Jay Leno criticizes political late-night hosts amid Colbert 'Late Show' cancellation

USA Today

7 days ago

Jay Leno's comments about politics during late-night TV take on new meaning amid the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's CBS hosting gig.
Over a decade after leaving late-night TV, Jay Leno is chiming in from the bench.
Leno, who exited the "Tonight Show" in 2014, spoke candidly about mixing politics and humor for a mass audience in a recent interview with David Trulio for The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
"I like to think that people come to a comedy show to kind of get away from the things, the pressures of life, wherever it might be," Leno said. "And I love political humor, don't get me wrong, but what happens (is) people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.
"Why shoot for just half an audience, why not try to get the whole (audience)?" he posed.
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While the interview, published July 22, appears to have taken place prior to the cancellation of CBS' "Late Show" with Stephen Colbert, his comments venture into an ongoing debate about the salience of a late-night lineup amid the Trump administration.
Colbert, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, announced the cancellation of not just his hosting gig, but also the network's late-night show, earlier this month. A successor to David Letterman, Colbert belongs to a class of comedians, including Jon Stewart and John Oliver, who've leaned heavily on political satire to draw laughs from their audience.
Notably, though, even less politically-minded comics like Jimmy Fallon, who replaced Leno, and Jimmy Kimmel have opted for sharper critiques of the current president. Leno was off the air before Trump's first successful run for president in 2016, and served as host during the Obama, Clinton and both Bush presidencies from 1992 to 2009 and then again from 2010 to 2014.
"I like to bring people into the big picture," Leno added in the interview. "I don't understand why you would alienate one particular group."
"I'm not saying you have to throw your support or whatever, but just do what's funny," he said. "I don't think anybody wants to hear a lecture."
Colbert's cancellation sent shock waves through the late-night comedy circuit and beyond, even drawing calls from some legislators for an investigation into CBS parent company Paramount's decision to axe the program.
Paramount has maintained that the reason for Colbert's cancellation was financial. In a statement sent to USA TODAY previously, executives lauded the comedy host for his tenure and insisted that he was irreplaceable.
Citing "a challenging backdrop in late night," the company said the cancellation was "not related in any way to the show's performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount."
Piers Morgan blasts Colbert, politicization of late-night
Elsewhere, conservative commentator and British television host Piers Morgan in a post to X called Colbert's seeming left-wing tilt "damning."
"Most of America's biggest late-night hosts have become nothing more than hyper-partisan activist hacks for the Democrats - a party that's rarely been more unpopular," Morgan wrote alongside a photo of the New York Post front page announcing the show's cancellation.
"No wonder Colbert got canned," he added.
Ahead of Colbert's cancellation, Paramount settled a defamation lawsuit with the president, a move viewed by some as a peace offering meant to improve the chances of a merger with Skydance Media before the FCC. The merger has since been approved.