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For Sale Apr 14, 2026 at 12:45 AM

David Letterman On CBS Replacing ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ With Byron Allen’s ‘Comics Unleashed’: “They Don’t Want To Spend Any Money”

Posted by SanderSo47


David Letterman On CBS Replacing ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ With Byron Allen’s ‘Comics Unleashed’: “They Don’t Want To Spend Any Money”
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David Letterman On CBS Replacing ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ With Byron Allen’s ‘Comics Unleashed’: “They Don’t Want To Spend Any Money”
David Letterman is sharing his thoughts on CBS replacing The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with Byron Allen's Comics Unleashed.

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-KFBR392 Apr 14, 2026 +523
Someone broke it down in another thread, Comics Unleashed is buying the time s**** from CBS, so CBS is set to make a set amount of money with no risk. Which makes Dave 100% correct, they don’t want to spend money.
523
AvatarofBro Apr 14, 2026 +225
Correct. Byron Allen pays CBS for the time s*** and then sells the ad time himself. Given the current climate over at CBS, it also should not go unmentioned that Comics Unleashed is explicitly apolitical by design. It's anyodyne hack comedy that's amenable to corporate advertisers and easy to rerun. The word "slop" gets thrown around a lot these days, but I can't think of a better term for this show. I wasn't a huge fan of Colbert's Late Show, I preferred him on Comedy Central, but it's a shame to see Letterman's legacy replaced by this shit.
225
ositola Apr 14, 2026 +61
More like comics fairly leashed amirite
61
idiot-prodigy Apr 14, 2026 +53
[Norm MacDonald on Comics Unleashed - NSFW Language](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7qbLMT-CS4Y)
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SweetieLoveBug Apr 14, 2026 +4
I miss Norm so much. 💔He would have cut Drump and his halfwit cronies to the bone.😠
4
henryrblake Apr 14, 2026 +12
Replace “OJ murdered his wife” with “Trump rapes children”
12
hiricinee Apr 14, 2026 +6
He was relatively conservative and generally tried to avoid politics.
6
shamelessnameless Apr 14, 2026 +11
It would be interesting to see how maga morons would react to norm because they like the edginess but not when it's against their own side
11
CantFindMyWallet Apr 14, 2026 +5
They would piss their pants with rage, as per usual. Every conservative is ostensibly a hypocrite, but only because they lie about their values. They want to be treated like special little snowflakes while also getting to decide that anyone they don't like should be punished for whatever they can come up with.
5
Protean_Protein Apr 15, 2026 +1
No he wouldn’t have. Norm was a great comedian (among the greatest of all time imho), but he was also conservative, religious, and a bit of a troll with stuff like that. He seemed to be fairly positive about Trump a decade ago. (But also, as someone else mentioned below, apolitical—he just didn’t do political commentary).
1
MostlyBored11 Apr 14, 2026 +7
Yeah CU is f****** terrible lol
7
AlsoIHaveAGroupon Apr 14, 2026 +4
I catch the intro for it after Colbert pretty regularly, and I'm pretty sure every single episode the guests are three men and one woman. Never four men, never two men and two women. Always 3 and 1. So I'm pretty sure the right should hate this show for DEI quotas! Not because it's highly processed garbage, but because it hates men? (I think that's how their thinking works?) Take it off the air, and keep Colbert going where it's hosted by 1 man and 0 women.
4
lookamazed Apr 15, 2026 +1
The enshittification of our culture, man. Is like canceling Leno and replacing it with family feud’s worst reruns
1
RedMoustache Apr 14, 2026
I just hope Colbert gets a regular night to host The Daily Show. Hopefully it’s next to John Stewart’s days.
0
Lt_JimDangle Apr 14, 2026 +1
And change the name to The Colbert Report. Just when he’s hosting.
1
Bruzie77 Apr 14, 2026 -7
It failed under Colbert reign while Letterman was the true successor to Johnny Carson. When something fails it is the person at the helm who is responsible. Jimmy Fallon is still going strong.
