Colbert for President?

[Aviation Pro]

Who knows?

[Norbert]

1. Zelenskyy was a standup comic

So don't count Colbert out.

[Melon]

2. Only 2.4 million average viewers

18-49 age group was only 219,000 viewers.
Don’t confuse popular late night comedian with popular across America. I give that a big no. He was a comedian whose show was cancelled. His popularity isn’t as great as you think.

[Aviation Pro]

3. And yet a fucking pedophile with a failed reality TV show

Became president.

Colbert has name recognition.

[Melon]

4. So does Bill Cosby. I don't want him to run a county.

Everyone is upset Trump isn’t qualified. So we turn a comedian that was paid to be divisive. He won’t get elected and he’s not qualified. We can do better.

[Aviation Pro]

5. No, we can't

We are not in the age of Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt, men of letters. We are in the age of competitive entertainment.

And Cosby was another rapist.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

8. True

We aren't in the age of LIncoln or Teddy Roosevelt or FDR or Kennedy...but we have many, experienced Democrats who are more viable Presidential candidates than Colbert.

[Jack Valentino]

32. And REAL charisma as opposed to "I'm the biggest bully" charisma.

[unblock]

6. His show was canceled because Donnie saw him as a political threat

I don't know what comes next, but I do think you're underestimating the political value of this situation.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

7. Then why didn't they take him off the air immediately?

Why keep him on for 10 months?

I'm guessing had the show not been losing $40 million/year, CBS wouldn't have cared what he said about them, or Trump, or anyone else.

[Fiendish Thingy]

12. They would have had to buy out Colbert's contract

I don’t think the cancellation was a demand/condition of the settlement with Trump, as Colbert now has 10 I-don’t-give-a-fuck months to go scorched earth on Trump.

If Trump wanted Colbert off the air as a condition of the settlement, he would have made CBS eat the cost of buying out his contract rather than keeping him on the air for 10 more months.

Now cancelling Colbert as a strategy to help get the merger approved, and to make the merger more attractive to the buyer, that’s possible.

Of course, it could just come down to Sheri Redstone exacting revenge for Colbert’s monologue a few days earlier blasting the settlement as a bribe…

[SickOfTheOnePct]

13. You mean they'd have to pay for the contract...

...that they're having to pay for anyway?

[unblock]

14. Why pay to have a great show when you can pay to not have a great show?

[Fiendish Thingy]

18. That's why it is clear the cancellation was not a part of the settlement. Nt

[Fiendish Thingy]

17. But they wouldn't get a show, they'd just get him off the air

That’s my point.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

21. And save $85 million or so per year

If they were firing him because of the settlement, they could have paid his salary and still saved the other $85 million or so in production costs.

[unblock]

22. You're saying the show runs a loss even when you take colbert's pay out?

[Fiendish Thingy]

24. Colbert makes $5 million/yr

Show costs $100 million/yr (200 employees), loses $40 million/yr.

[unblock]

25. Dang

I don't know the first thing about television production but if they give me $50 million a year, I'll deliver the best production you can get for only $49 million a year.

[Fiendish Thingy]

27. I don't know anything about production costs either

But I do recall that, by the last season of Friends, each of the six cast members was getting $1 million, each, per episode and that was something like 25 years ago.

[unblock]

30. Name stars are irreplaceable. The rest of production is still mega millions?

I really don't see the value add relative to what a couple teenagers can do with a few thousand dollars of tech these days.

Obviously the show is going to be more expensive than a podcast or a TikTok, but a hundred million more? Yowza.

[Fiendish Thingy]

23. Exactly.nt

[unblock]

16. CBS's reasoning isn't really relevant to any political career Colbert may have

He has a long-running feud with Donnie and it sure looks like it was a political hit job and that's a good enough back story to launch a political career with.

[Jack Valentino]

36. And with the bad luck we have had with our "qualified" presidential nominees,

I'd be more than willing to take a chance on Colbert!

At least we'd know HERE is a guy who knows how to HIT BACK!
Being "qualified" doesn't mean shit,
if you can't win the election.

[Melon]

10. I don't think so. Outside of the network lost 16 million

It’s because the late night show have lost popularity. The show has a high cost star but has limited viewers and not in a popular demographic. He only appeals to half the population with his views and very little population under 50 watch the show.

They will try and find a more neutral program to try and get higher viewership.

[SheilaAnn]

9. CBS needs trump to seal their deal with an upcoming purchase of Star something or other..n/t

[Fiendish Thingy]

11. NO!!!

Celebrities are not our saviours!

I don’t think Colbert could even beat Lindsay Graham in his home state.

JFC

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. What's his C.V.?

" Well, about six months out of the year for the last 10 years, I told jokes on TV about our 45th and 47th president for about 15 minutes per night."

[Ms. Toad]

19. Please stop with the "Let's nominate the next shiny bauble for president," nonsense. n/t

[a kennedy]

20. Sorry, do not want this even spoken about. Stephen is funny, miss him on his Comedy Central show....but

I never really enjoyed him on CBS…..I always said, Stephen’s show was always about him, no matter who the guest was, it was always about how Stephen could top the guest. Ugh……absolutely loved him when he was the man, ya know on his Comedy Central show……he gets a real “talking head show” and he was NEVER ANY GOOD AT IT. Oh, and JMHO.

[Jack Valentino]

37. Well, we're speaking about it now.

[Celerity]

26. no

[mwmisses4289]

28. eewww, hell no.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

29. lol jesus christ

[Aviation Pro]

31. Do you know what Colbert has?

A very great team of talented writers who on a nightly basis got under the skin of the fucking pedophile.

Imagine taking that national and unleashing them on the likes of J.D. Couch Fucker Vance.

That's what average America wants, not policy discussions, but bread and circuses and gladiatorial scrums.

"Are you not entertained! Is this not why you are here?"

[Jack Valentino]

38. Well, all those writers will be jobless come next May....

Maybe some of them would like to write for a presidential candidate

[Iggo]

33. How about Michael Avenatti?

Let’s stop doing this.

[Morbius]

34. Leave promoting unqualified celebrities to the GOP.

I like Colbert. I don't want him in office.

[GammyMede]

35. I like this idea

He's far better than any of the other so-called leaders in this party now.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

41. Welcome to DU

[Sogo]

39. The next President needs to be someone who has qualifications beyond just being famous.

We've already had that, and it's been a disaster.

[Patton French]

40. LOL!