With everyone worried that Stephen Colbert won’t be able to bring his “persona” to the Late Show, it occurs to me that he’s already pulled way back on the conservative blowhard stuff. Whenever I watch his show nowadays, he seems to be directly mocking conservatives and pushing liberal causes like charities for the poor and equal rights.
Am I just way off base?
No, he still makes fun of crazy conservatives by pretending to agree with the things they say. In a way I think he’s a little less strict about staying in character than he was when the show was new, but he hasn’t dropped it.
“Less strict” is probably a better description of what I’m talking about. You’re right, it’s rare that he ever drops it completely (though I believe he has), but he seems more playful with the persona than he ever has.
Due to personal issues and work constraints, I hadn’t watched the show very often during the latter half of last year. When I started again in December 2013, I did notice that he had reigned back his schtick a little. I thought at the time that he may have been more subdued after the death of his mother.
However, now knowing that he was probably in negotiations for David Letterman’s position, it does seem that he may have been winding things down either not to squirrel the deal. Or because he knew that his show on Comedy Central was ending and he didn’t want to be too over-the-top in its final days.
I doubt that’s the case, but if any of these negotiations took place that early, we’ll probably never know.
He toned it down for the elections and his brilliant Super PAC work. I think it’s been toned down for a few years and he has to jar everyone back onto the track when he goes super republican.
I highly doubt it was due to anything related to a new job. If anything, it seems like full-on Republican punditry was just too much to bear for too long.
Also even if he’s not being all Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh he still has the in-your-face persona. He’s still playing a character maybe just not Super Right Stephen.
And thank god for that too. When he first started I used to hate watching him do interviews because he would keep interrupting his guest, even when they had something interesting to say.
It can be presumed that Letterman let CBS know well in advance that he was retiring. It can also be presumed that while Colbert was on a short list, he probably wasn’t the only person approached about the position. Jon Stewart and Conan O’Brien seem like they would have at least been discussed. Hell…even Daniel Tosh may have been approached as he would bring in a younger demographic.
The reason that Letterman would have had to let CBS know ahead of time is the his production company would have had to negotiate his departure as they
would probably owe him money and have to pay it out over a number of years for tax purposes.
CBS would have immediately started a discreet search and it can be presumed that Colbert’s people were contacted around that time or shortly afterward since his contract was ending in 2015.
Which he still kind of does- but he’s figured out how to do his thing while letting his guest communicate.
There’s a metric ton of presuming in this post. Letterman’s last contract was only for one year, which was a hint that he was going to retire soon. But according to Letterman he didn’t inform CBS he was leaving until this month and there’s no evidence to the contrary. Is it possible CBS talked to possible Late Show hosts before that? Sure. But the Colbert Report really hasn’t changed significantly since December or any time recently, and if CBS already liked him, he wouldn’t have had to make any major changes to avoid offending anybody.
Actually, he would.
The Stephen Colbert persona would be the property of either Jon Stewart’s production or Comedy Central. Or both.
It’s not likely that they would have taken kindly to one of their characters leaving the network without being compensated for the loss. Or competing with Stewart on a larger stage.
The announcement was made on April 10. On his show that night, he obliquely referred to taking over The Late Show. Last week the show was in reruns but there was a new episode yesterday, in which he basically played the conservative blowhard. So how much time has there been for him to drop the persona?
CBS & Comedy Central are the same company as far as I know. The Colbert character just is not the right fit for the network 11:30 tonight show like slot.
I’m talking about changes to the Stephen Colbert character on the Report. He hasn’t changed in any appreciable way since December or the last couple of years.
I’m talking about a process that has been going on for years.
Do you have any sort of cite at all for this?
So for years he’s been gradually dropping the persona for a job that he only officially got within the last month or so? Doesn’t seem plausible.
Who said anything about the Late Show job being the cause for this? It wasn’t me…
I believe he has already said that the persona is not coming with him to the new show. I agree with you that it wouldn’t work.
I said no but. While he has kept the persona, he does drop it for some interviews, and he has made a lot more meta-comments about the persona recently. Before he would only do that when a guest made a meta-comment.
Here you go
Obviously if they produce The Colbert Report, they own its content. That’s how entertainment works.
That is not how it works. These things are not set in stone they are usually set by contract. And I think they would find it very difficult to keep Stephen Colbert from being Stephen Colbert. Its like Castle Rock Entertainment telling Jerry Seinfeld he can’t be Jerry Seinfeld any more.