-7
clashrendar Apr 15, 2026 +3
I also think Dave was being a bit sarcastic in his response in the video, which the writer didn't articulate.. CBS makes some money with no risk. But it also loses a huge amount of prestige. Affiliates are going to be *pissed* when their newscasts have plummeting ratings.
3
agingcausescancer Apr 14, 2026 -9
Letterman had a lot more viewers.
-9
fla_john Apr 14, 2026 +18
*everyone* had a lot more viewers
18
agingcausescancer Apr 14, 2026 -1
Yes
-1
SeasonElectrical3173 Apr 14, 2026 +2
What I guess you missed, is that you came off as the bad guy in this line of dialogue. We all booked you and downvoted you accordingly. Then, you jump back agreeing with that other guy like if we didn't already not like you or want to deal with you.
2
agingcausescancer Apr 14, 2026 -6
I didn’t miss anything, i also didn’t care to deal with anyone else so didn’t keep commenting. I don’t care if you don’t like me. But they aren’t “spending money” because there isn’t the same amount of money in late night anymore compared to Letterman’s time because people don’t watch it. I guess I should have made the more general comment so that people didnt book me as the bad guy.
-6
SeasonElectrical3173 Apr 14, 2026 +4
Well good thing you don't care if we do or not since we don't
4
MOOzikmktr Apr 14, 2026 +90
even on leashes?
90
TatarAmerican Apr 14, 2026 +81
"I was on Comics Unleashed once...first of all, you couldn't be more leashed"
81
king_bungholio Apr 14, 2026 +26
The footage from Norm's comics unleashed appearance is brutal. A long discussion in having a baby, and one comedian is clearly distressed by how much alimony he owes his ex-wife.
26
bassacre Apr 14, 2026 +3
Goat.
3
ContinuumGuy Apr 14, 2026 +8
Obviously, that's why it's unleashed
8
MOOzikmktr Apr 14, 2026 +4
But don't you have to leash them FIRST before you can "unleash" them?? I'm so confused...
4
ContinuumGuy Apr 14, 2026 +1
You only need to buy one set of leashes, which you don't need after that.
1
donsanedrin Apr 14, 2026 +37
So CBS is basically signing off at 11:30pmE ET/10:30pm CT. Those paid advertisement programs that typically begin around 12:30am-1:00am in my CT zone are now going to begin at 10:30pm. Guess I'll watch Kimmel.
37
Cyphermaniax97 Apr 14, 2026 +67
Of course they don't want to spend any money. They're saving up to be even more c**** when they buy WB
67
CabbageMoosePing Apr 14, 2026 +83
It’s wild that “we found some old Comics Unleashed tapes” is a network’s late-night strategy. At least run classic Letterman episodes one night a week if you’re that c****.
83
huntforhire Apr 14, 2026 +6
Not a network, the #1 network by wide margin….
6
badwolf1013 Apr 14, 2026 +13
It IS actually new episodes. Allen revived it in 2025. I’ll say this: at least it’s not just an infomercial. CU may be kind of a “staged” talk show, but it’s still entertaining and helps out rising comics. And Allen is a life-long Democrat, so — even if the show never takes any jabs at Trump — at least they won’t be stumping for him, which might have been another option for CBS: a right-wing “comedy” show like Gutfeld. 
13
idiot-prodigy Apr 14, 2026 +18
> CU may be kind of a “staged” talk show, but it’s still entertaining and helps out rising comics. That show is DREADFULLY bad.
18
badwolf1013 Apr 14, 2026 +6
That's a bit hyperbolic. It's honestly not all that far off of how most actual talk shows work. A producer has worked out before the show what topics the guest wants to talk about or stories they want to tell (or project that they want to promote) and Kimmel, Fallon, Colbert, Letterman, Leno, Carson, etc. know what questions that they are going to ask before the famous butt even hits the couch. And then there's a lot of pretending that the conversation is spontaneous for the audience's benefit. If anything, CU being more obvious about it is less disingenuous. And it's better than 99% of reality show c***. (Probably better than 100% of it.)
6
SGTBrutus Apr 14, 2026 -6
We know that you're trying your best, Byron.
