CBS Shakes Up Late Night: Two Comedies Take Over the Late Show Slot After Cancellation

Well, here’s a turn I didn’t expect to see so soon: CBS is officially pulling the plug on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this May, and while you might assume they’re bailing on the whole late-night comedy thing, that’s not quite the case. Instead, CBS is just choosing a much cheaper, much safer late-night comedy—and handing the time slot to Byron Allen.

Colbert Out—But Not Because of the Usual Late-Night Drama (Supposedly)

Let’s back up a bit: Last July, Colbert announced that CBS was canceling his version of The Late Show. This surprised a lot of viewers—especially because Colbert is still the top-watched host in network late night (Gutfeld over on Fox News skews conservative, so for a big-tent audience, Colbert is still king). Rumors kicked off almost immediately, as Colbert has gotten increasingly sharp with his anti-Trump commentary over the years. Some thought CBS was just tired of ticking off a former president and his fanbase.

CBS, of course, said it was all about money—making it sound pretty clinical. And honestly, that tracks. The Late Show has been feeling its age not just in terms of its actual staff (reportedly about 200 people) but also its costs—apparently running up to $100 million a year. Despite the ratings, it was still running at a deficit of roughly $40 million a year. Not exactly what a network wants to see, especially with a very not-young viewer average.

Still, if you like a good conspiracy, you might enjoy knowing that around the same time all this was going down, Paramount (CBS’s parent company) was trying to make nice with the Trump White House so they could get their big Skydance merger okayed. Did that play a role in Colbert’s ouster? Hard to say for sure, but you can see why people talk.

Who Gets the 11:35 Slot Now?

So, what replaces the biggest stage in network late night? Come May 22, just one day after Colbert signs off, CBS is going with a tried-and-tested rerun machine: Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen. If you’ve ever flipped on CBS in the dead of night, you’ve likely seen this one—Allen’s been running this show since 2006 in syndication, with old episodes often popping up late in the lineup.

In case you’ve managed to avoid it: Each episode opens with Allen delivering a quick monologue, then bringing a rotating panel of stand-up comics (many of them on the rise) to share bits from their act in a roundtable format. It’s a pretty friendly, low-controversy zone—deliberately so.

Allen Keeps Things 'Evergreen'

Byron Allen has made it clear he doesn’t want anything that’ll ruffle advertiser feathers. Politically edgy? Not on this show. Here’s how he summed it up to the LA Times last year:

I tell the comedians we’re shooting I Love Lucy. Something that’s evergreen. So I don’t want to hear any political humor. Just be funny, family-friendly, and advertiser-friendly.

CBS's New Cheap-and-Cheerful Comedy Block

And in true Allen fashion, Comics Unleashed is just the start. Immediately after, CBS will stick on another Allen property: the game show Funny You Should Ask, hosted by Jon Kelley. More comedy, still no drama.

The genius (or cynicism, if you’d rather) behind this swap: CBS isn’t even bothering with making its own show this time. Instead, Byron Allen and the Allen Media Group are literally buying the airtime from CBS and then selling the ads themselves. That means CBS gets guaranteed money upfront, offloads all production headaches, and dodges messy political standoffs. Plus, these shows are cheap—especially compared to the behemoth that was Colbert’s operation.

• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: $100 million/year, 200 staffers, most-watched on network TV but still losing ~$40 million/year.
• Comics Unleashed w/ Byron Allen: Rerun-friendly, low-cost, totally inoffensive, CBS doesn’t even have to pay for production.
• Funny You Should Ask: More Allen, more laughs, same deal.

Colbert's Parting Words

When Colbert said goodbye to his Late Show audience, he let slip that even he hoped the franchise would live on: 'Let me tell you, it is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it.' The fact that CBS is just shelving the brand instead suggests they’re truly done with legacy late-night, at least for now.

The bottom line: CBS is betting that a nostalgia-tinged, controversy-free comedy lineup will be easier (and a lot cheaper) than anything resembling the late-night playbook of the last 30 years. Is this smart, sad, or just inevitable? You decide.