Who is next after Stephen Colbert? The death of late-night TV... and the unlikely conservative star
CBS and its parent company, Paramount, announced that Colbert's show would 'end its historic run' in May 2026, just over a decade after it first launched.
'We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire the Late Show franchise at that time,' the broadcast executives said.
'We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and his broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.'
In fact, Colbert, 61, had the best ratings of all the traditional late-night 11.35pm show hosts before he got the chop.
The veteran presenter attracted 2.42 million viewers across 41 first-run episodes - easily outpacing ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! which had 1.77 million, and NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon which had 1.19 million, per LateNighter.
According to the TV specialist news site, the Late Show was the only one among nine mainstream programs tracked which drew more viewers in the second quarter of 2025 than the first, with a small audience growth of one percent.
So it's no wonder that Colbert's axing has got other left-leaning hosts shaking in their boots.
Kimmel, 57, blasted CBS via his Instagram stories. He reposted Colbert's announcement with the caption: 'Love you Stephen. F**k you and all your Sheldons CBS.'
Late night talk show host Andy Cohen, 57, also said he was 'stunned' by the news.
'I can't believe CBS is turning off the lights at 11:30 after the local news. I'm stunned. He's one of three late-night shows deemed worthy enough for an Emmy nomination. He produces a brilliant show,' he told Deadline.
'I think it's a sad day for late-night television. I think it's a sad day for CBS. I think Stephen Colbert is a singular talent. He's going to have an incredible next chapter.'
While it's likely that Colbert's demise could spark a bonfire of late-night shows like Kimmel's and Cohen's as the younger generation turns to TikTok over TV, there's also an unlikely rising star still attracting viewers to the small screen.
Greg Gutfeld on Fox News has been disrupting the TV genre once monopolized by the likes of Colbert, and Seth Meyers, whose Late Night with Seth Meyers show on NBC reigns supreme for post-midnight ratings.
Gutfeld! dominated late-night TV ratings in the second quarter of 2025 with an average of three million viewers.
This comes with a caveat that the show starts 95 minutes earlier than Colbert's, filling Fox News' 10pm slot, and attracts many of the right-wing network's faithful viewers who watch the network for several hours a day.
But it's not all down to timings and Fox's following - as Gutfeld attracted a key demographic of the smartphone generations who are being lost to online media.
The show was watched by 365,000 people aged between 25 and 54 in the second quarter of 2025, according to MSN.
Gutfeld! has a similar structure to the other late shows, with a monologue, roundtable, recurring gags, and rotating co-hosts, but behind the scenes it's a very different story.
The show reportedly runs off a creative team of around 20 people, according to Mediate, making it more authentic than its polished, liberal competitors.
As a result, it attracts viewers who wanted real talk over highly-scripted mainstream comedy.
The Late Show was also beleaguered by Trump's threats to sue his network, while Fox News enjoyed a post-election boom.
Colbert's program was cancelled just days after the host blasted the network's $16 million settlement with President Trump as a 'big fat bribe.'
Taking aim at CBS and Paramount Global, Trump's lawsuit accused producers of editing an October interview with Harris to sway public opinion in her favor.
The broadcast channel is also facing a probe by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) into whether the interview violated 'news distortion' rules.
Complainants said the station broke the law by cherry picking only a portion of Harris' answer to a question about Middle East policy to present her in a favorable light.
Trump's lawsuit coincided with a planned $8.4 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance, which requires approval from the FCC.
Though the agency is prohibited from censorship or infringing the First Amendment rights of media, broadcasters cannot intentionally distort the news.
CBS previously said the complaint aims to turn 'the FCC into a full-time censor of content' which would result in an unconstitutional role and an impossible one for the agency.
In January, the FCC's chair Brendan Carr reinstated complaints about the 60 Minutes interview with Harris, as well as complaints about how Walt Disney's ABC News moderated the pre-election TV debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump.