-6
badwolf1013 Apr 14, 2026 +8
Oh, please. If you want to debate my point, then do so, but that’s just lazy and unimaginative.
8
SGTBrutus Apr 14, 2026 -8
Debate your pandering? No thanks. You be you.
-8
badwolf1013 Apr 14, 2026 +6
Who am I pandering to, exactly? I’m just saying there could be much worse options to put in that spot.
6
TheDungen Apr 14, 2026 -3
Well who watches the interviews anyway?
-3
TheDungen Apr 14, 2026 +2
Dont care, eff CBS and anyone who does buiness with them.
2
badwolf1013 Apr 14, 2026 +2
Thanks for sharing.
2
MBTHVSK Apr 14, 2026 +11
At least they're filming new episodes. They won't have to edit out the George W. Bush and Jessica Simpson jokes anymore.
11
Abba_Fiskbullar Apr 14, 2026 +64
CBS affiliates are pissed about this. Some of the most lucrative local ad s**** are during Colbert, especially on election years.
64
AlexTorres96 Apr 14, 2026 +12
Don't they have the power to get their way since they provide 95% of the content in a 24 hour window? I saw someone say the big 4 don't own the affiliates and they have to fulfill a certain window and nothing else. Just like the Affiliates were pissed at the Leno Primetime show tanking their 10 PM local news and it leading to NBC being desperate. They put the pressure on NBC and the c*** tried to shoehorn Leno at Late Night with Fallon and Conan.
12
khz30 Apr 14, 2026 +12
Not so much with CBS, because they have the most owned and operated stations in the most valuable markets. As long as they own stations in the most important markets, smaller affiliates are on their own, even with the option to preempt Comics Unleashed with their own programming.
12
jubbergun Apr 14, 2026 +4
> CBS affiliates are pissed about this. I don't know why they'd mind. Late Night ratings are in the crapper regardless. They still get to sell their ad space on these shows, that space isn't worth much now, and it's probably not going to be worth that much less after Colbert is gone.
4
Abba_Fiskbullar Apr 14, 2026 +6
Actually, Byron Allen is buying the whole block from CBS and selling his own ads, and if you think that these shows will get even a fraction of the viewers you are mistaken. Thingy is, Colbert's overall ratings are down, along with most broadcast TV, but he still dominates late night ratings in major media markets, which have the most profitable advertising.
6
jubbergun Apr 14, 2026 +2
> Byron Allen is buying the whole block from CBS and selling his own ads Yes, I know. I also know that there isn't a single ad block. There is the corporate (CBS) ad block and the affiliate (local station) ad block. Most shows, especially late night, will have at least one local affiliate spot in the ads between segments. CBS can't sell the local ad block, and these stations will still be able to advertise. So, either the local affiliates don't have any ads on the show, in which case they won't care, and might even opt for airing different programming, or they do have ads and the worst they have to worry about is being able to charge less.
2
munchi333 Apr 15, 2026 +1
Your point is completely moot because Colbert’s show doesn’t make a profit lol. Late Nate ratings are just not what they used to be…
1
rip1980 Apr 14, 2026 +31
Well, good news for Kimmel anyway.
31
thesupermikey Apr 14, 2026 +18
Undoubtedly good news for Kimmel.
18
occono Apr 14, 2026 +6
His current contract is only for the current season. I don't know if he wants to extend it given nothing was really resolved.
6
KronoCloud Apr 14, 2026 +10
Being the last survivor on a doomed vessel is not good news. Broadcast TV is becoming more and more obsolete. Networks are just trying to squeeze out the last few pennies until they completely abandon ship.
10
rip1980 Apr 14, 2026 +5
Kinda true. Network TV is on a long slow decline, but not everywhere is urban with high bandwidth or tech savvy. All the networks have OTT/online/streaming/etc., services across all platforms. Source: Broadcast engineer for the past 3 decades.
5
CalaveraPrimera Apr 14, 2026 +1
Don't paint him as victim though He's been extremely successful, he's more liked than the President and will continue to be successful. Late night TV will run it's course but Kimmel will be around after it in some form or another
1
Headbandallday Apr 14, 2026 +16
Truly sad to see late night talk shows die in this country.
