'The Hollywood Reporter' Talks to Kent Alterman.

‘The Hollywood Reporter’ talks to Comedy Central’s programming chief Kent Alterman about letting Jon Stewart take leave to direct a feature film, future opportunities for John Oliver, and how concerning it is to hear Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s name suggested as future successors of David Letterman.

Stephen Colbert’s and Stewart’s names have come up in many recent late-night stories, most often as potential David Letterman replacements. How concerning is that for you?

They have not approached us about wanting to do that. The great thing for us right now is that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are beating every one of those other late-night shows in our demographic of 18- to 49-year-olds, and I haven’t heard anything that indicates that they’re about to jump ship.

Any hesitation about letting Jon Stewart take a leave from The Daily Show this summer to make his feature directorial debut?

It’s something that he’s been interested in for a while. When he did his new deal, that was something that was important to him, and we worked out a way to accommodate it. We’re interested in him being fulfilled and happy here. So nobody ever told him, “You can’t do this,” and we know he takes the show very seriously.

If John Oliver does well as his replacement, is there a late-night show opportunity for him?

There was a shared feeling between Jon and us that John Oliver made the most sense to fill in. In terms of a late-show opportunity, maybe. We’re taking it one step at a time, but we’re definitely big believers in John Oliver.

You’re finally launching a show at midnight, a slot you’ve acknowledged was appealing but tough to make work financially. Tell us more about the Chris Hardwick late night show and how you’re making it work?

Alterman: Our plan is to put this show with Chris on the air in the latter part of the fall, and we’re exploring a lot of potentially creative ways of working it out financially. We haven’t settled on anything specific yet, but the main point is that it falls into next year’s fiscal budget. I really can’t get into that stuff yet. What I can tell you is that we’re planning to launch with 16 episodes, so it will be a four-week run that’s stripped Monday through Thursday. We basically found ourselves with this irresistible combination of elements, starting with Chris as talent and then his whole Nerdist empire, Tom Lennon and Robert Ben Grant as creative showrunners and Funny or Die as our producing partners. We’re looking to tap into social media as an entre into a comedy show with lots of jokes about pop culture and celebrity culture. It will be a comedic panel that utilizes elements of game show conventions –though it’s not technically a game show– with Chris as the host and sole judge and three comedians on a panel.

Jay Leno soon will be available. Would you consider him for Comedy Central?

I think what we would pay him probably would be so shocking to him; he wouldn’t know what to do with that much money. (Laughs.) If he had interest here, we’d be interested in talking to him.

Full Interview: The Hollywood Reporter.