After decades of surprising and entertaining audiences, Stephen Colbert may have delivered the biggest bombshell of his career — and it was a real gut punch.
On Thursday, he announced that CBS will be dropping the longtime host and canceling “The Late Show” next May.
“Everyone is still shell shocked,” an insider who works in late night told TheWrap.
What this means for the future of this television genre is grim. Colbert is the latest casualty of programming that’s fallen prey to shrinking linear ratings, slashed budgets and decreasing series orders. But as bleak as this news is for the industry at large, it could prove a windfall for Colbert. History has taught us that for big stars, a bad breakup with one network often leads to a lucrative marriage with a competitor. There’s also podcasting, a medium that comedians like Marc Maron, Joe Rogan and Conan O’Brien have successfully flooded.
“There will be a long line of people trying to court him to do many things. It really does boil down to what he wants to do,” Eric Nuzum, a podcast strategist and co-founder of the podcasting media company Magnificent Noise, told TheWrap.
Or put another way: “Guys like Stephen will be fine,” a former late night insider told TheWrap. “He’ll be producing and writing and being on camera, if he wants to, forever.”
TheWrap spoke to several industry insiders about what this comedy heavy-hitter’s future could look like, and they floated lucrative development deals and even a dive into the podcast world as likely next steps while acknowledging that setting up a new late night show on another broadcast or cable network, in this linear landscape with these economics, is most unlikely.
Representatives for Colbert did not respond to a request for comment from TheWrap.
Big production deal could be waiting
Everyone TheWrap spoke to about Colbert’s future noted that the comedian won’t be short on offers from competitors. But instead of being picked up for a new late night project, it seems far more likely Colbert will be the target of an overall production deal.
Late night hosts jumping from one parent company to another is historically common, especially after a contentious rift between a network and its star. After O’Brien left NBC in 2010 — a messy situation that ended with a $45 million settlement for the TV host — he started “Conan” on TBS later that same year. And after “Conan” ended, O’Brien struck a deal with HBO Max for a weekly series that would become “Conan O’Brien Must Go.”
Though nothing came of it, Jon Stewart signed an exclusive deal with HBO the same year he left “The Daily Show,” which was later followed by a deal with Apple TV+. “The Problem with Jon Stewart” ran for two seasons before it was canceled due to creative differences, and Stewart returned to “The Daily Show” in February 2024. Three years after David Letterman left “The Late Show,” the late night icon launched “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” on Netflix.
An overall deal has the potential to net Colbert a lot of money — Letterman reportedly earned $12 million for the first six episodes of “My Next Guest” on Netflix — and to possibly generate more work for at least some of his staff. There’s also the prospect of more creative freedom. An avid reader, J.R.R. Tolkien scholar and “Lord of the Rings” superfan, Colbert’s interests reach far beyond politics.
The problem is that interest in late night as a whole isn’t what it used to be.
Between axing “After Midnight” when Taylor Tomlinson’s departed and announcing the cancellation of “The Late Show,” CBS is clearly exiting the late night game. ABC confirmed to TheWrap that it has no intentions of changing Jimmy Kimmel’s current contract, which runs through 2026, but it also hasn’t launched a new late night show since 2018’s short-lived “The Alec Baldwin Show.” And though NBC has long been the main player in this space, even it is cutting costs. Last year, the network reduced Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” from five shows a week to four and Seth Meyers lost the 8G Band in a series of budget cuts aimed at late night.
Cable’s in even worse shape. There are currently only four late night shows across that vast TV ecosystem, two of which (“Gutfeld” and “Fox News Saturday Night”) belong to the right-leaning Fox, a network that likely has little interest in Colbert. Comedy Central, which invested heavily in the space throughout the 2010s with shows like “@midnight with Chris Hardwick,” “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore,” “Not Safe with Nikki Glazer” and “The Jim Jefferies Show,” is now only home to “The Daily Show.”
HBO still has “Real Time with Bill Maher” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” and Bravo has “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.” But neither network has invested in a new late night show in more than 10 years.