16
Brendissimo Apr 14, 2026 +17
I can't say I am. It's an incredibly stale medium which has been basically stagnant for 30 years as it's numbers have steadily declined. Interview shows on YouTube are cutting to the meat of what most audiences really wanted out of late night, with less artificiality and pretense. Having a precisely timed, precisely toned, 2.5 minute anecdote ready to go gets old for everyone involved. We all know these interviews are part of the larger ad campaign for whatever project the actor is working on but it really doesn't have to be so transparent. I will give Colbert credit where it is due - he was one of the better and more earnest late night hosts at interviewing guests. He seemed to have some genuine connections with people from time to time. Maybe he can do something like that on Netflix. I mean maybe you were one of the people tuning in for Colbert's monologue (I know I wasn't, his takes on Trump as a comedy topic got old for me mid 2016). But if so I have great news for you - Last Week Tonight isn't going anywhere and it already perfected that formula (really the Daily Show's formula) over a decade ago. As for Kimmel and Fallon's games with celebs... Its hard to imagine more mind-numbing content. It will not be missed when those two finally go under.
17
beachedwolf Apr 14, 2026 +4
Yeah I loved Conan but now a personality like Conan is easily found 24:7 to watch whenever I want I don’t need to stay up til 11:30 Anymore so I don’t get the love affair with late night tv it’s mostly celebrity jerk fest 
4
beachedwolf Apr 14, 2026 -6
??? Who gives a f***
-6
TheVintageJane Apr 14, 2026 +4
Those of us who fondly remember reaching the milestone of “old enough to stay up and watch late night with mom and dad.” I have memories of being in my PJs at 9 or 10 and getting to watch at least the monologue with my parents a night or two a week. It was one of the first “non-kid” things I remember getting to do. I get that it’s pretty much a dead medium but it’s still sad for me to think that future kids will miss that moment.
4
Knightforlife Apr 14, 2026 +2
Headbandallday does, and I do, perhaps others
2
kylelonious Apr 14, 2026 +24
So CBS, one of the storied institutions of entertainment for a century is just doing the same thing all these TikTok accounts are doing? Tv executives really are devoid of any creativity huh?
24
Horror_Neighborhood9 Apr 14, 2026 +3
Man, it’d be so amazing to watch Edward R. Murrow kick open the door and b**** out Ellison. Or throw hands simultaneously. 😏
3
in_animate_objects Apr 14, 2026 +21
That’s what happens when you let christofascist billionaires buy up all the media
21
PantsandPlants Apr 14, 2026 +5
I mean, religious influence aside, this is what happens when you let a corporation gobble up its competition; The incentive to create something new dries up. 
5
CountVanillula Apr 14, 2026 +3
I thought they made everyone sing country music and drive 18 wheelers. Wait - those are kristoffascists, n/m
3
in_animate_objects Apr 14, 2026 +5
Those are the ones in the Taylor Sheridan universe, which is pretty much all that will be made on CBS now
5
ctiger12 Apr 14, 2026 +9
Don’t spend money won’t earn money, right?
9
moolcool Apr 14, 2026 +9
“Couldn’t have been more leashed”
9
idiot-prodigy Apr 14, 2026 +7
"So Lovitz, I hear you're getting older."
7
drdrdugg Apr 14, 2026 +4
What’s the over under on if this show gets past six months?
4
whiskeyrocks1 Apr 14, 2026 +1
I’ll take the over. CBS basically handing their network to infomercials early. No one will even notice unfortunately. Long live original scripted entertainment, and Stephen Colbert.
1
mr_ji Apr 14, 2026 +13
They don't have the money to spend.
13
ToastedSpam Apr 14, 2026 +10
When your news division hemorrhages money, yeah.
10
allthenamesaretaken4 Apr 14, 2026 +5
It's almost like news as a for profit venture was bound to fail. Either you provide what people want and it's not news, or you provide what they need to hear and it's not making advertisers happy. Really, it's impressive we made it \~100 years thinking news was some righteous profession and not just paid propaganda.
