Byron Allen’s ‘Comics Unleashed’ replaces Stephen Colbert on CBS late night
The Story
A day after Stephen Colbert signed off from The Late Show, Byron Allen inherited the slot with Comics Unleashed, a show that has been a syndicated late-night fixture since 2006. According to a Guardian report, the show has no writers, no monologue, and features a rotating panel of standup comedians delivering pre-arranged material. CBS’s ratings for the time slot have dropped 87 percent since the change.
Key Facts
- Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show ended abruptly, described in the source as “euthanized to grease the skids for a plutocrat-coded media merger even as it dominated the ratings.”
- Byron Allen, 65, took over the 11:35 pm slot with Comics Unleashed.
- The show has no writers, no comic sensibility, and no discernible point of view, according to the article.
- Allen keeps most of the advertising revenue and rents the slot from CBS; CBS executives offered virtually no creative notes, Allen stated.
- The show debuted in 2006 and is essentially unchanged.
- In interviews, Allen said, “There’s nothing like it on TV right now where you have five comedians sitting around with one purpose: making people laugh.”
- The show is approximately 20 minutes long without commercials.
- CBS’s ratings are down 87 percent since the show replaced Colbert.
- The article notes Allen does not reference current news such as war in Iran, a papal broadside against AI, or a New York Knicks playoff run.
Conflicting Reports
No conflicting reports identified in the source article.
Still Unclear
The article does not explain how long the Comics Unleashed arrangement with CBS will last or whether Colbert’s departure was directly tied to a specific merger.
Misconceptions
No widespread misconceptions addressed in the source article.
Key Figures
- Byron Allen: host of Comics Unleashed, 65 years old, described as a hack comic who built a billion-dollar fortune from repackaged media assets.
- Stephen Colbert: former host of The Late Show on CBS.
- Norm Macdonald: late comedian, previously criticized Comics Unleashed on his Netflix show.
Sources: The Guardian
