Stephen Colbert's MAGA-coded replacement flops in debut: report

[LetMyPeopleVote]

This makes me smile

Stephen Colbert wrapped up "The Late Show" last week after alleged pressure from President Donald Trump on his parent network, but his replacement isn't exactly filling the gap, according to new reporting.

— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2026-05-28T05:00:18Z

https://www.rawstory.com/stephen-colbert-cbs-2676964073/

Stephen Colbert wrapped up "The Late Show" last week after alleged pressure from President Donald Trump on his parent network, but his replacement isn't exactly filling the gap, according to new reporting.

The series finale of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert drew more than 6.7 million viewers, according to reporting by The Daily Beast, which looked at Nielsen data.

The show filling Colbert's time slot on CBS, Byron Allen's "Comics Unleashed," drew only 995,000 viewers with its first episode, The Daily Beast reported. Allen is the billionaire owner of the Allen Media Group.

Late-night talk shows hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon topped more than 1.5 million viewers on the same night that Comics Unleashed debuted, according to The Daily Beast, which noted that Kimmel aired a rerun that night.

According to The Daily Beast, even Colbert's YouTube channel is nearly outperforming Allen's show. Colbert's appearance on the public access TV show "Only in Monroe" drew 928,000 views on Colbert's YouTube, which doesn't include viewers who watched via other channels and platforms.

CBS announced earlier this year that Colbert's show would end this month, citing financial reasons. However, Colbert and multiple political analysts have suggested that Trump's criticisms of Colbert were the cause.

[Ritabert]

1. I watched it once awhile ago....not funny.

[Wednesdays]

2. No surprise there.

Byron Allen is about as exciting as a wet firecracker.

[Initech]

3. Good! CBS is dead to me after Colbert's cancelation.

Fuck David Ellison!

[ananda]

13. CBS has been dead to me since they fired Dan Rather...

along with all other msm channels.

[ColoringFool]

4. I Wouldn't Crow. Byron Allen Is A True Horatio Alger Story,.....

A Black Stand-Up comic with a brain for the entertainment business bought and sold programs and acquired channels to broadcast them on.

Byron Allen - Wikipedia https://share.google/6K2ChQOCgPxuAzpOS

[GoodRaisin]

5. I watched a a few minutes of the Byron Allen show on YouTube just to see what it is.

It stinks.

Anybody who is used to watching Colbert is not going to watch that.

[Traildogbob]

7. I sometimes watched it after following Cobert.

Agree with y’all. Freaking boring. The best way to fall asleep without meds. Staying up to watch Cobert and energized with laughter and good feelings, then listen to a minute of Allen, you go into a comma fast.

[mdbl]

8. Since I know longer watch anything Paramount or CBS

It doesn't matter if Byron is entertaining or not.

[Wounded Bear]

9. Conservative comedian is an oxymoron...

They tend to punch down, which doesn't have the comedic clout of punching up.

[tishaLA]

10. He actually pays CBS for the air time

So he can fail and fail and fail and the network doesn't lose money. He's a billionaire c"comic" reep who's never been funny or done anything noteworthy but somehow managed to amass a fortune despite lacking talent.

That's the world we're living in.

[Figarosmom]

11. Doesn't matter, bryan allen is paying for the time slot CBS isn't paying him

So CBS makes money of of bryan allen w/o the advertising or rather it is watched or not.

[MIButterfly]

12. I watched Comics Unleashed a number of years ago

As far as I could tell, Byron Allen would ask "comics" I never heard of prepared questions so they could respond with prepared answers, probably from their acts, if they even had any. It was boring and even worse, not the least bit funny.

A couple of years ago, his "Funny You Should Ask" game show where comedians (most of which I have heard of) would answer questions with what I'm pretty sure were prepared responses was on GSN early in the morning. Before the show, an announcement would come on saying (and I'm paraphrasing) "The following is a paid announcement and does not reflect the views of this station." So he paid to have that one on too.

[LiberalLovinLug]

14. KInd of depressing that it drew almost a million viewers

Hopefully that was just curious lookyloos on its debut.

[Crowman2009]

15. Reminds me of a joke about Byron Allen from a horror spoof movie back in the day.

It went like this: I see more dead people here than the Byron Allen show.

[LilElf70]

16. CBS drops Colbert for financial reasons?

Just wait. They have no idea what financial crisis is about to occur. Lost over 5 million viewers on day 1?

Of course it was Trump. My question is quite simple. Does CBS know about the first amendment?

And now, because CBS got sucked into kissing that f'ing ring, they will pay dearly. It may cost them their license in bankruptcy. Wouldn't that be awesome? Deny the first amendment, kiss his ass, get in the cult, and WHAM!!!.... Just like everyone else that has been involved with Trump.

You think Trump gives a shit? He just told everyone he could care less about the midterms. Now that I believe.

[Charlie Chapulin]

17. I remember Byron Allen

on That’s Incredible in the 80s. Didn’t find him all that funny then and have not found Comics Unleashed all that funny the couple times I’ve seen it start. Usually shut it off any more when it comes in.
Big shoes to fill….

[Jimbo S]

20. Real People(?)

I remember his debut on "Real People". I don't remember him on "That's Incredible".

[Charlie Chapulin]

22. Thank you.

I stand corrected. That 80s TV is a blur. Much like the 80s themselves.

He still wasn’t funny then.

[Melon]

18. I wonder if Colbert was given the option to reduce cost?

This versus everyone laid off and the show shutdown. On a normal corporate basis, the first option would be to reduce cost. It seems like he was just shut down.

[Cheezoholic]

19. How in the hell did no talent Byron Allen become a billionaire? Baffling n/t

[tavernier]

21. And yet

He and Colbert are good friends.

[Charlie Chapulin]

23. Colbert is a decent human.

Unlike….