Bob Odenkirk sees a Conan O'Brien-esque trajectory for Stephen Colbert
Everybody in showbiz is required to have an opinion on Stephen Colbert and CBS’ cancellation of The Late Show right now. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly at Comic-Con, comedy vet and Emmy nominee Bob Odenkirk didn’t sound like he wanted to wade too deeply into the implications of Colbert’s firing. “I can’t make out the political side of this versus the economic side of it. … I do know that viewing patterns have shifted,” he says. “Maybe that format has kind of run its time? And also, by the way, one less person doing that will maybe help some of the other shows be stronger. But I know Stephen—we’re gonna see lots more of Stephen.”
CBS has claimed that the decision to end The Late Show was “purely financial,” but most in the comedy world agree that the decision stemmed from Paramount’s desire to appease President Donald Trump ahead of the company’s merger with Skydance. Bravo’s Andy Cohen observed that the network had plenty of options to reduce The Late Show budget before outright canceling, which was reiterated by Colbert’s predecessor David Letterman, and his producers Barbara Gaines and Mary Barclay on a recent podcast episode. Letterman characteristically ripped into the “gutless” “bottom feeders” at Skydance, complaining that “There’s no fairness to these goons.” He did acknowledge that “Of course, they know that broadcast television is withering,” but added, “They just want to make sure that, on top of buying something that doesn’t have the same value as it had 30 years ago, they don’t want to be hassled by the United States government. So they want CBS to take care of all of that mess.”
In his interview with EW, Odenkirk sets aside the mess to opine, “Here’s the one thing I’m not remotely concerned about: not having Stephen Colbert do excellent work for the rest of his life as long as he wants to. Whether it’s on a different platform, or for CBS under a different banner, or his own company.” He speculates, “It’s not gonna be unlike Conan O’Brien, who you can see every day, all you want.” (O’Brien turned his ousting at NBC into a long-running TBS late night show and now does travel specials for HBO Max while hosting a popular interview podcast produced by his own company.) As Odenkirk puts it, “He’s gonna make stuff, ’cause Stephen is a creator, and a genius, and his voice is pure and wonderful.”
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