It was sad to see him go, but I loved watching him leave. I have no idea why CBS chose the best satirist on television to succeed exhausted late night host David Letterman and thus deprive us of the sharpest, most hilarious, and unapologetically political talk show on television. Letterman usually looks like he’d rather be at home pulled back in the recliner in comfortable pants than running his production company Worldwide Pants. [I know, I know, he contributed a lot to talk show comedy when he created Late Night after Carson, but not much lately.] So The Late Show will benefit from the host switch, but will the political talk show landscape? Not likely.
In my humble opinion, Colbert has actually surpassed Jon Stewart and his old Daily Show cohorts, and I would rather watch “Report” and “Real Time with Bill Maher” than any other talk show or political show on television. I think he’ll leave a void that incoming host—the likable but overly mannered Larry Willmore—will be hard pressed to fill.
Fun Fact: I went to a taping of The Colbert Report and the people watching at home probably have a better experience. [Anything is better where you’re not forced to clap like a trained seal for an hour straight and have some terrible “warm up” comedian come out to “get the crowd going” but really just get email signatures to promote some showcase he’s doing in Long Island later that week.] There’s a lot of standing around waiting to sit down, and then when you sit down you’re waiting nearly as long to see the show begin. There’s a few minutes where you can ask Stephen questions, but his answers are pretty quick, and still only gets around to a handful of people.
Anyway, the final show blah blah blah, there was something about killing the grim reaper and becoming immortal and then a final segment with Santa Claus and Alex Trebeck. I liked that there was something surrealistic about the entire final show but especially the epic farewell song featuring at least 100 of the most randomly assembled well-knowns (can you call Henry Kissinger a “celebrity?”) you’ve ever seen: politicians, newscasters, actors, scientists, etc. It’s the first and last time we’ll see enemies like Grover Norquist and Paul Krugman singing a few feet from each other, and only a few yards from Eliot Spitzer, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Bryan Cranston, James Franco (of course), Keith Olbermann, Jeff Daniels, Big Bird, etc. you get the idea. Terrific sing-a-long, even better series. Grade for Series: A