Linda Holmes
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Appearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
He played a fictional version of himself, a conservative firebrand talk show host.
On the late show, Colbert was just himself, a warm and affable presence in interviews and more and more as time went on, a critic of Donald Trump.
In July, CBS announced that the current season would be the last, citing the difficult economics of late night shows.
But this also happened while CBS was seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for a multibillion dollar merger with Skydance Media.
It also closely followed Colbert's criticism of CBS's decision to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit Trump had filed over a 60-minute interview he claimed was unfairly edited.
Colbert himself has said essentially that he thinks two things can be true.
The economics of late night have indeed become difficult, but also perhaps it was particularly appealing to end the show at this particular political and corporate moment.
Eric, I want to ask you first, when you think about Stephen Colbert's career, what do you think sets him apart as a host?
And one of the things that I have always thought was interesting about him is that he is not afraid at all of really earnest conversations with guests, like earnest, deeply felt conversations with guests about grief.
He's talked a lot about loss and how he deals with loss and
You know, you mentioned his faith, which is a huge part of his personality and a huge part of, I think, his worldview.
And when he talks to guests about faith and grief and God and things like that, it is just something that, you know, you occasionally, especially I would say late in his career, got lost.
his relationship with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, and Seth Meyers.
And those guys made the Strike Force 5 podcast during the writing and acting strike, which you and I also talked about at the time that that was going on.
But those guys all came around also, you know, during the closing days of Colbert's show and all appeared together, which is something that like you and I know in the olden days of late night, that was not a thing.
Like that was just not a thing you would have seen.