Illustration by Matt Collins | The Hollywood Reporter
When Stephen Colbert announced in April 2014 that he would be taking the reigns for David Letterman, there was a great deal of excitement, to be sure, but also a bit of head-scratching, particularly amongst the Colbert devotees. Didn’t he have, like, a hit show already? Didn’t we fans look forward to seeing his slickly-haired self in a Brooks Brothers suit dishing out the day’s Truthiness in 22-minute delectable bites? The Colbert Report has been described by many as one of the best shows of its generation, if not ever. So, the decision to send the Colbert character off into eternity and supplant him with the Real Mr. Colbert in network late night was puzzling. It could be likened to your favorite college professor suddenly announcing he was leaving entomology to join Cirque du Soleil.
After four months of fresh episodes and a newly launched Late Show, we are now experiencing comedy from a freshly calibrated Stephen Colbert. With a bigger show, venue, and network come many expectations, both qualitative and commercial, but also, the fervent hope that in spite of all the many changes in Colbertdom, all the things that we as fans loved about Stephen and his comedy would remain and keep us endeared to him for many years to come.
Recently, Bill Carter, author of The Late Shift and noted Late Night-ologist wrote an interesting piece for The Hollywood Reporter where he muses over why Stephen has not been more competitive against his main rival, Jimmy Fallon. In this post I will delve into some of the points Carter raises, make my own suggestions, and ask for your thoughts about the new Late Show.
Bill Carter notes that Jimmy Fallon’s decision to move The Tonight Show in a direction more suited to his abilities — favoring variety-show style elements over talk — is a successful ratings-grabbing strategy. He has triumphed over all of his late night competition in the ratings game. For his part, Stephen, who arrived to the Late Show gig to much fanfare, enjoying 6.6 million viewers on his premiere night, has in recent weeks sometimes dipped to fourth place behind Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers. Overall, The Late Show has been battling with Jimmy Kimmel Live for second place for the past several weeks, although all of Fallon’s competitors lag behind him by a large margin. For those of us cheering Stephen on in his new venture, this has been sobering news.
Several theories have been floated as to why Colbert’s opening splash seemed to dry faster than expected. One veteran late-night writer calls him a very funny guy doing a quality show, but “maybe too smart for a mass audience?” Another longtime producer says, simply, “He needs to be more commercial, more social media friendly.”
[…] it simply might be a case of a big talent trying to find footing on a new dance floor. Colbert placed an early emphasis on serious interviews, like his memorable exchange with Joe Biden, but the focus of late seems to be shifting away from talk and toward performance. (via The Hollywood Reporter)
Stephen Colbert has been a performer and writer long celebrated for his political satire and brainy wit. That he would not be cracking eggs on his head in the manner of Fallon is not shocking to anyone. However, one wonders if viewers in Mainstream Network-land are turned off by political satire, or politicians as guests? Are they averse to having CEOs, authors, and generally seriously minded guests on the show? The “serious guest,” an expert on his or her field and not the conventional recipient of air time, was the perfect foil for the aggressive ignorance of Colbert’s former character. Now that the character has gone for good, can non-celebutantes sustain the attention of a network late night audience, who likely wants something benign to laugh at before they drift off to sleep?
The answer to all of these questions is yes, with the caveat that the strategy is certainly more challenging than the variety-driven approach. Stephen and his team have to cultivate the same level of audience engagement without the red meat of crowd-pleasing, celebrity-reliant bits that have helped the other late night shows’ ratings. Certainly, some of The Late Show’s political segments so far have connected. The “Hungry for Power Games” segment has been both fun and funny, allowing Stephen to skewer the ridiculously over-crowded presidential candidate field and be silly (purple eyebrows!) at the same time. As was mentioned, some of the political guest interviews, i.e, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, have wracked up decent views and even decent-er buzz.
Political or not, the writing, topic choice, and guest roster could be perfect, but without the presence of social media interaction, younger audiences will not be engaged. For a fledgling show like Colbert’s Late Show, a lack of audience engagement is a luxury it can’t afford. And, an unusual phenomenon, really. One of the hallmarks of The Colbert Report was Stephen’s strong connection to his Colbert Nation. Heck, we had our own name, our own nation! Whether it was a “Green Screen challenge” or raising money on Reddit for DonorsChoose, or rallying to “Keep Fear Alive,” or supporting Stephen’s presidential race(s) or monster SuperPAC, the audience was absolutely essential to making the “Joy Machine” run, and Stephen let us know it every night. However, fans migrating over to The Late Show might have been disappointed to find that the digital footprint of the new show was pretty light, with minimal social media presence, viral videos, etc., to help them champion the new show.
What has surprised some Colbert fans — including this one — is that he did not fashion surefire pretaped bits for his early weeks. Few of his segments truly have exploded on YouTube, and that might be contributing to the perception that he is not breaking out as many expected. Fortunately, Colbert will get a big platform after CBS’ Super Bowl broadcast in February.