5
CptNonsense Apr 14, 2026 +10
News as a for-profit venture has been *amazingly* successful for a century. It has just failed *very* recently as people have decided news is not something worth paying for, directly or indirectly.
10
allthenamesaretaken4 Apr 14, 2026 -5
Was it altruistically good, or just profitable? Because I think it's been propaganda forever and we only started seeing the blatant stuff as such.
-5
CptNonsense Apr 14, 2026 +6
"Altruistically" good is irrelevant. Businesses sold news for a century and it was a profitable. Very profitable.
6
allthenamesaretaken4 Apr 14, 2026 -4
And that's why journalism died.
-4
CptNonsense Apr 15, 2026 +3
No, I'm pretty sure your need to not know anything about history and also refuse to pay for anything is how journalism died.
3
RecordingSilly6118 Apr 14, 2026 +5
I don't know If I could physically roll my eyes harder at any of your comments lol
5
idiot-prodigy Apr 14, 2026 +3
[Norm MacDonald on Comics Unleashed - NSFW Language](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7qbLMT-CS4Y)
3
mokolabs Apr 14, 2026 +3
Wow, Deadline must need some clicks. This article is based on an off-handed comment from a low-key podcast, where Letterman was trying to be kind about a new comedy show and not really commenting on the entire Colbert situation. If you really want to know what Letterman thinks about Colbert's firing, go back and watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYpwujMwCSg
3
AlexTorres96 Apr 14, 2026 +7
I'd expect Letterman to be more upset about his creation getting nuked. Also Comics Unleashed is softball comedy that's filler and uninspired. I'll give Byron Allen for playing the long game and pouncing at the kill for those 2 2 hours. The strike put his foot in the door and he waited for the moment to get spot full time.
7
RulesoftheDada Apr 14, 2026 +3
His whole time there he ragged on him. He posted this when it the announcement happened.[CBS segment](https://youtu.be/7Rv36XkQojM?si=JmOP9b9ZhrzLfoax)
3
Va1crist Apr 14, 2026 +6
It has nothing to do with money are people really this stupid ? It’s all about getting the politics against trump and republicans off the TV
6
SmileyPiesUntilIDrop Apr 14, 2026 +5
The average viewer is pensioner aged,and tv's most important adveriser demo is 18-49. Trump's buddies now in charge clearly sped up the process,but everyone was talking about all these late night shows being close to death way before his cancellation. Even the fairly tame James Corden show was cancelled years before,because they were no longer making a profit in that s***.
5
ArgumentativeNerfer Apr 14, 2026 -4
WTF is a pensioner?
-4
badwolf1013 Apr 14, 2026 +5
I really admire Byron Allen’s hustle. I don’t really like his comedy, and Comics Unleashed is such a weak, phony premise. (Allen basically asks the comics questions in a talk show setup, but the questions are clearly only meant to set the comic up to go into a thirty-second bit from their routine. It’s not “stand-up,” it’s “sit-down.”) But it’s good exposure for the comics and something to add to their resume, while Byron makes a much-better-than-decent  living for his trouble.  He also seems like a really good guy. 
5
winelover08816 Apr 14, 2026 +2
Never known Byron Allen to be offensive to anyone: His most salacious bit was a knock knock joke /s
2
MarkFerk Apr 14, 2026 +3
Haha Byron Allen the most un funny person of all time. Cable is a joke lol also comics hate this guy.
3
BionicCyanFirefly Apr 14, 2026 +4
Yeah we won’t be watching that. Good luck the FAILING CBS network
4
Hypestyles Apr 14, 2026 +2
... who knows Mr. Letterman's deeper take on this. I'm sure he has one. But I also suspect that he's known Byron Allen for decades at this point, with them both having a relationship with Jimmie Walker and NBC: Allen being hired on "Real People" in the late 1970s while being a writer (in his teen years!) with Jimmie Walker and Jay Leno, and Dave was part of the "Writers Room" as well as having his own stand up career which led to a daytime version of his show on NBC before he eventually hit his stride with *Late Night*\-- and I'm very sure in those 1980s years, Byron Allen appeared on the show.
