CBS Denies Colbert-Corden ‘Late Show’ Swap Rumors
The Republican National Convention has certainly energized Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, but there’s little two ways about the former Colbert Report host struggling to find his voice on CBS. James Corden’s Late Late Show has only grown in the subsequent time slot however, but would CBS really consider swapping the order?
A lengthy profile with Colbert from The Hollywood Reporter took a deep dive into the question, which follows a bit of turnover and disappointment with Colbert’s Late Show, while James Corden’s popularity skyrockets with viral hits like “Carpool Karaoke” and more. Corden himself previously told Howard Stern a swap was “never gonna happen,” while CBS president Glenn Geller offered a definitive rebuttal:
We have no plans to flip the two shows. It’s really easy for people to pit the shows against each other. But they’re different kinds of shows, they’re different kinds of hosts. One was a known quantity to America, and the other was not. I don’t think it’s fair to compare the two and say, ‘Well, just because one show has this, why doesn’t the other?’
That said, Geller did acknowledge Colbert’s eleven-month tenure as “uneven,” while the host himself responded to questions of changing times and criticism overall:
The implication of that question is that the show isn’t good enough in its present position. So of course that makes you feel bad. But it doesn’t jibe with what I know about our show, so you recover. […]
I’m a human being. Yeah, I care. If there’s something informative, if there’s some criticism that would be helpful, I’m happy to listen to it. But you know, you are the show, and so you can’t not take it personally. And the only difficult thing really is I like what we do, and so I don’t entirely know how to feel about negative criticism.
Time will tell if Colbert will keep the uptick that live shows and political convention coverage have afforded, but should CBS consider any major changes to The Late Show, or its companion?