The death of the late night US chat show?

Stephen Colbert took viewers by surprise this week when he announced The Late Show would be heading for the big TV schedule in the sky.

The long-running series, which he has hosted since 2015, will leave screens next May. And not because Colbert is being replaced by a new presenter – the show is ending altogether.

Given the way the broadcasting winds are blowing, this cancellation is unlikely to be the last. Viewers will now be wondering whether Seth Meyers or one of the Jimmys – Fallon and Kimmel – might soon follow.

TV critic Emma Bullimore notes the late-night chat show format has historically thrived in the US in a way that other countries, including the UK, have always “admired but struggled to emulate”.

“Late night shows are a staple of American TV in the same way British television would look odd without soaps or afternoon quizzes,” she says. “This cancellation certainly comes as a surprise, both in the decision itself and the way it has been delivered.”

Some viewers were similarly taken aback. “I’m not big into late night TV anymore,” wrote one, “but this feels weird. The Late Show is an institution.” Another described the news as “really, really bad, not just for the state of late TV but also in a general sense for the state of media”.

But the traditional chat show format, which was created decades ago, finds itself facing several issues in the current television landscape.

For one thing, the kind of content they produce is arguably no longer compatible with audience appetite.

“These types of programmes are generally not a genre people will stream or watch via catch-up,” says Frances Taylor, TV Previews Editor at Radio Times. “They’re nightly and they’re topical and are therefore pretty much out of date just 24 hours later.

“It’s tricky for them to have life outside of that nightly broadcast, whereas dramas, documentaries and sitcoms don’t suffer from that problem.”

Added to which, it can be increasingly difficult for bookers to get good guests, and not just because they have four shows a week to fill.

Chat shows used to be one of the first places for publicists to offer their stars, but the huge number of competitors that have sprung up over the last 15 years has changed that.

Appearing on popular social media or YouTube formats such as Chicken Shop Date or Snack Wars arguably now hold more appeal, both for the celebrity, who can goof around and not reveal as much of much of themselves, and for their PR teams, who feel safer if they can keep their talent away from potentially more difficult questions.

That’s not to say viral moments can’t come from traditional TV. Chat shows have done their best to adapt to the times over the last decade.

Segments such as James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke and Fallon’s Wheel of Musical Impressions reflected a new blueprint, where features were invented with online appeal front of mind.

And it worked, too. Audiences love clips based on “bits” rather than chat. Graham Norton’s best performing YouTube clip, with more than 100m views, is the time Will Smith broke away from the sofa for an all-star musical performance.

Colbert has 10m YouTube subscribers – a healthy number for sure, but a weaker figure than Kimmel’s 20m and Fallon’s 32m.

It’s worth noting that, even before the invention of streaming, the world of US chat shows was always a competitive, dog-eat-dog world.

But the big TV advertising bucks that kept so many of them afloat have vanished, having gone down with the terrestrial TV ship.

Fundamentally, the format’s raison d’être is now under question. Taylor notes that, by the time chat shows are broadcast, “most people will already be across all of the major stories from the day”.

“Not only that, but their social feeds will be full of social creators feeding that appetite for topical, satirical content, be it with impressions of the US President or having an irreverent take on Elon Musk’s latest venture.”

She references John Mulaney’s recent attempt to bring a live chat show to Netflix, with mixed results.

Its future now looks uncertain, and Mulaney recently said he and the team were “figuring out” what their next move would be, stopping short of committing to a second season.

“That doesn’t exactly sound as though it was a runaway success,” Taylor says.

Colbert told viewers The Late Show’s cancellation was ultimately a financial decision – which is certainly a credible explanation.

Television is expensive to make, with huge teams of producers, directors, camera operators and other technical staff, not to mention the large fee for the presenter.

And while YouTubers can now offer an increasingly professional operation themselves, they can do so at a fraction of the cost.

But the cancellation still puzzled some. The Late Show was one of CBS’s top shows, attracting an average audience of 2.57m viewers in 2024.

Its ratings actually improved under Colbert, particularly after it began skewering the Trump administration – the host is one of the president’s most vocal critics.

As a result, some have questioned whether the show’s cancellation has anything to do with political pressure.

Its closure comes after CBS parent company Paramount settled with US President Donald Trump over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.

President Trump said the way his presidential rival’s answer to a question about Israel was presented on two different platforms made her look more favourable to viewers.

CBS noted at the time its settlement did not include a statement of apology or regret. Business commentators said the deal was made partly so as to not affect Paramount’s planned merger with Skydance Media, which Trump had the power to halt.

Speaking after the The Late Show’s cancellation was announced, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff said: “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”

The sentiment was echoed by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who noted the show’s cancellation came three days after Colbert’s criticism of the Paramount settlement.

There is no evidence that this was a factor – but it highlights the political climate in which this decision has been made.

In their statement announcing the end of The Late Show, CBS said it was a “purely financial decision” and “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount”.

It’s not clear what will be next for Colbert himself. He may be snapped up by a streamer, or try to move his current show online.

Piers Morgan’s Uncensored provides a potential model – a programme which started on television and still looks like a TV show, but later moved, successfully, to YouTube.

The Late Show brand is “strong, storied and irreplaceable, and no host is funnier and more thoughtful – soulful – than Stephen Colbert”, said John Avlon, a media executive and former Democratic congressional nominee.

“That’s why he is loved by a loyal audience and they will follow him to whatever he does next.”

Other TV chat show hosts have found new formats in order to stay relevant. Colbert’s predecessor David Letterman was able to still attract A-list guests when he moved to Netflix in 2018 for a new series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.

If all else fails, there’s one other option available to Colbert. He is currently one of the only existing celebrities without his own podcast.