Stephen Colbert hates Donald Trump. He has said incredibly vile things about him both in and out of office. So, it must be especially satisfying for Trump to know that his term in office will outlast Colbert’s television show. And that is a feeling I also share. I think Colbert is an unfunny comedian and a joyless culture warrior of the Left who preaches a woke agenda endlessly and boringly.
Years ago, he was Jon Stewart’s straight man on the Daily Show when both of them tried to make Barack Obama seem cool. Now he’s Dave Letterman’s failed replacement on the Late Show and he’s managed to kill off his side of late-night comedy.
Now granted, his $15 million salary is a big part of why the Late Show is being ended. Broadcast and cable television no longer make much money. An aging viewing audience and the pharmaceutical companies that advertise to them are reaching the ends of their roads. By replacing Colbert, Kimmel and Fallon with cheaper talent (or forcing them to take a huge reduction in salary) the networks can probably get another three or four years out of this set-up but essentially late-night comedy is no longer a thing.
But that shouldn’t stop me from enjoying guys like Colbert and Stewart (yeah, him too) getting the old heave-ho. By splitting their audience into Left and Right their viewership tanked and their employers lost a lot of money.
Now Fox has positioned Greg Gutfeld as the competition for Colbert and the rest of the unfunny late-night hosts. And he’s killing them in the ratings because ABC, CBS and NBC have to split the same 50% of the audience while Fox gets 100% of the other half. But more importantly I think he’s only making a fraction of what they make in salary and he appears on two or three different shows on the network.
Now the real innovation may happen when someone decides to be funny to 100% of the audience. In other words, try actual comedy and make fun of everyone equally. It used to work quite well in the old days before women, minorities and sexual deviants were declared sacred cows and placed off limits from mockery leaving only straight white men as the only punchlines for unfunny comics.
Well, anyway, we won’t have Stephen Colbert to kick around anymore. But there is a rumor that MSNBC or whatever they’re going to call that place may hire Colbert to do what Rachel Maddow currently does but for less money. This seems far-fetched but who knows. When price tag becomes the most important consideration new possibilities open up. How about Keith Olbermann? He used to be Rachel Maddow in the old days and he doesn’t make any money at all presently. If they gave him anti-depressants and shaving supplies, I think he’d jump aboard again. And maybe after Whoopi Goldberg gets canned from “The View” she might be available for MSNBC. Of course, if feeding her was part of the deal that could be costly.
Well, anyway, today was a wonderful day. And if the recission bill gets approved in the House on Friday that will be a wonderful day too.