Stephen Colbert and the Death of Late Night

I should preface this piece by emphasizing that this is only my opinion and interpretation of the things I encounter in real life. It will definitely be tempting to mistakenly mix partisan politics into the equation, however one of the purposes of this is to try and get people to distance themselves from the chaos and confusion of the political arena as much as possible.

In times of economic and social distress, certain individuals or parties inevitably become scapegoats — the reason for everyones problems and woes. These objects of widespread disgust often evoke mixed responses from the public. Some hate them, and others sympathize with them, generally based on deep-seated sociopolitical beliefs. Over the past 4–5 years, it hasn’t been easy to sympathize with Donald Trump, given the fact that he’s largely responsible for his own downfall. However, the number of institutions that have taken a hit (essentially filtered and divided themselves ruthlessly based on social and political beliefs) is astounding. It reaches a point where you begin to wonder whether one fear-monger could have singlehandedly sent very prestigious and well-known organizations into a tail-spin. The New York Times seems to have attempted to purge even its most mildly conservative journalists and reporters, as many gathered from Bari Weiss’ story. News networks seem to now work in binaries — with each side of the aisle highly suspicious and overly-critical of the other. The effects of the last 4–5 years are even more pronounced with Late Night talk shows. While it might be easy to say Trump merely provides them with comical content (which he does) which they thrive on, these talk shows have themselves to blame for their current state.

I feel these talk shows, Colbert leading the group in viewership and ratings, have a much more powerful influence on culture and society than they should. At the end of the day, they simply seek to survive and make profits for their respective networks, which exist simply to make money for their shareholders (as any corporation would). Hence, the hosts of these talk shows (and their writers, who are essentially their handlers) will push whatever it is that the public craves — regardless of the effects this may have. Colbert, who has paved the way for people like Trevor Noah, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel in terms of the type of content they promote, has by now obviously understood that people crave partisan politics and so endlessly floods his channel with videos mocking/roasting conservative politicians and figures. This, unsurprisingly, sells very well. Now, this in itself is NOT a problem. All the aforementioned networks are free to push whatever content they see fit (even if they are identical in nature). The problem occurs when these talk shows attempt to expand their bases (and hence revenue streams) by gradually catering to a crowd seeking information on current affairs, as opposed to purely a crowd seeking comedy. This can be highly detrimental to the way future generations search for, analyze, and synthesize information. Colbert and the others have become the late night equivalents of political commentators on networks like Fox and CNN. By positioning themselves as pseudo-news/comedy shows, they are very intentionally misleading the people that choose to watch them, and a lot of people watch them.

Another problem arises when they decide to let the worlds of politics and comedy collide. These two should remain distinct at all costs. Although it is not new for talk show hosts to draw inspiration for content from the political scenery in the country, never has late night become so obsessed with public policy and and actors within and outside the government. As the country became more polarized than ever, I feel Colbert and the others saw their opportunity to profit immensely from this. You were either a liberal or a Trump-sympathizer. The public began moving towards what they craved and not what they needed, and these talk shows gave them exactly that. Unsurprisingly, many would suggest that Colbert’s viewership and ratings, which are significantly higher than say Conan O’Brien’s, who largely abstains from bland and repetitive political jousts with those he disagrees with, are proof of the quality of his show and content. However, viewership and ratings should have no bearing on the discussion of content. The average Colbert video (and the vast majority contain the word “Trump”) mocking or insulting a politician would have far more views than any Conan video on pop culture or happenings in the music and movie industries. It’s almost as though Conan posts content that he personally finds amusing, while Colbert, Kimmel, and the others simply go where the money is. Content should drive viewership, not the other way around. As for the content of the Colbert's of the world, it has become unbearably boring and repetitive. However, it gives audiences exactly what they want to hear. My fear is that Conan represents the last of a dying breed of talk show hosts that actually stayed true to the late night format. Carson, Dangerfield, and Letterman all had unique styles, much like Conan. That’s what made them memorable talk show hosts — the content they put out appealed to them first, and then maybe other people. They were willing to run the risk of releasing content that the majority of people were less likely to view. Yet, they did so, and more often that not, their segments and bits spoke volumes of their own intelligence and worldviews. That’s the way it should be. Today, Colbert, Noah, and Kimmel have identical shows. Apart from the hosts themselves (who in fact, behave in similar ways too), it is almost impossible to identify any differences in their content. At the end of the day, networks will only look after their money-making branches. Unfortunately, these happen to be the same bland, unfunny shows that will one day realize that if stripped of their obvious political affiliations (and politically-driven content), their viewership will plummet. Our only hope is that networks stick with shows like Conan that put in the time and effort to create original content, whose sole purpose isn’t to pander to viewers and their belief systems.