Tonight is Stephen Colbert's last show. Good riddance.
On the nights when I can't sleep, I often catch snippets of episodes of Johnny Carson or Dick Cavett, and I realize what a gem late-night television used to be. Carson went off the air 34 years ago tomorrow, and Cavett — who will turn 90 in November — left his show in 1975.
From the numerous clips I've seen, I've come to the conclusion that late-night television and old talk shows used to be a) very funny, b) very intelligent, and c) politically neutral or apolitical. I'm sure I could look up Carson and Cavett's political leanings, and I can make logical assumptions about both, but the point is you don't pick up on that from watching the show.
They were there to entertain and inform audiences. That was their job, and they did it well.
Not so with Colbert and his contemporaries. Instead of entertaining and informing, they are merely the unfunny court jesters of the DNC, glorified TED Talks for Democratic Party policies, and campaign stops for Leftist politicians to address their seal-clapping supporters. It might have been tolerable if it was at least funny, but it couldn't manage a laugh, either.
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Most of that is because Leftists are miserable scolds who drown themselves in politics and who see everything through a lens of the oppressed vs. the oppressor. How can you find humor when everyone is suffering, after all?
That's why, across the board, late-night show ratings are sinking like the Titanic. Writing about and being mired in politics is how I make my living. I love it. But there are times I also want to get far, far away from politics. Everyone should. It's good for your mental health and your soul.
Instead of offering viewers a respite, the Left decided late-night television was yet another platform from which they could spout their political ideology. For the die-hards, that's fine. They could tune into Colbert and get a thrill from watching him bash President Trump for the millionth time, laugh at his lame vaccine musical numbers, and hear from a slew of Leftist politicians.
But for Americans looking to unwind? Not so much.
Now Variety has the audacity to ask whether or not politicizing late-night television was, just maybe, a mistake after all.
Has #StephenColbert’s push into politics hurt the late-night format?
— Variety (@Variety) May 20, 2026
Late-night was never supposed to play to a particular type of audience: #JohnnyCarson made fun of politicians, but mostly their public goofs, not their policies. #JayLeno rarely became political. And… pic.twitter.com/QwJ7AJR7mm
The entire post reads:
Late-night was never supposed to play to a particular type of audience: #JohnnyCarson made fun of politicians, but mostly their public goofs, not their policies. #JayLeno rarely became political. And #DavidLetterman feuded with politicians but not over what they did in Washington.
In 2026, late-night shows are a wholly different creation.
“These shows were built to be vaudeville in the box in your living room,” says professor Dannagal Young, who studies political satire and the media preferences of liberals and conservatives. “They were a place to watch jugglers and clowns and funny people doing impressions. They were not made for this.”
You don't say.
Who knew alienating half the country was a bad idea?
Oh, that's right: everyone.
Yet, when it was announced last year that Colbert was getting the axe, he — and the Left — acted like Colbert was the victim of some fascist regime silencing its opponents. The argument made no sense, of course. Dictators don't let their detractors remain on the airwaves for ten months after canceling them. In addition to viewers, Colbert's show was hemorrhaging cash, too, making the cancellation a smart and inevitable economic decision.
If you pointed out these things, however, you were a MAGA bootlicker who liked censorship. Or something.
The Left thinks every platform, every form of entertainment, every means of communication exists for them to exploit for their political gain. That includes late-night television. They believe Colbert, Kimmel, and the rest have a right to spew their politics at us on a nightly basis, and that networks must continue propping up these losers. Anything less is censorship.
It's not, of course.
With Colbert's welcome exit, the clock is ticking on late-night television as a genre. For years, it's been fighting a losing battle against social media, where audiences have ready access to most celebrities (many of whom also freely spout their off-putting political nonsense there). Instead of responding in a way that would peel eyeballs away from Instagram and onto late-night television, they turned into nightly DNC campaign rallies.
Jimmy Kimmel is done in May of next year, and the other shows — 'Late Night With Seth Meyers' and 'The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon' — are surely the next to go.
When they do, nothing of value will be lost.