2
Jpkmets7 Apr 14, 2026 +2
That same Byron Allen from Real People?? Wow wow ! I haven’t seen him in decades. I loved that show when I was like 6. I remember think Sarah Purcell was pretty. Boy, back then I was a big sucker for any of those hosted shows with produced segments like *That’s Incredible*. I had no idea at all that Byron started hosting *Real people* at 18! His wiki said he joined Walker’s writing room at 14! I also had no idea that Jimmie Walker’s writers’ room was full of hall of famers. Dude’s like Andy Reid with his coaching tree. Hell I had no idea JJ Evans needed much of a writers’.room given his “Dynomite” gimmick. This is really interesting. Thanks!
2
robreddity Apr 14, 2026 +2
And they want to silence an entertaining voice of dissent.
2
williamrageralds Apr 14, 2026 +1
hi - i'm byron allen. anyone remember his old late night like movie show?
1
Ok_Replacement4702 Apr 14, 2026 +1
"Comics"
1
algarhythms Apr 14, 2026 +1
They have no money to spend.
1
Wonderful_Adagio9346 Apr 14, 2026 +1
I remember when CBS late night was old movies and reruns of their hour-long dramas (plus MASH). Do affiliates have to air CU? Can they run a syndicated show instead of the network's syndicated show? Myself, I'd replicate CBS' legendary Saturday night lineup of the early Seventies! All in the Family, MASH, Bob Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore, and for the insomniacs in the third hour: Carol Burnett. (Or Tracy Ullman.)
1
theoneandonlyturo Apr 14, 2026 +1
Or make anyone laugh
1
monchota Apr 14, 2026 +1
They don't want to lose money, late night is dead.
1
ToastedSimian Apr 14, 2026 +1
Alright, now hear me out, what if we keep Byron Allen, and then go a step further and get Skip Stevenson and Sarah Purcell back for a Real People reboot? Anyone? Anyone? f***, I'm old
1
Dramatic-Secret937 Apr 14, 2026 +1
That headline reads like its an April fool's joke or it's from The Onion😆
1
wrxninja Apr 15, 2026 +1
lol...what a disaster. CBS is utter garbage now.
1
DumpsterFirePundant Apr 16, 2026 +1
Anyone else hoping that time s*** and network never gets another view?
1
1975hh3 Apr 14, 2026 +1
CBS may as well just gone back to the old school test pattern. That would be more entertaining.
1
acrobat2126 Apr 15, 2026 +1
Byron Allen is TERRIBLY unfunny. On a recent episode, he told a story about his brand new Bentley and him being mistaken for his wife's "Driver". HAHA /s
1
CreativeFraud Apr 14, 2026 -1
Project 2025
-1
Caymonki Apr 14, 2026
Replacing a white man with a black man after yelling about DEI and Woke for so long certainly was a choice.
0
OneIShot Apr 14, 2026
They might want something actually funny too.
0
keving87 Apr 14, 2026
This already airs after Late Show, at least for me, in the timeslot previously occupied by Late Late Show and After Midnight... so it's weird that everybody's acting like this came out of nowhere. All they're doing now is moving it up an hour instead.
0
GroundbreakingUse794 Apr 14, 2026 -6
“Now David, it says here you’re getting old?”
-6
AAAAAAYYYYYYOOOOOO Apr 15, 2026 -1
No one was watching Colbert he wasn’t funny anyways
-1
terra_cascadia Apr 14, 2026
Norm MacDonald on *Comics Unleashed*: “You couldn’t be any more leashed.”
0
Melodic_Crow_3409 Apr 14, 2026
I’m sure Comics Unleashed will feature only bland, white bread, comedy that could not possibly offend anyone. I know the name Byron Allen, I’m just not sure what he is famous for.
0
korpiz Apr 15, 2026
They don’t care about the money. They just want to appease the current administration to ease the way for more mergers, or whatever else they’re up to.
0
LegitimateMoney00 Apr 14, 2026 -12
More like they don’t wanna lose anymore money. The Colbert show was extremely unprofitable. It’s the sound financial move and I won’t be surprised if other networks soon follow. Late night shows just aren’t necessary and haven’t been necessary for years now.
