The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Well last night was Colbert's debut. I watched it online today. It probably won't get me back into watching late night talk shows but he was solid. Definitely had more of a good natured fun vibe to it than Dave had but the snarkiness was always part of Dave's charm.

I'll still miss The Report though.

I think he did a decent job straddling the line between being the typical late night host and the Colbert Report, though the late night parts were definitely the weakest of the night. It's odd seeing Colbert do stand-up, for instance. He isn't a stand-up and seemed awkward there (could've just been first day jitters). I'm sure he'll become more comfortable with experience, but it's not a tradition that needs to be carried on with every late-night host. Stick him behind his desk and let him do his thing. He can still joke about the day's news from there and be much more in his element.

Clooney's interview also felt far more staged than any I saw on The Colbert Report. I was hoping he wouldn't fall into that whole pre-interview trap. Again, Colbert will probably improve with experience, but it just felt so forced. Fallon does a much better job at making things seem spontaneous even though they obviously aren't. Colbert's at his best off-the-cuff, even when he's not playing a character. He did seem to channel that some more with Jeb!, so perhaps it will just be on a guest-by-guest basis.

He looked so much more comfortable once he was sitting down. The Oreos bit was amusing. The cursed charm bit lasted way too long to be funny. Will probably take a while for Colbert to adjust to filling twice as much air.

Did anyone else find the filming quality and light quality odd? Definitely different than most late night TV.

I thought he did okay, though. I might check out highlights the next day periodically.

I thought the whole show felt very forced and just wasn't funny at all. I'll give it time since Fallon started out flat and is great now.

Was average IMO.

The problem with me is that John Oliver shook up the whole scene.

No longer do you need a monologue, skit, 1st guest, skit, 2nd guest, musical act.

Was not bad...just nothing to talk about the next day.

Will be an issue in a few months.....

just saw it and totally agree, i guess if i was wanting to fall asleep to live tv it would work but nothing really memorable. guests were all a huge yawn, the musical band interactions felt a bit weird although the guest singers and band were awesome (alabama shakes I think?), monologue completely forgettable. i wonder why he doesn't have a sidekick, i never really thought about it but conan (richter) and fallon (higgins) sidekick really help the flow of their shows. Fallon getting the Roots was pure genius

still it was better than that abomination the nightly show

The Clooney "movie" clips were gold. Especially the 3rd one. Actual interview parts were a snooze though.

Jeb interview was good, but that's really Stephen doing what he's comfortable with and taking the piss out of politics.

Monologue very meh. Hopefully he'll end up going the Conan route with these and going off script a lot, as well as interrupting the normal monologue with bits. Which is where a sidekick really comes in handy.

Opening bit with him introducing the set and the cursed amulet was good. Classic Colbert style again.

I have faith that the kinks will be worked out within a few weeks, but it's still going to be a late night show at heart.

Weaker standup than Craig Ferguson. But better desk presence. Very similar bits though.

Why are you staring at their bits so intently?

As a huge fan of Colbert I'm pleased so far. There are certainly weak bits, But go back and watch any of his early Report shows. He has to find the line between keeping his old audience and appealing to the wider variety of people who watch these network shows. He'll find his groove. And he is going to be MUCH, MUCH, better at interviews than any of the other hosts. He's way quicker on his toes, and actually delves into substance.

I'm not a fan of the style and the format....but Colbert himself is great.

1987_sl said:

As a huge fan of Colbert I'm pleased so far. There are certainly weak bits, But go back and watch any of his early Report shows. He has to find the line between keeping his old audience and appealing to the wider variety of people who watch these network shows. He'll find his groove. And he is going to be MUCH, MUCH, better at interviews than any of the other hosts. He's way quicker on his toes, and actually delves into substance.

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I found he interrupted his guests enough to be annoying. I hope that was first night jitters.

lurkingdirk_sl said:

I found he interrupted his guests enough to be annoying. I hope that was first night jitters.

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Yeah, that's one thing Letterman never really did. He sat there quietly until the guest was done saying something stupid and then he'd retort.

Lenas_sl said:

Yeah, that's one thing Letterman never really did. He sat there quietly until the guest was done saying something stupid and then he'd retort.

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Fucking that, most guests are boring and should be interrupted more

Yeah, I'll give it a few months to settle in..but at this point its another forgettable network late type show.

Stephen is solid, I just wanted more.

At least Craig Ferguson changed it up after a few weeks and caught his groove. (And was tremendous IMO)

Key and Peel showed that more people view talk shows via 3 minute Youtube clips now.
This is something that John Oliver has noticed and exploits very well.

Jimbolini_sl said:

Key and Peel showed that more people view talk shows via 3 minute Youtube clips now.
This is something that John Oliver has noticed and exploits very well.

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^ this. Last Week Tonight requires cable sub + HBO to watch in entirety, however the YoutubeChannel has over 2 million subscribers and over 400 million views:

https://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight/about

Same deal with Bill Maher's channel, which is approaching 90 million views which is pretty impressive for a political talk show:

https://www.youtube.com/user/RealTime/about