statement. "I’m very excited for him, and I’m flattered that CBS chose him
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#bl1jhEayuYmvzwjv.99
“Stephen has always been a real friend to me,” David Letterman said in a statement. "I’m very excited for him, and I’m flattered that CBS chose him.
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#bl1jhEayuYmvzwjv.99
“Stephen has always been a real friend to me,” David Letterman said in a statement. "I’m very excited for him, and I’m flattered that CBS chose him.
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#bl1jhEayuYmvzwjv.99
Nina Tassler, CBS Entertainment Chairman, confirmed to ew.com that Colbert, 49, will play himself, not the comedic satire of a right-wing commentator he has played on Comedy Central the past nine years. (Colbert confirmed it himself with Bill Carter of the New York Times.)
"I won't be doing the new show in character, so we'll all get to find out how much of him was me. I'm looking forward to it," Colbert said in a statement emailed to Mashable.
"Dave’s shoes are very big to fill, and we believe Stephen will honor Dave’s legacy in terms of his ability and intellect," Tassler said.
She also said the show will remain in New York and keep the "Late Show" title.
Peter Dominick, a former warm-up comic for "The Colbert Report," wrote in The Daily Beast earlier this week that he thinks Colbert would make a great host for CBS as himself. "He can do it all: improv, sketch, stand-up. He can dance, act, and conduct hilarious interviews. What viewers don't see is how integral Colbert is to the writing process. Only the writing staff knows whose contributions end up making the show, but you can be sure Colbert has the last say."
The New York Times critic Jason Zinoman worries that Colbert's abilities might be shackled by the need to focus on a broader audience.
The media coverage suggests network talk shows still have cachet, but the landscape has changed so dramatically that some of this buzz feels infused with nostalgia. In a culture now filled with niches, audiences are smaller across the board, and the shows taking the biggest risks are on cable. Part of the reason is that with a smaller audience, a host can assume viewers share more assumptions about a joke than would a large network audience. That's why Mr. Colbert has been able to produce formally tricky satire with only rare instances of mass confusion.
Colbert's name came up almost instantly as a top candidate for the spot. In fact, Mashable said CBS and Colbert had a handshake deal going back to December, 2012.
For Colbert, this virtually guarantees a larger audience. He averaged around 1.2 million viewers a night following his mentor Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show." Letterman typically draws more than 2.5 million viewers a night on CBS.
Colbert started on "The Daily Show" as a correspondent. Other "Daily Show" correspondents who have moved on to bigger jobs include former Atlantan Ed Helms ("The Office,' "The Hangover" movies), Steve Carell ("The Office") and John Oliver, who has his own weekly comedy news show "Last Week Tonight" debuting April 27 on HBO.
And now Comedy Central has to figure out how to fill its 11:30 p.m. time slot minus Colbert. Variety magazine said a source inside the show expects a "Daily Show" correspondent will likely take that slot.
“Comedy Central is proud that the incredibly talented Stephen Colbert has been part of our family for nearly two decades,” the network said in a statement. “We look forward to the next eight months of the ground-breaking ‘Colbert Report’ and wish Stephen the very best.”
CBS's Tassler, in her ew.com interview, dismissed concerns that conservatives don't like how Colbert mocks them.
This week, Fox News' top-rated talker Bill O'Reilly, the persona Colbert originally mocked in 2005 when he came on air, ripped the Colbert character as a 'deceiver" who is hurting America.
"His analysis is delivered under the guise of comedy," O'Reilly said, but Colbert is "one of the biggest mouthpieces for the progressive movement."
To Time magazine, he provided this facetious reaction to the news today: "I hope Colbert will consider me for the Ed McMahon spot."
Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk show host, said today: "CBS has just declared war on the heartland of America." To him, "this is the redefinition of what is funny, a redefinition of what is comedy."
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