Byron Allen is getting ready for his close up, as the affiliate TV station owner and comedian’s “Comics Unleashed” prepares to take over the time slot of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” next week.
Beginning May 22, the show will air with back-to-back half-hour episodes from 11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT on CBS. Paramount+ Premium subscribers can also stream the show live via the feed of their local CBS affiliate on the service. Meanwhile, Allen Media Group’s “Funny You Should Ask,” a comedy game show hosted by Jon Kelley, will have back-to-back half-hour episodes from 12:37-1:37 AM, ET/PT.
Allen told TheWrap that while he was surprised by CBS’ decision to cancel Colbert, he saw an opportunity to grow the “Comics Unleashed” audience while helping the Paramount-owned network cut costs. The David Ellison-led media giant is targeting at least $3 billion in cost savings.
“Between the two time periods, they’re saving approximately $150 million+ per year, just on production and marketing,” he said. “That does not include what I’m paying [for the time slot]. So it’s a great deal for CBS.”
Allen declined to disclose how much he’s paying for Colbert’s time slot.
Allen started his career at 18 years old, becoming the youngest comedian to appear on ‘The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.’ He went on to host “The Byron Allen Show” on the same lot as Carson, who he described as his “hero” and inspiration behind “Comics Unleashed.”
Now, he’ll experience a full-circle moment when he takes over the reins from Colbert on May 22 — the same date that Carson stepped down from late night in 1992.
“CBS wanted me to premiere Sept. 21 and I said, ‘No, let’s do it Friday, May 22.’ What people don’t realize is that was my hero Johnny Carson’s last night,” Allen said. “Normally, you would premiere in September, but I said ‘No, no, no, no. That’s when Johnny stepped down. That’s when I’m stepping up’.”
The latest time shift for “Comics Unleashed” comes after it replaced “After Midnight” last year following the resignation of host Taylor Tomlinson. The show has also been airing in first-run syndication since September 2006 on CBS owned-and-operated television stations nationwide.
“They were spending $30 million to $40 million a year on ‘After Midnight.’ And I said, ‘I can save that production money. I can buy the time period, pay you millions of dollars’ and that was it,” Allen said. “They said, ‘Yeah, let’s give it a shot’ and the show’s been doing great there.”
It also comes as the late night format has been facing financial challenges, with some reports claiming that “The Late Show” was losing $40 million to $50 million annually. But not everyone is convinced that the decision was merely financial, as it came on the heels of Paramount’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over former Vice President Kamala Harris’ “60 Minutes” interview.
Colbert’s show was canceled just days after he called the settlement a “big fat bribe” to secure regulatory approval for Paramount’s merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media.
Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” will notably focus on spotlighting comedians rather than the topical, political satire that Colbert and other late night hosts have become synonymous with.
“From day one, I said to the comedians 20 years ago, ‘No political humor, nothing topical, nothing racist, nothing homophobic, nothing sexist. Just straight over the plate, talking about your life, your family, your relationships.’ I said, ‘If it’s going to be funny today, I want it to be funny 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 60 years from now’,” Allen said. “You look back 10, 15, 20 years later and those episodes that we did back then are working, they’re holding up and I’m very proud of that.”
He claims avoiding political or topical humor has helped mitigate his show’s ratings losses amid a secular decline in linear television.
“I love Colbert. He’s terrific and I really like him a lot. But his repeats sometimes are down 52% because you’re talking about something that happened six or 10 weeks earlier. Our repeats are only down approximately 14% and that shows you if you’re not doing something topical, you can hold on,” he added. “Comedy never loses and it never will lose. That’s been the case for over 100 years when you look at these media platforms.”
When asked about the deal with Allen back in April, TV/Media chair George Cheeks told reporters it is only for one season and would make CBS immediately profitable in Colbert’s time slot.
He added that while the network feels confident that Allen will “continue to be a great partner,” it plans to still develop other ideas and concepts for a long-term late night replacement.
“I believe in late night. I think the reality is that the reach is still there. But the reach is there primarily on YouTube, which is under-monetized,” Cheeks said. “So if we’re going to go back in that space, we have to go back in that space with a different financial model.”
At the same time, he defended the decision to replace Colbert with “Comics Unleashed” and “Funny You Should Ask” in the interim.
“It’s a change from what people are used to. But I would stand by the quality of those shows,” he added. “We considered everything and this is where we landed.”
Allen teased he will address his own thoughts about late night and the next chapter for “Comics Unleashed” during the show’s premiere next week.
In addition to taking over Colbert’s time slot, Allen is set to become chairman and CEO of BuzzFeed after acquiring a 52% stake in a $120 million deal — $20 million of which will be paid up front while the remainder will come in the form of a $100 million promissory note due in five years.
He sees the BuzzFeed deal as an opportunity to cross-promote and expand the audience of AMG content, including “Comics Unleashed” and “Funny You Should Ask.” Allen plans to reinvent BuzzFeed and Huffington Post by developing a free TV “super app,” investing aggressively in podcasts, creating a revenue share model with creators and using AI to help aggregate content.
“I believe that these brands can work together synergistically and you will definitely see that,” he said. “We can grow each other’s audiences.”
“Comics Unleashed” is executive produced by Allen, Carolyn Folks, Jennifer Lucas, Jodi Miller, Peter Steen and Dylan King. Allen, Folks, Lucas, Miller and Steen also executive produce “Funny You Should Ask” alongside Bob Boden, Scott Satin and Eric Charbonnel.