Last week, David Letterman announced that he will be retiring in 2015, ending his long stint as host of The Late Show. This led to speculation on just who would take on his roll as the late night challenger to newcomer, Jimmy Fallon (who has been doing an amazing job). After a mere weeks worth of quandary, CBS announced that they had found their man — one Mr. Stephen T. Colbert.
Over the past 9 seasons Stephen Colbert has hosted the award winning The Colbert Report (the “T” is silent) on Comedy Central. Colbert will be retiring his Colbert Report persona – which is a satirical take on conservative talk-show hosts like “Papa Bear” Bill O’Reilly – and will be hosting the Late Show as himself. While this may make a few Colbert fans sad, I think it will prove a good decision as he attempts to reach a broader audience on a major network.
It will be interesting to see how Colbert makes the transition to a more traditional late night talk-show format. He got his start as an improvisational comedian, and has proven to be a great interviewer on the Colbert Report. It really takes an intelligent person to win an argument while playing a character that makes completely ludicrous statements all the time, and Colbert makes it look easy.
Overall, I think he is a tremendous hire for The Late Show and will prove a worthy adversary for Jimmy Fallon, while also attracting a younger audience. What do you think?