It also reinstated complaints against Comcast's NBC for allowing Harris to appear on 'Saturday Night Live' shortly before the election.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
13 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Alix Earle addresses breakup rumors with her NFL boyfriend Braxton Berrios
Alix Earle has admitted she has struggled as her relationship with her NFL boyfriend Braxton Berrios has gone long-distance - but the couple have not broken up. Earle, 24, has remained based in Miami while wide receiver Barrios is now in Texas for camp with his new Houston Texans team. The high-profile couple are now only seeing each other once a month for the time being but the influencer has insisted she is determined to make it work. Speaking on her new vlog - titled 'How To Survive A Long Distance Relationship' - Earle said: 'I think this is kind of like my first go at a real long-distance relationship. When it comes to our communication, it is harder than usual. 'A lot of relationships can seem perfect. So I wanted to open up to you guys on how long-distance has been going and some of the struggles we have been having. 'We have not had a lot of problems in our relationship but it has definitely just been a different obstacle. 'The last time I saw him was July 4 in Europe together and then back in Miami for a quick second. 'It has definitely been a lack of one-on-one time. We have just found a way in the little moments and we are looking forward to sitting on the couch together. When we were in Miami, we didn't want to leave the house.' Berrios signed a one-year, $2million deal with the Texans in March this year, leaving the Miami Dolphins after two seasons with the organization.
Daily Mail
13 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Zawe Ashton finally sets the record straight about her relationship with Tom Hiddleston after pregnant star sparked marriage speculation by calling him her 'husband'
Zawe Ashton has finally set the record straight about her relationship with Tom Hiddleston after sparking speculation they'd secretly tied the knot by calling him her 'husband' last month. The 41-year-old actress, who is pregnant with her second child with Hollywood star Tom, 44, admitted her slip-up sent their loved ones into a furious tailspin. 'We've been engaged for a long time, and there have been publications that have named us husband and wife already,' Zawe said. 'Those text messages [from friends and family] were very... there were some toxic paragraphs that were thrown my way. Like, okay... no, it didn't happen. We didn't do it in secret. We haven't eloped.' Speaking on the latest episode of Lily Allen and Miquita Oliver's Miss Me? podcast, The Marvels star added: 'It's just a semantics thing. We call each other husband and wife. 'At some point, you're like, girlfriend, boyfriend... We just had a kid with another one on the way.' Zawe, who welcomed her first child with Tom three years ago and is due to give birth to their second any day now, added that their unusual approach to labels had ruffled some feathers. 'It's p***ing off people who are actually married,' she said. 'They're like, "You realise that's not real yet?" 'We've talked about [marriage]. I think the spiritual bond and the anchoring for what it does for you as a couple and as a family is really appealing to both of us.' The pair first met in 2019 while starring together in the Harold Pinter play Betrayal in London's West End before taking the production to Broadway. They were romantically linked soon after, making their red carpet debut as a couple at the Tony Awards in September 2021. In March 2022, it was reported that they were engaged after Zawe was spotted wearing a diamond ring at the BAFTAs. They quietly welcomed their first child later that year. The Hackney-born actress also admitted that while she's thought a lot about weddings, the idea of marriage comes with more complex emotions. She said: 'The wedding is a fantasy, right? And marriage is a reality. I've thought a lot about weddings. I've thought a lot less about the reality of what marriage is because I probably find that a little bit more scary.' 'We've been engaged for a long time, and there have been publications that have named us husband and wife already,' Zawe told Miquita Oliver on the Miss Me? podcast Zawe, who rose to fame starring in the hit comedy series Fresh Meat, also opened up about her feminist concerns with the institution of marriage and traditional elements of a wedding. 'There's so much problematic history to it... Are we saying no to the veil? Because that's got some weird kind of problematic symbolism about it. 'The fantasy is just so seductive. But then I'm worried I would suddenly wake up and someone would tell me that I didn't have any more rights. You just wake up to some priest at the end of your bed, like, it's all over.' She added she's not ruling out the idea entirely and is enjoying the engagement period. 'You can't cheat the process,' she said. 'People rush through engagement. I'm like, no, be engaged! Work things out. It's the training, it is the practicing calling each other husband and wife. 'It is looking down at the ring finger and being like, okay, this is the tradition that is potentially going to come with this first yes.' Zawe, who once played the bride in a music video for Paul Heaton of The Beautiful South, said that she struggles with the idea of saying vows herself. 'I actually really struggle to say very meaningful things in public as a person in a way that I don't struggle with as an actor,' she admitted. 'I find it quite hard to be looked at and observed doing intimate things. I find that very difficult.' She added she was engrossed by Meghan Markle's wedding to Prince Harry in 2018. 'I have never been more invested in a wedding in my life. I was so into it,' she said. 'I filmed me and my best friend watching it like a Gogglebox episode. 'I wore a Union Jack T-shirt - there is a little bit of black in this Union Jack today, and I'm going to embrace this.'
