The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end on May 21 this year. Notably, the Late Show franchise will come to an end, with CBS selling the airtime to another entity. In a recent interview, former Late Show host David Letterman explained the rationale behind the network’s decision to scrap the show.
The show was cancelled as a cost-cutting measure, says Letterman
The network is retiring The Late Show franchise altogether after 33 years. The Stephen Colbert-led show will air its final episode on May 21. The 11:35 p.m. The ET time slot is being sold to Byron Allen, replacing it with Comics Unleashed. In a podcast appearance, Letterman stated that the network doesn’t want to spend money and instead intends to make money by selling the time slot to Allen.
“They don’t want to spend any money, so they’re going to make money. They charge Byron Allen some reasonable price,” David Letterman said. Furthermore, Allen will handle all advertising himself and will have ownership over the revenue generated from it.
“He sells all the advertising for his Comics Unleashed, and it’ll be, I think, 90 minutes or two hours of comics talking about funny stuff,” he added.
The slot will be replaced by a panel-driven comedy show. “The show is a pretty good idea. It’s all panel. Nobody’s doing any standup, except they’re seated doing standup,” Letterman further said.
Comics Unleashed currently airs in the post–Late Show slot on CBS. Once it shifts an hour earlier to take over the long-running late-night spot, Byron Allen will still retain the 12:37 a.m. hour, where his comedy game show Funny You Should Ask will continue to air. The time-buy agreement is in place through the 2026–2027 television season.
Allen will take over the late-night time slot on May 22, airing two back-to-back episodes at 11:35 PM, followed by Funny You Should Ask after midnight.
The Late Show franchise began with Letterman in 1993, and the slot was taken over by Colbert in September 2015 following the former’s retirement from the format. Colbert announced last year that CBS was cancelling his show, prompting criticism from many commentators that the decision may have been influenced by his politically sensitive commentary.
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