Regardless of whether The Late Show would have political satire elements in it or not, a twitter hashtag-gy game, a tumblr-off or any kind of social media-driven campaign would be totally in line with Stephen’s comedy. Colbert’s younger audience is heavily involved with social media, (hint: if you are reading this, you are one of them), and it has been really annoying as a viewer and a blogger to have moved to this larger network and find that the social media engagement has been no better — in fact, maybe worse. With other late night programs having tumblr teams and twitterizzers sharing every little wrinkle of their hosts’ faces, most of the social media generated on Colbert’s behalf has been from the fans – as usual. When Hamilton star Jonathan Groff appeared recently and demonstrated to Stephen how to walk regally like his character, King George, a great bit, the show’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda had to ask his fans on twitter to gif the moment. When Stephen introduced the Star Wars hashtag game #spoilerspoilers, the show did not begin really working on it (by retweeting fan suggestions, etc.) until noon the day after Stephen announced it. The Facebook page, although improving, doesn’t really interact with fans or answer their replies or questions. Colbert News Hub has been a default platform for fans to receive news, updates, and ticket information about the show.
I think whether you are a Colbert viewer who is political, apolitical, social media engaged or not, one thing we all can agree on is that Stephen is a singular talent and having him on any show is worth the growing pains if it means we get to have him on the air. However, it would be a shame if all the effort of bringing Stephen over from Comedy Central to CBS, the costly Ed Sullivan renovations, and ramp-up to The Late Show were squandered over what seem to be simple fixes. Here are some of my suggestions:
- “Who Am Me” pieces. When Barack Obama was running for a second term, political strategist David Axelrod told him and I’m paraphrasing, “You should never pass up an opportunity to re-introduce yourself to the American public.” Stephen is not running for office, but the concept of needing reintroduction is no different. Doing the new show without the benefit of the Irony Mask means that we the new audience have to get to know the new Stephen – the real one. Seeing him in Charleston or with Jon Batiste in New Orleans is a good starting point. Or, bits with Stephen’s staff, such as when Liz Levin appeared to have a “meeting” with him on air, also help us get a sense of what Stephen is really like.
- More field pieces. I know it’s hard because the show is new and running five nights a week, and staff need to go home and sleep, but Stephen + real world = slam-dunk comedy. Besides, the show is situated in one of the most exciting and dynamic cities in the world. There are a lot of hilarious subjects — store owners, street vendors, desnudas, Elmos, taxi drivers — to be discovered right in the show’s backyard. Times Square is like the show’s yard, right? Or rather, its potential playground.
- Audience interaction. Some segments like the “Life Hacks” and “Stephen Colbert’s Midnight Confessions” have been hilarious and involved the audience in a clever way (“life….hacked!”) However, actually getting out there and picking on random people is really engaging. If you watch the warm-up comic, Paul Mercurio, whose whole schtick is basically grabbing people from the audience, you gain a sense of the quirky, diverse array of people who make the Colbert pilgrimage. It would be a real thrill to see him bound down the aisles with a microphone. Plus, with Stephen’s improv background, he can play off of anyone and make it funny (and sweet.)
- Social Media/Viral Stuff. The Late Show digital team needs to come up with a consistent and executable strategy for capturing the show’s material and the fan’s attention. Live tweeting the show (which they did, once), retweeting fans, giffing the heck out of the show, blowing up on Instagram — this must happen now. Every other late night host is begging viewers for Youtube subscribers at the end of their video clips. Stephen should also do that.
On the old show, viewer engagement was a priority. Moreover, we were “the scene partner” that Stephen needed. The viewers have not really changed that much at all. They ought to be involved in games and contests and giveaways and what have you — a little goes a long way.
Perhaps, as Carter suggests in his piece, the Super Bowl broadcast will be a huge platform to relaunch Colbert 2.0 and take the show to ratings success. No matter what, this Colbert fan is sure to stay engaged for the long haul, as I am sure many of you are as well.
So now it’s your turn. What would you suggest to make The Late Show even better in 2016? What are you looking forward to this year? What is your impression of the show in general? Thanks for reading and let us know in the comments!
Stephen Colbert 2.0: Assessing the New 'Late Show'
Illustration by Matt Collins | The Hollywood Reporter
When Stephen Colbert announced in April 2014 that he would be taking the reigns for David Letterman, there was a great deal of excitement, to be sure, but also a bit of head-scratching, particularly amongst the Colbert devotees. Didn’t he have, like, a hit show already? Didn’t we fans look forward to seeing his slickly-haired self in a Brooks Brothers suit dishing out the day’s Truthiness in 22-minute delectable bites? The Colbert Report has been described by many as one of the best shows of its generation, if not ever. So, the decision to send the Colbert character off into eternity and supplant him with the Real Mr. Colbert in network late night was puzzling. It could be likened to your favorite college professor suddenly announcing he was leaving entomology to join Cirque du Soleil.
After four months of fresh episodes and a newly launched Late Show, we are now experiencing comedy from a freshly calibrated Stephen Colbert. With a bigger show, venue, and network come many expectations, both qualitative and commercial, but also, the fervent hope that in spite of all the many changes in Colbertdom, all the things that we as fans loved about Stephen and his comedy would remain and keep us endeared to him for many years to come.
