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CNN
a day ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
All-star roster of comedians show solidarity with Stephen Colbert in first ‘Late Show' after cancellation
Stephen Colbert gained a little help from his friends and late-night rivals on Monday, his first night back on 'The Late Show' since announcing that CBS is ending the legendary show. NBC's Jimmy Fallon, HBO's John Oliver, and Comedy Central's Jon Stewart were among the faces in the 'Late Show' crowd during a spoof of the now-famous 'Coldplay cam.' The fellow comedians didn't speak and they didn't have to: Being there was the point. The 'Late Show' cancellation raised concerns about the future of late-night comedy — and about something bigger. Are big TV networks going to keep supporting political satire and free speech at a time when President Trump's campaign of retribution is rattling corporate America? 'Some people see this show going away as a sign of something truly dire,' Colbert acknowledged Monday night. 'And while I am a big fan of me, I don't necessarily agree with that statement,' he said. 'Because we here at 'The Late Show' never saw our job as changing anything other than how you felt at the end of the day.' He also made some jokes about CBS saying the show was ending for 'purely financial' reasons. Through humor, he raised an eyebrow at news reports about the show becoming unprofitable, though he didn't directly dispute that. 'Folks, I'm going to go ahead and say it: Cancel culture has gone too far,' he quipped. After the 'Coldplay cam' spoof, which was led by Lin-Manuel Miranda and 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Colbert pretended that CBS had just cancelled the song because it lost money. The cameos were a testament to Colbert's long-lasting relationships in the TV industry. Fallon and his NBC colleague Seth Meyers were seated together. Bravo late-night host Andy Cohen sat with his best friend, CNN's Anderson Cooper. Actors Adam Sandler and Christopher McDonald were there with Robert Smigel and his Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Beyond the partisan arguments about whether anti-Trump comics are funny is a broader fear about institutions caving to Trump and removing room for dissent. There is a long history of American TV networks giving comics space to poke politicians and even network executives in the eye, despite the potential ramifications. Fans feel that tradition is under threat now. Outside the 'Late Show' studio, the Ed Sullivan Theater, on Monday, pro-Colbert and anti-Trump protesters held up signs criticizing CBS for cancelling the show. One sign read, 'Silencing comedians is no joke.' Another read, 'Colbert forever.' Stewart spoke out about it from his own television perch, 'The Daily Show,' on Monday night. Both shows are owned by the same company, Paramount Global, which has been in a perilous political position in recent months. Colbert catapulted to fame on Stewart's show twenty years ago; the two men have remained friends ever since; and Stewart is now an executive producer of Colbert's 'Late Show,' so he has some visibility into the situation. 'If you're trying to figure out why Stephen's show is ending, I don't think the answer can be found in some smoking gun email or phone call from Trump to CBS executives, or in CBS's QuickBooks spreadsheets on the financial health of late night,' Stewart said on-air. 'I think the answer in the fear and pre-compliance that is gripping all of America's institutions at this very moment — institutions that have chosen not to fight the vengeful and vindictive actions of our pubic hair-doodling commander in chief,' he said. Stewart, whose 'Daily Show' contract expires at the end of this year, added, 'This is not the moment to give in. I'm not giving in! I'm not going anywhere — I think.' Stewart also had a profane message for Paramount and other media companies: 'If you believe, as corporations or as networks, you can make yourselves so innocuous, that you can serve a gruel so flavorless that you will never again be on the boy king's radar, why will anyone watch you, and you are f***ing wrong.' 'The Late Show' has been a cornerstone of the CBS programming schedule for decades, so fans and industry followers were shocked when the network announced its cancellation last Thursday. Top executives at CBS said it was an 'agonizing' decision but one that was unrelated to 'other matters happening at Paramount.' In other words, the merger. Paramount has been attempting to merge with Skydance Media, which means billions of dollars and some big egos are on the line. However, the deal requires approval from the Trump administration, and the review process has been taking longer than usual, which has raised concerns about political interference. Earlier this month, while Colbert and 'The Late Show' were on a mid-summer break, Paramount settled Trump's legally dubious lawsuit against CBS News by agreeing to pay $16 million toward his future presidential library. The settlement was widely criticized, and Colbert joined the chorus when he returned from vacation last week, likening the payoff to a 'big fat bribe.' Two days after that telecast, Colbert was informed that CBS was retiring 'The Late Show' franchise. The move will take effect next May, when Colbert's contract expires and the broadcast TV season ends. Colbert referred to the settlement again on Monday night's show. He cited the media leaks indicating that the 'Late Show' was losing 'between $40 million and $50 million a year.' 'Forty million's a big number,' Colbert said. 'I could see us losing $24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million… oh, yeah.' Meantime, the founding host of 'The Late Show,' David Letterman, weighed in on the franchise's retirement on Monday by publishing to his YouTube channel a 20-minute highlight reel of his past jokes about CBS. The video caption read: 'You can't spell CBS without BS.'
