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Photo: courtesy of en.wikipedia.org
When CBS announced last July that Stephen Colbert would be taking over the Late Show, many viewers of American late-night television felt a pang of conflicted emotions. David Letterman hosted the Late Show for 22 years, and David Letterman is irreplaceable.
A lot of us grew up watching Letterman on the Late Show like he was a goofy, affable, well-dressed and well-spoken father figure. He chatted daily with a whole spectrum of American royalty that we would never otherwise have access to. He made us feel included in the debacle. There is something very emotional about that.
So when CBS announced that the mantle would be falling onto Stephen Colbert’s shoulders, the question on everyone’s minds was: “Can he do it?” Colbert’s style of humor on his previous show, The Colbert Report, was punchier, flashier, and perhaps a bit more vapid. So a lot of people have been holding their breaths to see what he would bring to the table for the weightier role—not least of all Colbert himself. Fortunately for everyone, since the show’s premiere on September 8 he has been absolutely killing it.
Colbert stepped up to bat with a whole new level of humility and honesty. There are moments where you can tell the near-hysteria of trying to meet our huge expectations is (almost) getting to him, and then he rolls with the punches and pops up with hilarious, endearing, high-quality entertainment. What I am enjoying most of all is his honesty. I would be terrified to do that job. He has to interact with extremely high-profile, impressive people—Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, Cate Blanchett—on live television on a daily basis.
He is expected to deliver off-the-cuff opinions and jokes about scary and intense news events, on live television, on a daily basis. Not to mention the fact that his jokes are also expected to be correct, repeatable and not accidentally offensive. And he is doing all of this live from the stage of the beautiful, historic, hallowed Ed Sullivan Theater, while simultaneously staring straight into the living rooms of every household in America. Live. Every single day, for an hour. The pressure of that must be tremendous.
But Colbert is doing a tremendous job. In case you haven’t had a chance to tune in yet, here are a few of my favorite moments so far:
1. When Colbert congratulated Jesse Eisenberg on completing a collection of short stories. He confessed that he tried to write a book once, too, but wasn’t successful. Colbert said: “You write a suicide letter, but you don’t make a suicide movie, or host a suicide television show.” And the look on his face was one of genuine awe.
2. When he described sitting shell-shocked in his kitchen that morning while his wife and children ate breakfast together without him. Colbert described with touching sincerity how he felt completely outside of the family experience because his new job was just so overwhelming. He said: “I love my kids.” And the look on his face was one of genuine awe.
3. When Oprah told him about the pressure she felt when she began hosting her first talk show in 1976. The marketers of the show had plastered her picture all over the city with the caption, “What is an Oprah?” The pressure she felt was huge. While she told this story, Colbert just listened to her with that look of awe and admiration on his face.
If you haven’t been watching the Late Show, these are only a few of many memorable moments. So to answer the question: can Stephen Colbert live up to the legacy left behind by David Letterman? After one month of the show’s new season, this reviewer thinks that yes—just maybe—yes, he can.
-by Rachel Veroff
twitter: @rachel_veroff