Stephen Colbert is going to have a really interesting next few months. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is set to come to an end in May, not because the host has decided to move on (as is usually the case in late night), but because the show has been canceled out from under him. It was a shock to all of television when it was announced, and it was a shock to Colbert, as was the reaction he got afterward.
In a new interview with GQ, Colbert talks about the experience of learning that The Late Show was ending. While a great deal has been made about the show's ratings and profitability, The Late Show was the top of the late-night heap, which made the cancellation all the more surprising. When Colbert attempted to confide in a friend and maybe get some advice, the friend was unable to provide any because nothing like this had ever happened before. Colbert said…
I called a friend of mine who’s also in late night, and I was trying to work out my feelings and I said, ‘You got any thoughts on this?’ And he goes, ‘No, no one’s going to have any thoughts on this. No one’s ever been the number one show for nine years in a row and then been canceled.’ And so that surprised me.
When one asks somebody for advice, one expects to get, well... advice. It may not be great, it may just be an attempt at consolation, it might ultimately be bad advice, but you expect to get something. But this person, whoever they were, was at a complete loss because how do you react to somebody trying to deal with an experience that nobody has ever had?
Colbert doesn't mention who he spoke with. It might have been a host of another show or somebody behind the camera. It does appear that all of the late-night hosts are friendly, and some of them are actually friends.
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Colbert said that response, “surprised him,” and honestly, same. It’s perhaps just as shocking as the initial news that your job is being pulled out from under you. Colbert realized then, if he hadn’t already, that he was in uncharted territory.
The fact that this has never happened before is the reason so many people are so shocked and confused that it’s happening at all. CBS has claimed the decision is purely financial, that the show is losing money. However, others, like Jimmy Kimmel, have claimed the numbers being thrown around are wrong.
Colbert says his focus is on “landing the plane,” so it doesn't sound like he has even considered what he will do next, though it’s all but certain that he’ll be in high demand and won’t have any trouble finding work.