NBC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- NBC News
John Oliver's Moon Mammoths make minor league debut in Erie, Pennsylvania
The Erie Seawolves, a minor league team, won a contest for a total rebrand courtesy of comedian John Oliver and his HBO show Last Week Tonight. NBC News' Erin Mclaughlin was on hand for the minor league team's first at bat as the Moon Mammoths and caught up with John Oliver to talk about the team's temporary makeover and the new mascot, 21, 2025
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
John Oliver mourns ‘incredibly sad' cancellation of Stephen Colbert's The Late Show
John Oliver weighed in on his friend and late-night show cohort Stephen Colbert's 'incredibly sad' cancellation over the weekend, telling reporters that the decision to wrap up The Late Show next year is 'terrible news for the world of comedy.' Oliver, who hosts HBO's Last Week Tonight and has been Colbert's most frequent guest, was asked about Paramount's decision to pull the plug on the top-rated program during a promotional event for the Erie Moon Mammoths, a minor league team that Oliver and his staff recently rebranded. 'I love Stephen, I love his staff. I love that show. It's incredibly sad,' Oliver bemoaned. 'I'm partly excited to see what they're going to do for the next 10 months, but yeah, it's terrible, terrible news for the world of comedy.' CBS staff were left 'stunned' last week when executives at the network and its parent company Paramount announced that The Late Show would end its 33-year run next May, claiming it was a 'purely financial decision' due to the prohibitive costs of late-night television amid dwindling ad revenues as the entertainment world increasingly turns to streaming. While network staffers acknowledged that Colbert's program was 'very expensive to produce' and that it may have been 'on the chopping block' in recent years, no one at CBS 'is buying that it's a financial decision.' Instead, the belief is that the show's demise is politically motivated. 'Many of us think this was part and parcel of the Trump shakedown settlement,' one CBS insider told The Independent after the announcement. Indeed, the cancellation of The Late Show comes just a few weeks after Paramount agreed to pay Donald Trump $16 million to settle a 'meritless' lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, which the president claimed was 'election interference.' Paramount is in the midst of finalizing an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media, a production company financed by pro-Trump billionaire Larry Ellison and run by his son David, whom the president has personally lauded. With the merger requiring final approval from the Trump administration, Democratic lawmakers and free press advocates have accused Paramount of potentially violating anti-bribery laws with the settlement – an allegation that Colbert himself recently echoed. 'While I was on vacation, my parent corporation, Paramount, paid Donald Trump a $16 million settlement over his '60 Minutes' lawsuit,' Colbert said last Monday after returning from a multi-week break. 'As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended. And I don't know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company, but just taking a stab at it, I'd say $16 million would help,' he joked, adding that the 'technical name in legal circles' for the Trump payment is 'a big, fat bribe.' Saying this past weekend that 'late-night shows mean a lot to me,' Oliver noted that he grew up watching The Late Show when it was hosted by David Letterman, who retired in 2015 and handed the reins over to Colbert. 'So to have gotten to be on Letterman's show and on Stephen's show is always one of the most fun things,' he added. Concluding that it's 'very, very sad news' to see the show end, Oliver nonetheless said he's 'looking forward to seeing what [Colbert's] going to do next because that man will not stop.' The Late Show may not be the only casualty of the pending Paramount-Skydance merger. Comedy Central's The Daily Show, a Paramount-owned property also known for its intense mockery and criticism of Trump, is also rumored to be endangered. (Notably, both Oliver and Colbert got their starts as Daily Show correspondents.) 'What better gift could [the Ellisons] give Trump than to get rid of Colbert and [Jon] Stewart?' one media insider told Status News founder Oliver Darcy this month. Stewart, who, like Colbert, has openly railed against his corporate bosses for settling with Trump, said on his podcast last week that 'unfortunately' he has yet to speak with the Ellisons or any other Skydance executives about the status of The Daily Show. 