I’ve been a huge Stephen Colbert fan since he first appeared on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart in 1999. Since then … well, you can read it all online in a million places.
Now, thanks to money, politics, and a despicable thin-skinned autocrat in Washington, we begin the last few days of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Thursday night, May 21, (this week!) will be his last show. On CBS, anyway. I’m optimistic that we’ll see him again, somewhere else.
Meanwhile he and his son are co-writing the script for “The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past” (working title), a new Lord of the Rings movie. What a great gig for Colbert, a huge LotR fan.
I’m writing today primarily to urge you, if you’ve the slightest interest in Colbert, to watch CNN’s special this week,”The Last Laugh,” a wonderful biography of Colbert and a career that began long before he appeared with Jon Stewart.
It’s being said that we are seeing the end of an era, the era of late night television. Or maybe that’s just CBS’s rationale. Me, I’ll be watching Jimmy Kimmel, my second favorite late-night host. He’ll never be Colbert, but then, nobody will.
I just viewed on YouTube – my only source for watching him – a wonderful tour of the Ed Sullivan Theatre; and it has reinforced almost more than anything else could how deeply his departure is affecting him and will continue to do so for a very, very long time. I wept. I know I don’t have the same cred as you Americans, but I am awfully cut up about this, too. I think most of Stephen’s viewers will be switching over to Jimmy, and that’s good. But, as you say, lte night TV has been vilely attacked and damaged – as has so much of America ! – by that mad, bad, conscienceless man.
I’ve been in tears off and on over this ever since the cancellation was announced. And putting this post together has been particularly difficult. We’re supposed to laugh through his shows, but half the time now I have tears on my face. I’m glad he has the movie to work on and hope it’s buffering things for him a bit. But this can’t be easy; it’s so damned unfair, so political, so unrelated to how great he is at his job. When the movie is finished, if not before, I’d expect somewhere on another network or streaming service, people are busy creating a new space for him. I’ve raged about so much that Trump has done, but with this he reached into my home, my everyday life, my daily routine. That’s about as personal as you can get.
A huge loss
A huge understatement
I am so sad to see this chapter of his life end, but I am suspicious that he will remerge in ways that are vital and significant. In many ways, life has moved to other platforms besides the traditional broadcast networks that I grew up with, and he will certainly have a following wherever he goes. I’m pretty thrilled for him to have the movie to work on.
Oh I’ll bet that movie is a dream come true for him. By the time it’s done, I bet he’ll have a fist full of other offers and opportunities to choose from.
Comedy has always been an essential part of political free speech here in the colonies. Political cartoons are thriving, as good as ever. Not some much the comedians lately. Due to the inexplicable loyalty shown by Trump’s base, I am sensing a disturbing change in American culture. Free speech is in danger like never before in my lifetime. Easy to see how Adolph Hitler almost succeeded, yes?
I no longer have words to express my disgust, fear, anguish as I watch a demented lying madman keep doing whatever strikes his fancy — and get away with it. Scarcely a finger lifted to stop him. Congress is completely AWOL, having ceded its legislative power to him. The Supreme Court is packed with his toadies. The lower courts have very little power against him. The redistricting war is stealing opposition votes prior to the primaries and fall election. Without a Democratic Congress (or maybe even with it), he’ll continue unchecked for the rest of his term, till January 20, 2029. By then, at the rate he’s going, there will be nothing left to save. The country, the principles, the pride you and I grew up with will be gone, unknown and unimagined by today’s young people.