David Letterman didn’t hold back when it came to tearing down the “lying weasels” at CBS for their firing of Stephen Colbert and the cancellation of “The Late Show” this week.
In a scathing interview with The New York Times out Tuesday, the former late night host tore into the network and Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, in particular, for ending the show. Apparently, Letterman does not believe that Colbert’s show was being cancelled for financial reasons, as CBS said at the time.
“Then I wondered: What the hell have they done to Stephen?” Letterman asked. “And I would say farther down on the list is your point: Wait a minute, this used to be my show. It’s like driving by your old neighborhood and realizing that where you used to live, they’re putting up an adult bookstore.”
“TV may be not the money machine it once was. On the other hand, what about the humanity for Stephen and the humanity of people who love him and the humanity for people who still enjoyed that 11:30 respite?” he continued. “He was dumped because the people selling the network to Skydance said, ‘Oh no, there’s not going to be any trouble with that guy. We’re going to take care of the show. We’re just going to throw that into the deal. When will the ink on the check dry?’ I’m just going to go on record as saying: They’re lying … They’re lying weasels.”
Up next, Byron Allen and his show “Comics Unleashed” is replacing “The Late Show” starting on May 22. Letterman commented on the change weeks ago on his podcast, saying it was because Allen represented a small price tag than the other options CBS likely considered.
“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 stand-up, except they’re seated doing stand-up.”
In the Times interview, Letterman was complimentary of Allen. He explained that the one solace he took in the whole ordeal was that the 11:30 timeslot will still make people laugh.
“He’s been wildly more successful than any hundred of us,” Letterman said. “I periodically talk to him, and neither he nor I understand how he became a billionaire. God bless him. To hell with CBS. To hell with Skydance. To hell with the Winslow [Ellison] twins or whoever the hell these guys are. But Byron, he’ll still be providing comedy in that time period. I think that’s a valuable bit of resolution here.”
