Classyposter58;1601897 wrote:Colbert is so good though, I think people don't realize the best part of his shows are interviews. He's absolutely ridiculous in them, and many of his skits could easily be done on a show like Letterman. The only thing is how good would his opening monologue be?

Yeah, I like Colbert. If he could do it I think he'd replace the monologue by opening his show with 10-15 minutes of "the news" (I assume he owns most copyrights for his skits/format...then again Conan didn't).

It's a pretty low bar for the monologue...Leno (and Carson) was really the only one that was ever good at it.

gut;1601900 wrote:It's a pretty low bar for the monologue...Leno (and Carson) was really the only one that was ever good at it.

Carson set the bar on opening monologues. Leno was good at it, but I've never thought Leno was really all that funny.

Letterman had it for a while but his shtick got old and labored as the years went by.

Colbert's probably the best choice to replace him.

Classyposter58;1601897 wrote:Colbert is so good though, I think people don't realize the best part of his shows are interviews. He's absolutely ridiculous in them, and many of his skits could easily be done on a show like Letterman. The only thing is how good would his opening monologue be?

His show would have to take on a different format because Comedy Central has the rights to much of what he does.

gut;1601900 wrote:Yeah, I like Colbert. If he could do it I think he'd replace the monologue by opening his show with 10-15 minutes of "the news" (I assume he owns most copyrights for his skits/format...then again Conan didn't).

It's a pretty low bar for the monologue...Leno (and Carson) was really the only one that was ever good at it.

See above. He won't have the rights to characters or recurring bits.

The other thing with Colbert is that his usual style will not work on network TV. A liberal pretending to be a conservative in order to make fun of conservatives? That's is not going to be a good recipe for the 11:30 spot. He will have to drop the act...and then the question would be will his usual fans still stick with him?

And Leno's monologue sucked. He found a couple stories and would use them every day for the entire week just with slightly different punch lines to the exact same set-ups. Plus, his transitions were horrendous. Nothing was more annoying than him saying, "Have you seen this? Have you heard about this? Did you hear this?" in between every joke.

When Iw as a young buck I would watch his at 12:30. WOuld usually watch until the first guess would come out and then go to sleep. When he went to 1130 I watched some but it just wasnt the same

sherm03 wrote:Nothing was more annoying than him saying, "Have you seen this? Have you heard about this? Did you hear this?" in between every joke.

Lol. Yeah, I never perceived Leno as a good comedian. He was pretty much unwatchable IMO. NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams brought more laughs. Leno was just the worst. The worst.

It's official: Colbert

Dumb. Would rather see Conan.

Very surprised at Colbert. I don't know how that's going to work.

I don't watch his show, but Colbert is genuinely funny, this coming from a conservative. However, CBS fucked up IMO by not giving Conan a closer look. Dude's brilliant. That likely exiles the tall red head to cable TV forever.

reclegend22;1603624 wrote:I don't watch his show, but Colbert is genuinely funny, this coming from a conservative. However, CBS fucked up IMO by not giving Conan a closer look. Dude's brilliant. That likely exiles the tall red head to cable TV forever.

It's hard to call someone genuinely funny that has spent his whole career in a false persona. It'll be interesting to see how he fares as himself.

sherm03;1603622 wrote:Very surprised at Colbert. I don't know how that's going to work.

Apparently Arsenio Hall was hand picked by Dave to take over, but CBS went this way.

At least that's what Arsenio tweeted.

ts1227;1603625 wrote:It's hard to call someone genuinely funny that has spent his whole career in a false persona. It'll be interesting to see how he fares as himself.

Good point. I was speaking more to his talent as an interviewer, which isn't always done in his pseudo-Republican persona but your point is well taken.

@ArsenioHall: Even though Dave Letterman wants ME to replace him, @CBS wants Stephen Colbert! Oh well. You go SC! #congratz

Jerry Seinfeld would've been great, but the guy is pretty much the most famous and celebrated comedian of the last 25 years and reportedly still brings in $50 million+ annually from Seinfeld. The Late Show needed him more than he needed it.

Conan is still my choice, but unfortunately CBS did not contact me for a consult.

Well, if the choice was Colbert vs. Arsenio, I can see why the network went the way they did, as the most laughter I've had involving Arsenio was probably when In Living Color spoofed him.

As said, I'll be interested to hear how he does outside of his Comedy Central persona. That'd be like having Sleeper spend a month posting like a normal human being instead of his over-the-top schtick he lives through; just sort of really weird to the point where I'd actually consider watching an episode to see what it'd actually be like.

I like Colbert, but don't really like him for that show.

reclegend22;1603632 wrote:Jerry Seinfeld would've been great, but the guy is pretty much the most famous and celebrated comedian of the last 25 years and reportedly still brings in $50 million+ annually from Seinfeld. The Late Show needed him more than he needed it.

Conan is still my choice, but unfortunately CBS did not contact me for a consult.

Saw an interview with hiim regarding his show he does now about comedians and their cars I think. He was asked why he never got into the talk shows and he mentioned how hard it would be to fake being interested in many of his guests, and that his current gig allows him to pretty much only interview people and and a subject he enjoys!

But yeah...I thouth Colbert was an odd choice due to what he does is more being a character.

The good ole days of Letterman. Anyone remember when he was at 12:30 and he had a special suit week? One night he had a velcro suit, a dorito/tortilla chip suit, etc.

Colbert is a good choice, he will likely drop the character he's built on Comedy Central and be more himself on CBS. He's a smart and funny dude and hopefully he keeps a bit of his political commentary as he's very good with it.

It's already been reported that Colbert will in fact drop the Comedy Central act entirely.

I'd personally think Jon Stewart would be a better fit, but I don't know he'd be interested in such a job

reclegend22;1603651 wrote:It's already been reported that Colbert will in fact drop the Comedy Central act entirely.

Of course. He'd have to.

I think Colbert is really funny on his own. But the question will be, will the fanbase that he has built as the persona carry over when he is himself or are they going to hate it because he's not this over-the-top-fake-conservative?

sherm03;1603669 wrote:Of course. He'd have to.

I think Colbert is really funny on his own. But the question will be, will the fanbase that he has built as the persona carry over when he is himself or are they going to hate it because he's not this over-the-top-fake-conservative?

He's definitely going to lose a chunk of his Colbert Report base, I think the issue is whether he can pick up enough of the older late night audience to offset it. If he can't relate to older viewers AND loses his younger Comedy Central audience, he's fucked.

I think with the humor and wit he has, he will be able to hold his own. I don't think losing the act causes him to lose his humor (from what little we've seen of him not in his full blown act)

Will he use a silent "T" in the pronunciation of Late Show?

He's beyond funny, just watch his speeches that he has given. I honestly do not think there is a funnier guy out there right now than him on the main circuit, his visit to Capitol Hill is one of the greatest Youtube clips ever. Plus his interviews are all ridiculously good

Colbert's hilarious, but a big part of that is just that character (very similar to how Phil Hartman played EVERY character) and the various liberties he takes with the "stories" he reports on. He has to scrap the Comedy Central bit, and taking such liberties with the "stories" also won't fly.

People may not think Leno is that funny - personally I think he usually manages to get in 1 or 2 really funny jokes. The clean, straight "family" comedy thing is REALLY tough to do well, and about only Leno and Seinfeld do it. Going out there and telling jokes for 10-15 minutes EVERY night is never going to be as good or as polished as a stand-up act honed over several years.