The following article, The Late-Night Leper Colony: How Leftism Turned Talk Shows Into Unwatchable Sermons, was first published on The Black Sphere.
The Corpse Still Thinks It’s Funny
Once a ratings juggernaut, late-night TV now wheezes toward oblivion. The culprit? Not streaming, not millennials—just good old-fashioned Leftist self-sabotage. Grab your popcorn; the implosion is glorious.
Let’s not mince words: CBS didn’t cancel The Late Show because of “financial challenges.” They canceled it because Stephen Colbert took a sledgehammer to the franchise’s legacy and turned it into a nightly MSNBC focus group. The network’s press release is a masterclass in corporate cowardice:
“This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night… It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Translation: “The Titanic’s sinking had nothing to do with the iceberg—it was a purely nautical decision.”
Colbert’s audience evaporated faster than a Biden White House promise, yet CBS expects us to believe this was just bad luck? Please. This is the same network that greenlit Two and a Half Men after Charlie Sheen threatened to murder the cast. They’ll tolerate anything—except losing money.
Colbert turned an iconic show into a nightly MSNBC Trump-Hating telethon. But before CBS, Comedy Central saw the writing on the wall.
The Trevor Noah Catastrophe: A Case Study in Leftist Logic
If Colbert’s collapse was predictable, Trevor Noah’s tenure at The Daily Show was a live demonstration of Leftism’s perverse incentive structure. Here’s a man who:
- Had no business hosting an American comedy institution – A South African comic with zero stateside cultural roots, handed a legacy built by Craig Kilborn and Jon Stewart. Nepotism? No—just Diversity
. - Lost 75% of his audience – Imagine a CEO presiding over that kind of hemorrhage. He’d be escorted out by security before lunch. But in Leftist circles, failure is rewarded with fawning Vanity Fair profiles.
- Spent his entire platform vilifying America – A man who struck gold in this country used his mic to trash its foundations nightly. The audacity is almost impressive.
.Noah’s exit wasn’t just a mercy killing—it was an indictment of Leftism. Comedy Central didn’t “move on” from him; they surgically removed a tumor. And yet, the Very Online still pretend his tenure was anything but a disaster. Why? Because in the Left world, ideological conformity trumps competence. Every. Single. Time.
The Numbers Are Laughing (At Them)
Let’s autopsy the ratings, shall we?
- Colbert: Lost 32% of his audience in five years. For context, that’s like McDonald’s suddenly forgetting how to make fries.
- Noah: Drove away three-quarters of Stewart’s viewers. If this were a restaurant, the health department would’ve shut it down for emotional food poisoning.
- Kimmel (Coming Soon): Down 22% since 2020. ABC’s clinging to him like a drunk to a lamppost.
But the end is nigh. And the Left’s excuse? “Streaming! TikTok! Attention spans!”
Pump the brakes, Princess. Audiences flee preachiness. Always have, always will.
The Johnny Carson Standard (Or: How Low We’ve Sunk)
Carson didn’t just host a show—he curated comedy itself. His couch launched more careers than Harvard. Compare that to Colbert’s “legacy”:
- Guests: Came on to promote projects, left looking like hostages.
- Monologues: Less “observational humor,” more “angry tweets performed live.”
- Cultural Impact: Remembered not for laughs, but for cringe.
And CBS calls this “irreplaceable”? They’re right—no one could replicate this level of self-sabotage.
Why This Matters (Beyond Schadenfreude)
Late-night’s collapse isn’t just about TV—it’s a microcosm of Leftism’s death grip on culture:
- Take a thriving institution (Comedy, universities, cities)
- Inject dogma until it’s unrecognizable
- Blame external factors when it fails
Rinse. Repeat.
The Silver Lining
Bill Carter who authored several books on the subject commented, “Late night was once a fabulous generator of profit,” because shows were cheaper to produce than primetime fare and featured abundant commercial time.
Colbert, Noah, and soon Jimmy Kimmel prove that Leftist will ultimately turn a winning model into a money pit.
So chalk up another win for President Trump and MAGA. In 2026, the Left loses another worthless late-night mouthpiece. In 2026, when The Late Show flatlines, pour one out for the crew—but celebrate the lesson: Audiences reject lectures disguised as entertainment. The market always wins. Even if the losers won’t admit it.
Final Thought: The next time a late-night host sneers at “flyover country,” remember: their relevance is circling the drain. And the people they mock? They’re the ones still changing the channel.
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