The Guardian
13 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Seth Meyers on Maga's Epstein scandal: ‘They did this to themselves'
Late-night hosts continued to track the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal that Donald Trump just won't let go and the Environmental Protection Agency giving up on the environment. Seth Meyers continued to relish Donald Trump's Jeffrey Epstein scandal that just won't go away, as the president was hounded by questions about his friendship with the convicted sex offender while in Scotland. 'They did this to themselves,' the Late Night host said of Maga's Epstein quagmire. 'This is like if after Trump screamed they're eating the dogs in a debate, Donald Trump started eating the dog.' Despite Trump's evident frustration with the topic, 'people haven't moved on, because Trump and his Maga mates spent years cynically hyping up the Epstein conspiracy,' Meyers explained on Wednesday evening. 'They thought only their political enemies would be harmed. But they either forgot or completely ignored the fact that Trump was Epstein's best friend. It's like basing an entire political movement around your opposition to Bert, and then voting for Ernie for president.' Meyers then poked fun at Trump's many defenses against the Epstein scandal, starting with his claim that he didn't send a lewd birthday greeting to Epstein featuring a nude drawing of a woman, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. As Trump said: 'I don't do drawings of women.' 'The way you keep saying 'I don't do drawings of women,' instead of just saying 'I don't do drawings of people' makes it sound like you do a ton of drawings of dudes,' Meyers laughed. Trump then 'dug the hole deeper' by saying that his friendship with Epstein ended only because Epstein hired employees out from under him. 'That's not helping you, dude! Going out of your way to explain that you cut ties with a monster not because he was a monster, but because he hired people away from you makes you sound even worse,' said Meyers. 'That's like saying you stopped inviting Charles Manson to parties because he wouldn't use a coaster.' Asked on the flight back from Scotland if the workers Epstein hired away from Trump were young women, the president responded: 'Well, I don't want to say, but everyone knows the people who were taken. And the concept of taking people who work for me is bad.' He then confirmed that they were indeed young women who worked at the spa – 'a great spa, one of the best spas in the world'. Meyers just laughed – 'If this were a Law & Order episode, right about here is where Trump's attorney would turn to Jack McCoy and say, 'He doesn't say any more until we have a deal.'' On the Late Show, Stephen Colbert reacted to news that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking to throw out the 'endangerment finding' from 2009 that found that greenhouse gases endanger health and public welfare. Eliminating the rule will allow the Trump administration to scrap rules to reduce climate pollution from cars and trucks. 'OK, but you're the Environmental Protection Agency. You're supposed to protect the environment!' Colbert fumed. 'You're just giving up? This explains why Woodsy Owl has updated his catchphrase to: 'Why give a hoot? I'm just filling my pockets with rocks and walking into the river like Virginia Woolf.'' Trump's EPA head, Lee Zeldin, appeared on Fox News with the energy secretary, Chris Wright, to push back on what they see as a 'climate change hoax'. 'The goal is to restore confidence in science and data and rationalism,' Wright said. 'That is what enabled the creation of modern science, then we slid back into this kind of cancel culture, Orwellian squelching of science.' 'Nice try, fellas, but it makes it hard to dismiss global warming when you're sharing the screen with a heat index of 126 degrees in Missouri,' Colbert responded. In 'more proof' that 'the Earth is mad at us,' there was also a powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Russia's eastern Kamchatka peninsula. There were only a few injuries, despite the fact that the quake occurred along Russia's so-called 'megathrust' fault line. 'Yes, the Megathrust Fault, which is right next to Humpmaster Canyon and the Cape of I Had a Big Dinner, Can We Just Watch Gilded Age?' Colbert joked.
