slop101

If you use the Waze app, you can now choose Colbert as one of the navigation voices.


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Throwing Copper

Can't believe it's almost here. I think this is going to be a good show.

slop101

Good article on Colbert in today's NYT.

madcougar

Gonna have to tune out when Stupid's brother Just As Stupid comes on the first night.

slop101

This is pretty great - his show hasn't even started yet and he's already trolling Bush!

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Also, I guess his premier show will run 10 or 15 minutes long, so set your DVRs accordingly.

Jackskeleton

Wow. I'm excited for this.

Throwing Copper

It already says 11:35 to 12:44 on the channel guide on DirecTV. So i guess they got it right for once. So many people missed the final 10 minutes or so of David Letterman's last show.

Throwing Copper

Tonight is finally the night. Don't forget to set your DVR to record a little bit extra just in case it cuts off.

This week's guests:

Tuesday - George Clooney, Jeb Bush
Wednesday - Scarlett Johansson, Elon Musk, Kendrick Lamar
Thursday - Vice President Joe Biden, Travis Kalanick, Toby Keith
Friday - Amy Schumer, Stephen King, Troubled Waters

Cellar Door

Thanks for the heads-up on the overtime. I'm really looking forward to this.

dolphinboy

Deadline.com reported the taping took around 3 hours because of a "glitch" during the Jeb Bush segment that had to be redone.

I'm so excited for this, but it's also bittersweet because I just never even seriously contemplated life without Letterman.

Unlike the TDS, which will shock me if it's even remotely as good without Jon, I am really excited and confident that Colbert will give me a reason to keep watching late night talk shows.

Mike86

Watched the first episode and it was okay for the most part. I like Colbert's energy but some of his humor doesn't work for me and feels like it's forced. I think the new set is pretty cool. The interview segments with Clooney and Bush were both decent and I think Colbert is a decent interviewer. Overall I'll probably keep watching for a while but not sure if I'll watch all the time.

slop101

Let's keep in mind, the first episode of every kind of show like this is always the worst one.

Mike86

I didn't say it was bad though. I just felt like some stuff worked and some didn't mostly in regards to his humor. I've always felt that way about Colbert and have never really been completely sold on him. Some of his humor is just a bit too over the top for my taste. I enjoyed it for the most part though.

Throwing Copper

Colbert is already better than stupid fucking Jimmy Fallon, so that's a win. I still enjoy Conan, but he's no longer relevant being over on TBS.

slop101

I wasn't directing my comment towards you or your post - it was just a general statement about these kinds of shows.

Mike86

I wouldn't say Conan isn't relevant at all it's just unfortunate for him that his show gets sort of buried not being on one of the big networks. I think his show is overall as solid as ever though. I don't mind Fallon but he plays it a lot safer whereas I think Colbert will take more risks.

coli

I was up last night so I watched the whole episode, and I found it painfully unfunny. His humor was forced all night, because he (The Real Colbert) isn't a funny guy, only his alter-ego on the Comedy Central Show. If anyone found the OREO bit even remotely funny, then maybe I am in the minority these days when it comes to comedy because it was just not funny at all and pretty juvenile.


I just think the landscape of latenight is pretty bad today, as I honestly can't watch any of these guys on a regular basis unless they nab a big time guest that I'm interested in seeing.

Maybe I'm just getting old (I'm 42 years old) and this sophmoric humor doesn't appeal to me (even though it never did when I was younger), but Fallon, Kimmel, Conan, Colbert, Meyers, and the british guy after Colbert are all pretty much only watchable in small doses. And for the record, I HATE with a passion the Jimmy Fallon games he plays with actors, as if all of these hosts adopt it then I will truly be done with late night shows.

Double_Oh_7

So you want them to just come out, do a monologue, read some poorly written local newspaper headlines, and sit at the desk with guests the rest of the night? Sorry, those days are over.

coli

They can do whatever they want, as long as its funny! The problem is none of these guys on late night are funny on a regular basis. I'm sure they all do some good bit and have a good interview once in a while, but none of them are appointment TV (or even DVR worthy in this day and age). You can just catch them on Youtube for anything that is water cooler material.

