David Letterman said the main reason Byron Allen is taking over Stephen Colbert’s late-night time slot at CBS comes down to money.
While speaking with Barbara Gaines and Mary Barclay on his podcast Friday, the late-night icon was asked about the recent news of Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” taking over the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” weekday time slot. Letterman said it was a sign CBS did not want to spend money on another big show.
“They don’t want to spend any money, so they’re going to make money,” Letterman said. “They charge Byron Allen some reasonable price. He sells all the advertising for his ‘Comics Unleashed’ and it’ll be, I think, 90 minutes or two hours of comics talking about funny stuff. The show is a pretty good idea. It’s all panel. Nobody’s doing any standup except they’re seated doing standup.”
Colbert’s time as a late-night host will come to an end in May. Allen’s show is set to begin May 22 and air back-to-back half-hour episodes from 11:35 p.m. to 12:37 a.m. ET/PT. The move, a time-buy agreement for the 2026-27 season, is aimed at making CBS profitable in late night as the format faces financial challenges. As late night evolves, the network could consider new forms of original programming with a more sustainable financial model, according to an individual with knowledge of the decision-making.
“I created and launched ‘Comics Unleashed’ 20 years ago so my fellow comedians could have a platform to do what we all love – make people laugh,” Allen Media Group founder, chairman and CEO Byron Allen said in a statement when it was announced. “I truly appreciate CBS’ confidence in me by picking up our two-hour comedy block of ‘Comics Unleashed’ and ‘Funny You Should Ask,’ because the world can never have enough laughter.”
You can watch the full “The Letterman Podcast” episode in the video above.
