The Canning of Colbert Is a Victory for Comedy … and for Colbert

The seven days of mourning over the death of Stephen Colbert’s late-night show has ended. The rendered garments have been replaced. The flag no longer flies at half-staff. I now feel at liberty to speak without sounding ghoulish.

 “Good riddance!” I say.

First, a bit of background. For years, I was a nationally-syndicated topical humor writer for morning DJs around the country, bringing the funny and timely 15 hours before late-night. (I also occasionally freelanced for “The Tonight Show.”) My mission in life was to kick the Schiff out of the monologues written by the entire staffs of Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Jimmy Kimmel combined. And frankly, I did. (Well, it’s not like I have skills in anything practical.) I also ended up the vice president at All Comedy Radio.

So, those still shedding tears or screaming that Colbert’s firing was a sign of tyranny and dictatorship rather than dollars and common sense might want to hear what I’m about to say.

Colbert’s cancelation is a victory for comedy. Let me give you three reasons. Well, four, if you include, “It gives CBS a chance to put a comedy show in late night for the first time in decades.”

Bloated, Budget-Busting Bloviation Brings Cancelation

Colbert was losing CBS $40 million to $50 million a year. Comedians lose their spot at a club if they can’t draw enough people willing to pay a two-drink minimum. I guarantee you can throw a dart inside The Comedy Store in West Hollywood and hit someone who would be as entertaining as Colbert and lose CBS a lot less. Heck, throw the dart at a Dollar Store in Euless, Texas.

For example, Colbert has 15 staff writers. I proved you don’t need 15 writers, especially if you are President Donald Trump-obsessed. All you need is whatever Trump said during the day and an intern to write up your cue cards. Topical humor writers getting paid to write about Trump is like Chris Christie getting paid to write about pizza.

Besides, according to Grok, although the exact figure is not known, “it is reasonable to estimate that Trump likely has a core team of 2-3 primary speechwriters.” Yes. Colbert has five times as many writers as the president he mocks.

The Jester Doesn’t Trash the People on Behalf of the Powerful

When I was a Hollywood liberal, I was accused of being a Rush Limbaugh “Ditto Head.” When I became conservative, I was accused of being a “leftist Jon Stewart wannabe.” That’s how it should be.

Yet, Colbert spends every night trashing half the nation, serving as a puppet for Democrat propaganda. Remember the dancing COVID-19 vax syringes? His nonstop venom toward Trump and his supporters drove away half the people CBS needs to reach to sell Doritos, Dodge trucks, and drugs. It’s bad business, it’s bad for America, and it’s bad for comedy, particularly late night. Did anybody know Johnny Carson’s politics? Leno’s? Leno actually used to do pointed political comedy in his stand-up, but he knew that wasn’t what late night was about. You poke fun at ‘em all.

Not Colbert, or for that matter, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers. They put liberalism ahead of laughter, politics ahead of people, their ego ahead of their audience.

Which gets to my main point.

The 2 Trees of Comedy

There are two trees of comedy … think of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but with Groucho glasses.

The healthy comedy tree, the tree that brings life, is the tree that has as its root the belief “We are all in this together.” It’s that tree that gave us Will Rogers, Lucy & Desi, Bill Cosby, Jeff Foxworthy, Jim Gaffigan, Ellen DeGeneres before she turned bitter, Leno and Carson, and now Greg Gutfeld. Those from that tree jab with a twinkle, not malice. They aim to draw laughs, not blood. They may make fun of the folly of our leaders and others, but also themselves and this crazy, goofy world we share. They find within the insanity our common humanity. They yuck it up. They cut up. They build up. Those from this tree of comedy aim to make our walk on these often treacherous, torturous roads easier to bear.

Those from the other tree, they don’t think “We are all in this together.” They think “We are above it. We are above them. We are smarter. We are untouched. We are as gods.” They look down. They shoot down. They cut down. Think David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Joy Behar, the last few decades of “Saturday Night Live,” the fawned-over, F-bomb-throwing comics critics call “edgy.” Their fruit, as Colbert has shown, ultimately rots, when not immediately toxic.

Which Tree Should You Sprout From?

Those who have been blessed with the ability to create or perform comedy—for that matter, all who have been given a sense of humor—have been handed a precious gift. If you remember Colbert from his “Daily Show” days, you know he was blessed with this gift. With it you can bring light and community or darkness and division.

Oh, and it’s so easy to go toward the dark. It is easier to write 30 jokes that are negative, insulting, or sarcastic than five that are positive, that say “On the bright side … “

Take it from someone who’s been there, who briefly fell to the point he actually wrote jokes about the Columbine massacre. The day of.

Which is why when I say, “Good Riddance” to Colbert, I also sincerely say, “Good for Colbert!” By all accounts, Colbert is a nice fellow, a man of faith. It is my prayer that he will come down from the high perch, take a breath, take some time, then reclaim what God meant for his gifts: to be a blessing for all of us in need of uplifting.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

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