For decades, late-night comedy was a cherished part of American culture — a place where sharp wit and equal-opportunity satire helped the country laugh at the news of the day, no matter who held the reins of power. I still remember what a big deal it was when Johnny Carson retired and how staying up late to catch Leno or Letterman felt like a nightly tradition.
Shows like "The Tonight Show" and "The Late Show" weren’t just entertainment; they were institutions. But that golden era didn’t end because people stopped enjoying comedy. It ended because the political left hijacked it, smothering it with ideological conformity until the laughter died.
This week, CBS announced the impending end of Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show.”
“It’s not just the end of our show,” Colbert told his audience. “But it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.” That’s not just the farewell of one program; it’s the curtain call for an entire genre that once entertained millions but now limps toward irrelevance.
CBS would have the public believe this is simply a “financial decision,” and for sure it was, but the reason it became a financial decision is the real story here.
These shows, once crafted to appeal to a broad spectrum of Americans, have devolved into echo chambers for leftist propaganda. The origins of the decline trace back years, but the final collapse was swift and, frankly, predictable.
You can pinpoint the turning point. Colbert’s brand of comedy quickly transformed from lighthearted satire into relentless activism. I never actually watched “The Late Show” when he became host, but I’ve seen enough clips. He turned the show into the solo white guy version of “The View.”
Related: Democrats Are Flipping Out Over Colbert’s Cancellation
I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Colbert is hardly alone here. Hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon abandoned the art of entertaining in favor of advancing partisan narratives and overwhelmingly featuring left-wing guests.
Meanwhile, executives watched as ratings collapsed and the advertising dollars dried up. Young viewers — once the lifeblood of late night — abandoned scheduled TV for digital options that aren’t tethered to political sermons. Networks tried slashing production, dropping Friday shows, and trimming costs, but none of it masked the fact that the product itself was profoundly unfunny and deliberately alienating half of the country.
It didn’t have to be this way. The late-night legends — Carson, Leno, even Letterman — were not afraid to poke fun at anyone in power. They understood that comedy is funniest when it lands punches in all directions. Today’s crop only punches in one, and the result is a landscape devoid of risk, creativity, or mass appeal.
In the end, CBS pulled the plug not because the numbers stopped adding up overnight, but because a narrow, leftist agenda willfully destroyed the cultural relevance of late-night comedy. The political left, intoxicated by its own orthodoxy, choked the life out of a uniquely American art form.
The blame is not on audiences, nor on the shifting tides of media consumption. The death warrant for late night was signed the moment its architects stopped being comedians and became political operatives. This isn’t evolution; it’s self-destruction. And as the lights go out on late-night TV, the lesson is clear: it wasn’t declining economics that killed comedy. It was the left.