Recently, Bill Carter, author of The Late Shift and noted Late Night-ologist wrote an interesting piece for The Hollywood Reporter where he muses over why Stephen has not been more competitive against his main rival, Jimmy Fallon. In this post I will delve into some of the points Carter raises, make my own suggestions, and ask for your thoughts about the new Late Show.
Bill Carter notes that Jimmy Fallon’s decision to move The Tonight Show in a direction more suited to his abilities — favoring variety-show style elements over talk — is a successful ratings-grabbing strategy. He has triumphed over all of his late night competition in the ratings game. For his part, Stephen, who arrived to the Late Show gig to much fanfare, enjoying 6.6 million viewers on his premiere night, has in recent weeks sometimes dipped to fourth place behind Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers. Overall, The Late Show has been battling with Jimmy Kimmel Live for second place for the past several weeks, although all of Fallon’s competitors lag behind him by a large margin. For those of us cheering Stephen on in his new venture, this has been sobering news.
Stephen Colbert has been a performer and writer long celebrated for his political satire and brainy wit. That he would not be cracking eggs on his head in the manner of Fallon is not shocking to anyone. However, one wonders if viewers in Mainstream Network-land are turned off by political satire, or politicians as guests? Are they averse to having CEOs, authors, and generally seriously minded guests on the show? The “serious guest,” an expert on his or her field and not the conventional recipient of air time, was the perfect foil for the aggressive ignorance of Colbert’s former character. Now that the character has gone for good, can non-celebutantes sustain the attention of a network late night audience, who likely wants something benign to laugh at before they drift off to sleep?
The answer to all of these questions is yes, with the caveat that the strategy is certainly more challenging than the variety-driven approach. Stephen and his team have to cultivate the same level of audience engagement without the red meat of crowd-pleasing, celebrity-reliant bits that have helped the other late night shows’ ratings. Certainly, some of The Late Show’s political segments so far have connected. The “Hungry for Power Games” segment has been both fun and funny, allowing Stephen to skewer the ridiculously over-crowded presidential candidate field and be silly (purple eyebrows!) at the same time. As was mentioned, some of the political guest interviews, i.e, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, have wracked up decent views and even decent-er buzz.
Political or not, the writing, topic choice, and guest roster could be perfect, but without the presence of social media interaction, younger audiences will not be engaged. For a fledgling show like Colbert’s Late Show, a lack of audience engagement is a luxury it can’t afford. And, an unusual phenomenon, really. One of the hallmarks of The Colbert Report was Stephen’s strong connection to his Colbert Nation. Heck, we had our own name, our own nation! Whether it was a “Green Screen challenge” or raising money on Reddit for DonorsChoose, or rallying to “Keep Fear Alive,” or supporting Stephen’s presidential race(s) or monster SuperPAC, the audience was absolutely essential to making the “Joy Machine” run, and Stephen let us know it every night. However, fans migrating over to The Late Show might have been disappointed to find that the digital footprint of the new show was pretty light, with minimal social media presence, viral videos, etc., to help them champion the new show.
Regardless of whether The Late Show would have political satire elements in it or not, a twitter hashtag-gy game, a tumblr-off or any kind of social media-driven campaign would be totally in line with Stephen’s comedy. Colbert’s younger audience is heavily involved with social media, (hint: if you are reading this, you are one of them), and it has been really annoying as a viewer and a blogger to have moved to this larger network and find that the social media engagement has been no better — in fact, maybe worse. With other late night programs having tumblr teams and twitterizzers sharing every little wrinkle of their hosts’ faces, most of the social media generated on Colbert’s behalf has been from the fans – as usual. When Hamilton star Jonathan Groff appeared recently and demonstrated to Stephen how to walk regally like his character, King George, a great bit, the show’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda had to ask his fans on twitter to gif the moment. When Stephen introduced the Star Wars hashtag game #spoilerspoilers, the show did not begin really working on it (by retweeting fan suggestions, etc.) until noon the day after Stephen announced it. The Facebook page, although improving, doesn’t really interact with fans or answer their replies or questions. Colbert News Hub has been a default platform for fans to receive news, updates, and ticket information about the show.
I think whether you are a Colbert viewer who is political, apolitical, social media engaged or not, one thing we all can agree on is that Stephen is a singular talent and having him on any show is worth the growing pains if it means we get to have him on the air. However, it would be a shame if all the effort of bringing Stephen over from Comedy Central to CBS, the costly Ed Sullivan renovations, and ramp-up to The Late Show were squandered over what seem to be simple fixes. Here are some of my suggestions:
On the old show, viewer engagement was a priority. Moreover, we were “the scene partner” that Stephen needed. The viewers have not really changed that much at all. They ought to be involved in games and contests and giveaways and what have you — a little goes a long way.
Perhaps, as Carter suggests in his piece, the Super Bowl broadcast will be a huge platform to relaunch Colbert 2.0 and take the show to ratings success. No matter what, this Colbert fan is sure to stay engaged for the long haul, as I am sure many of you are as well.
So now it’s your turn. What would you suggest to make The Late Show even better in 2016? What are you looking forward to this year? What is your impression of the show in general? Thanks for reading and let us know in the comments!