'They may sell the whole f******* place for parts. I just don't know. We'll deal with it when we do,' he noted, adding: 'But let me tell you something, I've been kicked out of sh*ttier establishments than that. We'll land on our feet. I honestly don't know.' Staffers at The Daily Show who have spoken with The Independent have also stated that they are currently in the dark about what will happen to the program, adding that they are highly concerned they could be canceled as well. Other late-night comedians have also weighed in on the end of Colbert's run. ABC star Jimmy Kimmel, for instance, wrote on Instagram: 'Love you Stephen. F*** you and all your Sheldons CBS.' Whether this was truly just a 'financial decision' on Paramount's part or an effort to appease the president, Trump made it clear that he was ecstatic about the news of Colbert's departure regardless. 'I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,' Trump gloated on Friday. 'His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.'
CTV News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
John Oliver's Erie Moon Mammoths debut in front of a record crowd
John Oliver and Fuss E. Mammoth, the Moon Mammoth mascot, are driven onto the field before a game between the Chesapeake Oyster Catchers and the Erie Moon Mammoths at UMPC Park in Erie, Pa., on Saturday, July 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Joe Reedy) ERIE, Pa. — Besides being a fan, John Oliver has had a certain affinity for minor league baseball. On Saturday night, the comedian and host of HBO's 'Last Week Tonight' saw his latest crazy creation set out into the world as the Erie Moon Mammoths made their debut in front of a record crowd of 7,070 at UPMC Park. 'We're sending our furry child out into the world and you are the custodian of it. Now, please be careful with our child,' Oliver said a couple of hours before the Moon Mammoths took the field against the Chesapeake Oyster Catchers. Oliver spotlighted Minor League Baseball promotions and alternate nicknames during 'Last Week Tonight' on May 4. At the end of the segment, Oliver invited teams to send in proposals on why they should get rebranded by the show's staff. Forty-seven teams sent in pitches, including the Erie SeaWolves, the Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Erie president Greg Coleman sent a list of 11 reasons why they were the perfect candidate, including: 'The SeaWolves play baseball nowhere near the sea.' 'To have so many teams expressing interest was really edifying. I think it kind of validates the fact that we thought there was something special about minor league baseball. We thought this would be a group of people that would respond to the ludicrous idea that we had,' Oliver said. Erie was announced as the winner on May 18. After six weeks of research by Oliver and his staff, the Moon Mammoths were unveiled on June 29. That included the mascot named Fuzz, a purple woolly mammoth wearing a space helmet. 'Erie did stand out to us as being, you know, uniquely eccentric. And I say that as both a compliment and an insult, which is the biggest compliment there is,' Oliver said. 'There was something about the Moon Mammoth that spoke to us for being particularly odd. It felt like it could make a baseball team's theme. You could almost see the logo in your head and it felt like something to be extra surprising.' That this came together in less than three months is a minor miracle. It usually takes 16 months for a team to have an alternate identity approved and then take the field. 'I thought we had a good chance when I sent it in. And then when we were selected it was a little surreal,' Coleman said. 'And since then working with the 'Last Week Tonight' team, they've been wonderful and detail oriented.' The Moon Mammoths name was inspired by George Moon, who found the bone of a prehistoric mammoth while scuba diving in 1991. The remains are housed at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. Moon has become a regional celebrity since the rebranding was announced. He was at the game and caught the ceremonial first pitch from Oliver. 'It's fun. I'm enjoying it,' Moon said. 