That leaves streaming, and most streamers do not seem interested in late night. Apple dropped out of the late night game after disagreeing with Stewart over a story about AI, Israel and China. And while Netflix invested heavily in this area around 2018 with “Norm Macdonald Has a Show” and “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj,” the streamer dramatically pulled back when its bets failed to catch on. It’s now only home to “John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s Live,” a niche show that premiered earlier this year.
“What’s so frustrating is [Netflix] is one of the few places that can take a chance financially. They can put their necks out a little bit here and there, and they rarely do,” a former late night insider said. “The same thing with Apple. It’s highly curated, but it’s like a little side fun business right now.”
It’s also worth noting that while streaming is king, daily TV programs have failed to catch on with streaming audiences. It’s a consequence of a delivery system built to fulfill a “watch when convenient for you” strategy that’s incongruous with the topical nature of traditional late night programming.
Netflix did not comment on this story, and Apple did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
This is all to say that Colbert will likely be courted for a big overall deal with several interested parties. But it seems unlikely a traditional late night show will be part of that deal. Nuzum pointed to Letterman as a great example of what a future deal could look like for Colbert.
“Letterman is doing his thing, which is very bespoke to him, the series he does on Netflix,” he said. “It gives him the cultural relevance he wants, the type of people he wants to talk to [about] the things he’s really passionate about, but it falls into almost non-traditional mold. Colbert is in a position of dictating very similar terms.”
Dive into podcasting
Podcasting is an option that can be highly lucrative for the right talent and has, for people like O’Brien and Maron, served as an extension of the comedy + interview format that’s been a foundation for late night since its inception.
Joe Rogan, a stand-up comic who was best known for hosting “Fear Factor,” has long reigned as the podcast host with the most listeners, signing a deal with Spotify that was reportedly worth $250 million last year. O’Brien, who has also emerged as a major player in the industry with “Conan O’Brian Needs a Friend,” signed a Spotify deal worth $150 million in 2022.
Colbert’s fame could help him considerably. Three of the top 10 most listened to podcasts in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2024 came from celebrity podcasters: “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend” and Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett’s “Smartless,” according to a report from Edison Research.
“There’s no question in my mind that he will be approached about doing a podcast, and he could definitely do one if he wanted to,” Nuzman said of Colbert. “The question is, does he really want to?”
In Nuzman’s experience, a podcast can’t only depend on a buzzy host for success. Though a big name may result in a couple of widely listened to episodes, a successful show requires a host who’s both curious and passionate about the podcast itself. Nuzman has no doubt that Colbert could fit that particular bill. But he likely won’t see the payday he’s used to, at least not initially.
“Is someone going to walk into the seat of Colbert and offer him millions of dollars to start a podcast?” Nuzman asked. “Maybe there’s a small handful of companies that could handle doing something like that. I don’t think the numbers are going to be that big.”
Retirement or a wild swing
There’s also the possibility that Colbert may want to leave showbiz altogether. Colbert is 61 years old, four years older than his youngest broadcast competitor, Jimmy Kimmel, and seven years younger than Letterman was when he handed “The Late Show” keys to Colbert. That’s a reasonable age for anyone to start considering retirement.
Stepping away from the late night grind may also give him time to explore his other pursuits. Despite having his own show since 2005, Colbert isn’t a man who is only interested in politics and comedy.
Over his long career, he’s performed in the revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Company,” has frequently collaborated with the Montclair Film Festival, helped create the collaborative script writing software Scripto and authored multiple books. It’s also a well-known fact that he’s a huge “Lord of the Rings” fan and a history buff.
Much like with O’Brien’s travel show or Stanley Tucci’s cooking projects, Colbert spearheading a project that has nothing to do with his CBS show would feel like a natural fit.
The history of late night is riddled with surprising moves — from O’Brien’s abrupt firing from “The Tonight Show” to Stewart’s unexpected return to “The Daily Show.” At this point it’s impossible to know what Colbert will do. But chances are it’s going to be big news and it’s going to be funny.
