Stephen Colbert's MAGA-coded replacement flops in debut: report [View all]

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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.