'From all those years ago to today, I would never have thought anything like this would've been possible. The newspaper did something on its 30th anniversary (in 2021). Other than that, I haven't heard much.' Coleman said that since the Moon Mammoths were unveiled, the team has done the equivalent of four years' of online sales in three weeks. The line of people waiting to get into the team store, which was located in left field, stretched out to near home plate in the concourse area. Karyn Drombosky and Sean Mizerski drove from Pittsburgh and were wearing homemade tusks as they waited to get into the team store. 'It's just great. We're big baseball fans. We see the Pirates all the time, and minor league games are fun. There's so much silliness,' Drombosky said. 'We watch John Oliver pretty regularly. We were like surprised but excited when we saw he picked the Erie team to take over.' In addition to throwing out the first pitch, Oliver was a batboy during one inning and led the crowd in 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' during the seventh inning stretch. The cap and jersey that Oliver wore for the first pitch are going to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Erie trailed 6-3 going into the bottom of the ninth but got within one run on Kevin McGonigle's two-run double. Chesapeake's Yaqui Rivera struck out Josue Briceño with the bases loaded to end the game. 'The atmosphere was great. Everything worked smoothly. It doesn't happen very often in minor league baseball to be able to have an event like that. It was a fun night for everyone,' Erie manager Andrew Graham said. The Moon Mammoths will be back on Aug. 19 as well as Sept. 12 and 13. Coleman said there will be at least four Moon Mammoths games next season. 'I love minor league baseball. There is a special eccentricity to it,' Oliver said. 'It felt like a nice fit with our show because minor league baseball, as you know, is willing to try anything. That was proven by the fact that over half the league was willing to sight unseen, rebrand and put their trust in the hands of a group of people who are objectively untrustworthy. That's a bad decision, and it's that kind of bad decision making that I love about minor league baseball.' ___ Joe Reedy, The Associated Press
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
John Oliver breaks silence on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert cancellation
John Oliver has called the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert "terrible news for the world of comedy". Last Thursday (17.07.25), CBS pulled the plug on the 61-year-old presenter's nightly talk programme, with the final episode set to air in May, and now Oliver - who fronts Last Week Tonight With John Oliver - said it is 'incredibly sad' Colbert's show has been canned. Speaking with journalists in Erie, Pennsylvania, Oliver, 48, said: 'I love Stephen, I love his staff. I love that show. It's incredibly sad. 'I am partly excited to see what they're going to do for the next 10 months. It's terrible, terrible news for the world of comedy. 'Late-night shows mean a lot to me, not just because I work in them, but because even growing up in England, I would watch Letterman's show, which of course was Stephen's show, and think about what a glamorous world that was.' Oliver added it had 'always been one of the most fun things' to appear on The Late Show - which had previously been helmed by David Letterman from 1982 to 2015 - and said he was looking forward to seeing what would be next for Colbert. Oliver continued: 'So to have got to be on Letterman's show and Stephen's show has been always one of the most fun things, so it's very, very, very sad news. 'I look forward to seeing what he's going to do next because that man will not stop.' Oliver isn't the only late-night host to react to The Late Show's cancellation, as Jimmy Fallon - who fronts The Tonight Show - admitted he was 'just as shocked as everyone' to hear Colbert's programme had been axed. He wrote in an Instagram story: 'Stephen is one of the sharpest, funniest hosts to ever do it. I really thought I'd ride this out with him for years to come. 'I'm sad that my family and friends will need a new show to watch every night at 11:30. But honestly, he's really been a gentleman and a true friend over the years, going back to The Colbert Report, and I'm sure whatever he does next will be just as brilliant.' Jimmy Kimmel took aim at CBS after the network shelved The Late Show, and posted on social media: 'Love you Stephen. F*** you and all your Sheldons CBS.'
