Like mentions of SNL, I'm baffled that people still actively watch talk shows. When you can easily get any of the worthwhile parts condensed down, basically the same night the show airs, I just cannot fathom it.
Usually when I ask why people watch them (or asking one of my sisters that watched the Kardashians), I get "I need something I turn my brain off to" and then people wonder why the politicians can outright ridicule and fuck us over? They're not even trying to hide it any more either, and instead we get people trying to blame talk show hosts and actors for "politicizing" things when you literally cannot escape it (so it would be far far more weird for them to do that, these shows have been topical for literally decades, but its like people want them to ignore most topics whilst showing how full of shit they are by clicking away on all the fake news and political shit-sites). Even dumber is how with almost 100% absolution, the people that watch talk shows bitch about how we obsess over celebrities too much.
i remember the painful Conan and Leno thing back in 2008. Leno draws because of his Everyman persona, which is corny and boring for people whose lives are in entertainment, but is all hat people with regular jobs want at the end of the evening before they go to bed.
Colbert IMO hasn't fully shed his "edginess" from the Colbert report, and really feels....like the exact same character from the Colbert Report.
If I remember right, Colbert was going for that initially but was bombing in the ratings so they decided to start bringing back the edge from Colbert Report some and people responded to it and so it has taken focus since then.
This past week has been pretty bad. He's essentially been shilling for the anti-Brexit/Pro-EU movement that. Very complicated subject, he managed to dumb it down -- like most other people -- to the Remain-side's propaganda or talking points.
That's what comedians do, they simplify things down to make them into quick punchlines. If you don't like them dumbing down a side (which, that's been typical of politics forever too...), did you take issue with the pro-Brexit groups doing that just so they could get some votes (to prop up a lot of the nonsense they were spouting) even though most of them assumed it had no chance of actually going through, and openly admitting as much afterwards and that they were just doing it for political gain? Are you somehow more ok with politicians doing it and then admitting they didn't actually even want it they were just doing it to rile people up?
After watching some of them, I get the impression that colbert doesn't really do nuance or is able to play or improvise so well.
He also has a huge Bernie Bro like following.
Literally if you check YouTube for Colbert Late Show videos, 19/20 are political in some way.
He seems to be pretty typical in that regard compared to most other talk show hosts. They're all quite dependent on their writers for the material (but likewise the writers are dependent on them to deliver it well). Take most comedians and if you fuck up their setup they'll usually at best fall flat and often lose their shit completely. Daily Show and Colbert Report were more dependent on them though, so not shocking that Colbert will need time to adjust.
That's because that is Colbert's niche and that's what people want from him.
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