Colbert has indicated that 200 people work on his show. That’s more than I would have imagined, but probably includes the staff at the Ed Sullivan Theater, as well as writers, production people, etc.
His salary is very large, of course ($15 million a year), but as you note, “overhead,” in this case, also includes paying the salaries and benefits for hundreds of staff members.
I think it’s telling that CBS apparently did not approach the producers (which includes Colbert and Jon Stewart) about possible solutions to the cost issue.
I saw that in the show’s Wikipedia page, but it was in reference to Colbert’s hiring in 2016.
Agree on the lots of commercials, hence DVR. Respectfully disagree on low quality content.
FWIW, number of followers of each of the big late night shows’ channels on YouTube, recognizing that followers are not a perfect measure of engagement:
At least as far as followers go, Colbert has less than half of either of his direct competitors, even though he has the best viewership of the three on linear television.
Gutfeld is harder to directly measure, because it looks like clips of his show are in the broader Fox News YouTube channel, rather than a dedicated channel for his show.
I was speaking generally. Colbert is better than most, and anything with Jon Stewart is gonna be great, but I lost interest even in Colbert after a while despite his efforts to keep the show a cut above the rest. The guy-behind-a-desk format is generally not appealing to me, with the exception of John Oliver who manages to pull it off solo, a unique format that’s both funny and usually very informative.
Colbert had a great thing going with The Colbert Report. The beauty of it was that he was never out of character as a right-wing nutjob, even outside the context of the show, like his famous appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner or appearances in other venues. I wish he had stuck with it. No matter what he did on The Late Show, having to drop the mask and act normal was always gonna be disappointing.
Just to be clear, those numbers are how many “followers” each show’s channel has on YouTube; a follower is someone who’s clicked the “Follow” button on the show’s YouTube channel (a one-time thing), and may bear a tangential relationship, at best, to how often the show’s videos are watched.
IIRC the network came to Leno and said they were going to drastically cut his staff. He chose to take the cut in pay and keep the entire staff on the payroll. He never touched a penny of his salary anyway.
I’m not sure why anybody with enough money for cable ever watches programs on network TV. The barrage of ads even makes the news unwatchable. I watch the late-night stuff on YouTube the day after they air. I prefer Seth Meyers and Kimmel to Colbert’s show, as his Trump impressions are just too grating. Kimmel doesn’t do those (and his show generally has better writers), and Meyers is a far better mimic than any of them. And Fallon is usually unwatchable.
As for Colbert being cancelled, I agree that it’s politics and cowardice by the network.
My mistake, I thought those were TV ratings. I still don’t understand why anybody cares about Fallon. I sometimes get the two Jimmys mixed up but they could not be more different.
I didn’t know that but that sounds just like something Leno would do. Other stars in his position would have thrown a hissy fit. Carson was notoriously temperamental.
Yes, supported himself on the comedy circuit and stashed away all his NBC salary. Now that he’s retired he has perhaps one of the finest rare car collections in the world. I’m not a car nut but I admire someone who can afford to indulge in a super-expensive hobby and who appreciates and delights in the privilege. Jay Leno’s Garage is a fun series of YouTube videos that even non-car-nuts can enjoy!
It was actually a TV series for a number of years (running on CNBC), but moved to YouTube a couple of years ago. My wife, who is a car nut, enjoys watching it.
Back in the day, Bill Carter’s The Late Show reported on the battle between CBS and NBC for Letterman and Leno.
Leno was to make $6 million the first year (1992) and $7 million the second, but the total budget was to be $23 and $24 million. CBS had offered Letterman $12.5 million and a budget of $27 million. By 2013 the Hollywood Reporter put the cost of the Tonight Show at $76 million, when Leno cut his salary. Profit was down to $30-40 million from a peak of $150 million.
Colbert cost more and did worse. The NYTimes wrote that costs had gone to $100 million but it was losing $40 million a year.
I can’t find a number for the current Tonight Show, but NBC cancelled the Friday episode last year, shortly after it extended Fallon’s contract to 2028. Similarly, when it extended Seth Myers’ contract to 2028 last year, it cut the band.
Even in the pre-COVID years, in weeks where Colbert was doing new shows, he was only shooting in front of an audience Monday through Thursday. The “new” Friday shows contained no content that was taped that day; those shows were assembled from clips and extended interview segments which had been shot earlier in the week.
Yeah, Fallon was the last show to go to four nights.
I think The Tonight Show is in a much different position than the other shows. It’s been on since 1954. It’s one of the things that define the network. The host may change, they may fiddle with the budget, but I think they will keep it even if it loses money. Like Costco rotisserie chicken.
There has been a lot of criticism in this thread of Fallon including from me. One thing he is much better at than any other host is creating viral moments with celebrities. In 2025 that is extremely important.
I would have thought that THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES had more important issues to concern himself with than late night TV hosts.
Indeed; it took up some of his valuable time, which would have been better spent haranguing Coca-Cola to switch back to cane sugar. /s
I very rarely drink soda anymore but when I do I prefer ones with cane sugar. Not because I think it’s healthier, I just like the taste. But of course Trump (who drinks Diet Coke by the gallon) is much more interested in lining the pockets of his good friends in the Fanjul family since the U.S. can’t possibly grow enough sugar cane domestically.
Maybe it’s to undercut the Mexican Coke cartel. Gotta get rid of all those glass bottles pouring through Joe Biden’s open border…
I wonder if John Oliver’s (and maybe Ronny Chieng’s) naturalization papers are under investigation. Samantha Bee and Jason Jones are too far out of the limelight to attract attention right now. I wonder how man other naturalized citizens are in Jon Stewart’s comedy tree…
If Colbert wanted to run for president in ‘28, he’d be taken seriously.
I’m not joking.
How about running for Senate in 2026 against Lindsey Graham?
Re last post, he can try.
With CBS news in Trump’s pocket, it will be more difficult than if would have been last round.