Why the End of Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Marks a Loss of American Hope

I used to think comedy could save the world. Or at the very least, it could help set things right again. 

I was in my late teens, at the height of my naivete, when all my angsty optimism craved some form of hero or inspiration, an anchor to ground my beliefs and perspectives. I found that through comedy. Specifically in the forms of Jon Stewart, Tina Fey, and most of all, Stephen Colbert. 

I had always been a fan of late-night talk shows growing up. Staying up late at night watching reruns of Late Night with Conan O’Brien, something attracted me to that world besides mere mindless entertainment. And as I grew older, I began to watch more and more late-night shows and imagined what it would be like to have that kind of late-night talk show here in the Philippines. Hoping it will be just like the ones in America.

As I started watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, that attraction became an obsession. Watching it every night became a religious devotion. If my parents woke up early every morning to go to church, I would wait all night for the Limewire downloads to finish and stay up late to watch them all. My love for The Daily Show eventually led me to The Colbert Report. And for any devotee waiting for a sign, I found my god in a middle-aged Catholic dad named Stephen Colbert. 

The Colbert Report was everything I wanted. It poked fun at conservative media by way of Conan O’Brien’s brand of absurdity. It didn’t punch down to anyone, it wasn’t heavy-handed in its lecturing, and it embraced the silliness that only comedy can provide. I would think about it nonstop, whether I was at home or at school. It changed how I thought and made me want to be a better writer. Who knew that a 30-minute comedy talk show that would often feature a reporter from Slate.com would be the biggest affirmation of what I wanted to do in life?

The peak of The Colbert Report coincided with Barack Obama’s America. When it seemed like hope was all around us, and that once again the United States was the promised land for a new generation looking for something better. Visiting New York became a pilgrimage. I’d stop by my favorite bookstores, museums, and theaters to pretentiously pay my respects. And every chance I’d get, I’d tell myself that one day I’d live here and I’d be working for a late-night talk show. I didn’t want anything else. “New York or nothing,” as they say.

When Colbert announced that he would be leaving The Colbert Report to become the new host of The Late Show, succeeding the David Letterman, it felt like a victory lap. It was a passing of the torch from one GOAT to the next. As sad as I was that his show was ending, The Late Show gig felt like a well-deserved reward at the end of the road. It felt like the next step in my parasocial relationship with my favorite Catholic in the world. 

In the early months of 2016, I booked a trip to New York to hopefully watch The Late Show with Stephen Colbert live. But not just any random episode. I wanted to be part of the show’s election night special and see Stephen Colbert announce Hillary Clinton as the next — and first female — president of the United States of America. That trip turned out to be some of the most depressing days of my life and the beginning of the end of my love affair with all things America.

After a bumpy start, The Late Show became the number one show on late-night television, but it paid a hefty cost. The show, while successful in the ratings, never reached the comedic heights of The Colbert Report. Colbert, from being the silliest and wittiest host on late night, became sort of a respectful comedy ambassador to his audience as he made sense of the first Trump administration. Maybe that was what we needed and he needed at that time. From 2016 to 2022, Trump became the focus of Colbert’s brand of satire. A daily target to dissect and discern. It worked and it was fun at times but was it really what Colbert wanted to do every night? 

Then came Trump’s second term. And despite all the talent in the world, jokes are never funnier the second time around. Everything felt heavier and more dire and I could barely recall moments when I’d cry laughing or even give the slightest chuckle. Far from how I first saw Colbert as this Christ-like figure in the pulpit, watching Colbert go through the Trump administration all over again felt like seeing a tired old mentor trying to do his best in the midst of an existential crisis. 

 Why Colbert’s Late Night Tenure Focused on Mortality and Grief

Perhaps that’s why so much of Colbert’s tenure at The Late Show dealt with and was defined by mortality. What went viral for Colbert’s show weren’t pedantic celebrity games but meaningful and genuine conversation on loss, grief, and a sense of spirituality that separated him from everyone else at late night. From then-Vice President Joe Biden sharing his process dealing with grief, or Keanu Reeves’ succinct answer to “what happens when we die?” or Nick Cave’s meditation on hope against cynicism, if nothing else, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert helped us prepare for its own demise in the most human of ways. 

In a recent piece on The Atlantic, writer David Sims called Colbert’s brand of late night “a calming counterbalance to Jimmy Fallon’s bite-size-clip harvesting.” That put it nicely. Colbert was never one to sacrifice himself for one viral soulless clickbait moment after another. He offered a respite from that. And maybe that wasn’t sustainable or “optimal” as the network executives would have you believe when they killed the show for financial reasons, but isn’t it worth it to do something good for however briefly than to live a life trudging along selling shit all day?

Like I said, the end of The Colbert Report was a celebratory victory lap. This one feels like a death march. But who says you can’t find some rebellious joy in that too? In his last week on air, Colbert danced alongside David Byrne to “Burning Down the House” at the Ed Sullivan Theater, raging against the dying of the light. 

 The End of an Era: Final Tributes and the Future of Political Satire

I’ve made peace with this era of Colbert ending and I look forward to what he does next. But that doesn’t mean I’ll forget all that he did for me almost 20 years ago nor the longing and joy I had for some fleeting promise of American hope. 

So as I, and so many others, say goodbye to Colbert and all that he’s done, it seems fitting to quote the man himself when he paid tribute to Jon Stewart on his last day at The Daily Show, and let Colbert have the final Word. 

“Here’s the thing, Jon. You said to me, and to many other people here years ago, never to thank you, because we owe you nothing.
 It is one of the few times I’ve known you to be dead wrong. We owe you, and not just what you did for our career, by employing us to come on this tremendous show that you made, we owe you because we learned from you. We learned from you by example, how to do a show with intention, how to work with clarity, how to treat people with respect. You were infuriatingly good at your job. And all of us who were lucky enough to work with you for 16 years are better at our jobs because we got to watch you do yours. And we are better people for having known you. 

You are a great artist and a good man, and personally, I do not know how this son of a poor Appalachian turd miner…  I do not know what I would do if you hadn’t brought me on this show.
 I’d be back in those hills, mining turds with pappy. You know by now I’d have ‘dung-lung’ 

Jon, and it’s almost over. I know you are not asking for this, but on behalf of so many people whose lives you changed over the past 16 years, thank you. 
And now, I believe your line, and correct me if I’m wrong, is… We’ll be right back.”