I know Letterman got stale in latter years, but I watched Carson and Letterman for THEM first, and then if they had a great guest on that night it was gravy. Even Craig Ferguson I could tune in and he would do some great interview with some B list star, but again I was tuning in for Craig Ferguson. Not one of these guys I would ever tune in for unless they have some big star on I want to see.

Groucho

It was okay. It was clear that Colbert was trying to bridge the gap between younger audiences who watched "The Colbert Report" and older audiences who watched Letterman...and it didn't quite work.

DRG

I enjoyed it. The humor worked for me, and his persona here still has a lot of that Colbert-ness even if he's not that exact character.

The only part I'm not sold on was the band... I'm sure they're talented, but they seem like an odd fit for this show.

I didn't care for the end musical number. I didn't recognize most of those people (except the Alabama Shakes lady) so it came off like one of those cheesy American Idol group numbers to me.

slop101

It was fine for a first show, but yeah, there's a lot of room for improvement. I'm sure that Colbert is even more aware of all the issues brought up here and elsewhere, and I'm sure he'll address them soon enough, adjusting his show as it goes.

Quatermass

I was not impressed. I am probably the only person in the US who never once saw any of The Colbert Report but I know it was very popular so my hopes were set pretty high. I kept thinking he's like the annoying kid that wants to be the class clown but just isn't funny. I'll give him a break because he's still trying to establish himself in this format, but he seemed to beat all the jokes to death. One other thing I noticed was there seemed to be an inordinately high number of commercials. Was it just me or was the show 50% advertising? I currently flip back and forth anyway between Kimmel and Fallon and this will give me a third option. I don't like any of them enough to record them.

dolphinboy

I thought it was an ok first show. I had to fight the high expectations I had going in and then the low expectations once Twitter lit up from the east coast, which was mostly negative.

First thing was obviously accepting this wasn't going to be Dave. Then I tried to get used to that set, which was nice in some ways but also felt a bit a busy.

Then it became apparent (and surprising) that the show felt more like a one hour version of the Colbert Report that something completely new. I wasn't expecting that at all.

The Oreo cookie thing was friggin' hilarious. It was pretty much the first thing even those who'd disliked it on twitter were reacting positively and it totally worked for me too.

The Clooney interview as the worst part of the show and it was NOT George's fault. It was clearly edited up badly and Colbert really didn't have a conversation with him. They would touch on one thing and then just quickly move on to something else. That part really needs the most work imho, because it was truly bad and because most people do tune in to see the top celebrities.

He did very well with Bush, but how many people are really watching that late at night to see Jeb Bush? I also didn't like how much was edited out. There was a segment with Jeb where Colbert asks him to answer a question like Trump and they have him say funny things like he'll build a wall between the USA and Iran and have Mexico pay for it. I'm not a fan of cutting things up so random bits can be web exclusives.

The music at the end wasn't interesting for me, but neither will Kendrick Lamar, so I assume I can just ignore that part because it was meant to be a celebration and, even with Letterman, I either like the musical guest or I don't. As long as Colbert doesn't try to sing along with Foo Fighters, I'm good.

Definitely expected the show to feel less disjointed and less like the Colbert Report, but it still was better than Fallon and while I like Kimmel in small doses, I can't watch him for an hour. The fact that I was only ok with this first show and still had no problem watching it all bodes well for the future if/when Colbert finds his groove.

Yes, I too felt there were either more commercials or that the breaks were longer. If that continues, all the more reason to do a better job with interviewing the "A" guest. I don't want to see 15 minutes of a great interview with Bernie Sanders unless I'm getting the same from Scarlett Johansson.

Reviews I've read have been mostly positive. I'd give it a B-. Before the show began, I would have expected it to have been better but it's not even close to bad or the disaster that some people are making it out to be.

stopgap

Unimpressed. The guests didn't help either though.