-12
ElectricalDark8280 Apr 14, 2026
It’s a PR mouthpiece for all of their movies and shows. PR is an expense and does not create income directly. There is a reason we have to sit through all these interviews with actors who have a movie or show coming out.
0
LegitimateMoney00 Apr 14, 2026 -1
There are far cheaper PR mouthpieces that are available nowadays via the internet and do essentially the same job as a late night show. Also if they are acting as a PR mouthpiece, it’s doing a pretty shitty job since it’s alienating a third of the audience right off the bat with the political stuff. And no, late night has not always been unprofitable.
-1
DangerousCyclone Apr 14, 2026 -2
Many others have been. Conan went off the air too. Talk shows are a dated formula in general. I honestly think it is better in the long run for Colbert's popularity as the people who would've watched the show 10 years ago would listen to a Colbert Podcast where he'd have way more freedom. Kind of like how Tucker Carlsen became more influential and popular after being forced out at Fox. 
-2
Ziko577 Apr 14, 2026 +1
You're right about that. Steve Wilkos, Karamo, and even Kelly Clarkson had their shows axed this year but in Kelly's case, it was because of the death of the father of her children from cancer that made her focus on raising her children over having a talk show while the other two's ratings have cratered in recent years as those shows air in the middle of the day when people work, go to school, or are in bed in some cases. Daytime TV is going to be a graveyard come this fall as many networks will just rerun these shows to death now as I didn't see many other shows renewed or greenlit that I know of.
1
pathofdumbasses Apr 14, 2026 -2
> The Colbert show was extremely unprofitable It lost $40M a year. That's a rounding error for CBS. They also could have renegotiated Colbert's contract for less money, or cut down staff, removed the live band, figured out better ways to monetize the show... you get the point. They could have done a lot to keep the show. They didn't want to because Trump was running his mouth about Colbert and the CEOs want to make him happy. That's all it boils down to. The money talk is just an excuse.
-2
LegitimateMoney00 Apr 14, 2026 +3
$400k is a rounding error. $40M is a gaping money pit. I highly doubt that Colbert would let his own show lose any staffers or lose a portion of his pay check. That’s not really how it works in the entertainment industry. Now with the new time s***, it’s pure profit for CBS since they are getting paid to air what they are showing. It’s the most sensible financial decision for them.
3
pathofdumbasses Apr 14, 2026 +2
> $40M is a gaping money pit. So it costs roughly 100M a year to make the Colbert show. That breaks down to 25M a quarter. Their operating expenses last quarter were just shy of 8 BILLION. https://tradingeconomics.com/cbs:us:operating-expenses >Paramount Skydance reported $7.94B in Operating Expenses for its fiscal quarter ending in December of 2025. Simple math, the kind that even you can understand and can't conflate with something else because it is clear you are just anti-Colbert at this point, shows that the show is ~.3% of their operating budget. Or a rounding error. And if you think that Colbert would rather shut down than take a pay cut or figure out other ways to keep the show running since it supports so many people, you're full of shit. Colbert paid his staff, from his own pockets, during the writers strike. He also paid them during the initial Covid freakouts when everything shut down. https://www.indiewire.com/news/business/wga-strike-late-night-tv-hosts-pay-staff-how-much-1234833819/ It's cool though, somehow $40M a year is a massive amount of money to them. As soon as Trump makes it a big deal.
2
JohnySilkBoots Apr 14, 2026 -16
Yeah, no shit. No one watches late night network tv.
-16
kylelonious Apr 14, 2026 +9
No one gonna watch this either
9
JohnySilkBoots Apr 14, 2026 -10
I would agree with that haha. But it’s c****, that’s what they are saying.
-10
CJTus Apr 14, 2026 +3
CBS is getting paid to air Allen's shows, so it's pure profit for them. The companies that run ads during Allen's shows will be paying Allen's company, not CBS.
3
TheFrontierzman Apr 14, 2026 -1
Okay.
-1
SatoshiReport Apr 14, 2026 -10
Letterman is a tool spreading BS messaging.
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loves_to_splooge_8 Apr 14, 2026 -13
That’s his take?
-13
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