Stephen Colbert will replace David Letterman as host on The Late Show

DateApril 11, 2014 - 5:19AM 54 reading now


Comedian Stephen Colbert is set to replace David Letterman as host of The Late Show next year.

Stephen Colbert, the comedian and host of Comedy Central's Colbert Report, will succeed David Letterman as host of Late Show, CBS's flagship late-night franchise and aired in Australia on Channel 10, when Letterman retires next year, the network announced Thursday.

Colbert will sign on for a five-year term as the new Late Show host, according to the announcement from Leslie Moonves, the president and chief operating officer of CBS, and Nina Tassler, the chairwoman of CBS's entertainment division.


I'm thrilled and grateful that CBS chose me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go grind a gap in my front teeth.

CBS moved quickly to name a successor to Letterman, the late-night TV fixture who has hosted Late Show since 1993 and who revealed his plans to retire in a surprise announcement to his audience last week.

Speculation about who might take over from Letterman, who was also the founding host of NBC's Late Night franchise, quickly coalesced around Colbert, who has played a satirically self-obsessed, know-it-all host on The Colbert Report since its creation in 2005, and before that a similar character on Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

Other contenders to replace Letterman were said to include Craig Ferguson, the host of CBS's Late Late Show, which follows Letterman's program; Chelsea Handler, the host of Chelsea Lately on the E! cable channel; and Neil Patrick Harris, a star of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which concluded its run on CBS this year.

"Simply being a guest on David Letterman's show has been a highlight of my career," Colbert said in a statement. "I never dreamed that I would follow in his footsteps, though everyone in late night follows Dave's lead."


He added: "I'm thrilled and grateful that CBS chose me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go grind a gap in my front teeth."

Moonves said in a statement: "Stephen Colbert is one of the most inventive and respected forces on television. David Letterman's legacy and accomplishments are an incredible source of pride for all of us here, and today's announcement speaks to our commitment of upholding what he established for CBS in late night."

Colbert said he will not stay in character when he takes over Late Show. The network said specific creative elements, like a producer and a location, would be announced later. Both New York and Los Angeles have been lobbying to become the home of a new Late Show.

Comedy Central said in its own statement that it was "proud that the incredibly talented Stephen Colbert has been part of our family for nearly two decades." The channel added, "We look forward to the next eight months of the groundbreaking Colbert Report and wish Stephen the very best."

The New York Times


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/stephen-colbert-will-replace-david-letterman-as-host-on-the-late-show-20140411-36gip.html#ixzz2yWDGkD1S

Not cool. I love Colbert, but hosting a tonight show (especially if he has to work with Paul Schafer) is really not his style.

Definitely not his style.

Just let that late night show shit die already, its a crowded market as it is.

-PB

It's obvious that they've done it in a misguided attempt to compete with Jimmy Kimmel, but the real question is what the hell is Stephen Colbert thinking? They must be paying him out the wazoo.

Better than Letterman

Great news.

Not a fan of the Colbert/Stewart 'George Bush is an idiot har har har har' school of comedy. Nonetheless, Colbert has good charisma, and will be exceptional in the role.

He's not playing the character from Colbert Report on the Late Show.

They will most certainly be paying him out the wazoo.

I'm well aware.

That doesn't mean that he hasn't been typecast into that persona.

Letterman is the perfect late night TV host. Colbert, funny as he is, is just parodying a conservative shock jock. Not sure how you can compare the two.

Letterman peaked about 10 years ago. Since then the ridiculous number of late night shows (Fallon, O'Brien, Kimmel, Leno, Letterman, Ferguson and Daly off the top of my head) have kind of killed things.

Yeah I agree. I'm just not sure how Colbert will make a successful transition in such a crowded market.

Happy I got to be in the studio audience before he moves onto his promotion.

Sad to see the Colbert report coming to an end, it is probably my favourite show on TV. But he's definitely earned this opportunity. Hopefully someone can step into the role of fake conservative when he leaves though.

I can't for the life of me think of anyone who could take on that role though. Perhaps Baron Cohen?

I'd expect a corespondent from the daily show to do it. Either Jason jones or john hodgeman.

Neither could probably pull off the acting like bill o'reilly, but both would be good at being the satirical republican.

Leno was at the helm on THE tonight show. Basically a US institution. The late show is meagre by comparison.