I’VE long been a fan of late-night American talk shows and their funny hosts. I loved David Letterman for years, caught Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien (who can forget Triumph, the Insult Dog?) once in a while, and laughed a lot with that crazy Scotsman Craig Ferguson—the latter, not so well known in the Philippines, but actually a Peabody Awardee for his interview with South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 2009. Yes, he’s a hysterical former late-night comedian/talk show host recognized for achievement in broadcast excellence.
(But check out Ferguson’s Late Late Show episodes with the late Robin Williams—Ferguson was probably the only comedian who could match Williams’ wit and energy on a talk show:)
Jon Stewart is aware that he might be next. (screengrab from ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ YouTube channel)
And then, there’s Stephen Colbert, the guy with the funny right ear sticking out (apparently because of botched surgery when he was a child). I first saw him as a poker-faced correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, who gave the show a more political bent. Colbert would go on to host The Colbert Report from 2005 to 2015, before moving on to CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2015, taking over from Letterman.
Jimmy Kimmel (right) had the strongest reaction to the news. (Photo from Disney Entertainment)
(Incidentally, I don’t believe the late-night TV show has died, as some pundits claim. With Colbert, Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Myers, I think the genre is doing fine. But more on the financial challenge later.)
I followed Colbert more seriously not just because he had excellent writers, but also because he is an extremely intelligent literary geek, who happens to know Tolkien like the back of his hand. He is a devout Catholic, and a good friend of the Jesuit author, Fr. James Martin.
Then I chanced upon an interview he did in 2019 with broadcast journalist Anderson Cooper, two months after the death of Cooper’s mother, fashion designer and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt. The 20-minute interview went viral because Cooper got emotional—and Colbert answered each question with such wisdom and faith, it took my breath away.
For context, Cooper spoke about how people found it hard to deal with grief, referencing his own recent loss as well as his older brother’s suicide when Cooper was only 21. Colbert, meanwhile, had lost his father and two older brothers in a plane crash when he was only 10.
“We’re asked to accept the world that God gives us, and accept it with love,” Colbert stated. “…And you have to accept it with gratitude, because what is the option?”
At one point, with a trembling voice, Cooper quoted his interview subject, who once said he had “learned to love the thing which I most wished had not happened.” “You went on to say, ‘What punishments of God are not gifts?’ You really believe that?” Cooper asked, incredulity in his voice.
After a significant pause, Colbert answered, “Yes. It’s a gift to exist, and with existence comes suffering. There’s no escaping that…I don’t want it to have happened, but…if you’re grateful for your life, which is a positive thing to do, then you have to be grateful for all of it. You can’t pick and choose. So then, what do you get from loss? You develop an awareness of other people’s loss, which allows you to connect with that other person. Which allows you to love more deeply and understand what it means to be a human being…”
Needless to say, I was a bigger fan after that. Add on the ingenious way in which he presented my fave band BTS to an adoring public on his show in 2019—in black and white, playing Ed Sullivan as the boys channeled the Beatles—and I had found my late-night champion.
So, you can imagine how I and other fans of Colbert—as well as critics of the Fascist Cheeto now running the home country of Hollywood—felt when it was announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert would be axed by its home network, CBS, by May 2026. Paramount, the mother company of CBS, claimed in a statement that it was a “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night…It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” This, after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had just been nominated for its 33rd Emmy Award!
Critics and industry colleagues were quick to react. “I really thought I’d ride this out with him for years to come,” said Falllon. “For as great a comedian and host as he is, he is an even better person,” added Meyers. Kimmel went for the jugular: “Love you Stephen. F-ck you and all your Sheldons CBS.” (FYI, a Sheldon is slang for somebody whiny, mean, and irritating, based on the TV character in The Big Bang Theory.)
Why are they—WE—all pissed? Because this is fishy, in every way.
More context: Recently, Paramount paid $16 million—“to Trump’s future library or cause, but not to him,” reported The Guardian—as settlement over what Trump has claimed was a maliciously edited pre-election interview on the CBS show 60 Minutes with Kamala Harris, “in what is likely to be seen as a further example of capitulation by media companies hoping to smooth the waters with Trump.” In other words, reports echoed the perception, Paramount bent the knee. And from the looks of it, they reportedly did because of money.
A merger is percolating between Paramount and Skydance, a media company controlled by David Ellison, son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison—an old friend of Trump’s. CNN reported, “The pending deal matters for two reasons: One, because companies almost always try to cut costs around the time of a merger; and two, because the deal requires sign-off from the Trump administration.” It’s a merger worth $8.4 billion, reported The Guardian.
To compound matters, Colbert returned to his show on July 14 after a two-week vacation and slammed the settlement, calling it “a big fat bribe.” “You may take our money, but you will never take our dignity,” Colbert said sarcastically of his parent company, saying how he was “offended” by the entire thing. “You may, however, purchase our dignity for the low, low price of $16 million. We need the cash.”
In other words, for the deal to be approved, the Trump administration, media pundits said, asked for Stephen Colbert’s head on a plate.
To be fair (despite my utter disgust), CNN did report on the financial reality last July 18, the day after Colbert announced his departure on his show with the utmost dignity. “That’s because, even though Colbert outrated his competition at 11:35 pm, the overall audience for late-night has been shrinking,” CNN’s Brian Stelter wrote. “Ad dollars and audiences are moving away from late night shows, Variety reported—and that was back in 2023. The financial picture has only gotten gloomier since then.”
What’s priceless, however, is how America’s late-night hosts had become the no-BS prophets of today, unafraid to speak out against an increasingly corrupt and ridiculous government; of late, they had been collectively reeling in disbelief when Trump denied his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, backtracked on his promise to reveal the contents of the Epstein files, and even called his own MAGA followers who insisted on them being made public “weak” and “troublemakers.” Now he’s suing the Wall Street Journal—owned by Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul who’s as grizzled and stubborn as Trump is. Let’s hope El Cheeto has bitten off more than he can chew this time.
So now, in the land of (supposed) liberty and (alleged) free speech, they’re censoring comedians. Censoring! Jon Stewart has openly stated that he’s aware he could be next, because of Skydance’s ownership and his own constant criticism of the Trump administration. Last I heard, only tyrants or dictators censored media.
As for Stephen Colbert—he’s too talented to stay down, and I hope he reappears soon in some new medium, backed by a media company with balls. We’ll wait, Mr. Stephen!
