The late-night TV landscape has been a major topic of discussion, especially since the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show was announced. A number of people have been weighing in on the long-term viability of the medium, which some argue is in decline. Meanwhile, there are those who’ve weighed in what they perceive to be issues with some chat shows as it stands. On that note, veteran pundit Bill Maher just shared his thoughts on how Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and others utilize political humor.
Bill Maher has been in the media industry for decades now and, as he explained during an episode of his Club Random podcast (as seen on YouTube), he’s seen some major changes. While talking to his guest, actress Drea de Matteo, Maher opined that people in the arts don’t analyze politics the way people used to. The longtime host went on to explain what he says as a “reverse” in how people perceive creative works:
That’s part of our problem is that everybody makes their decisions based on the politics of the art and not the art itself. … People used to judge the art for the art itself, and the politics was sort of secondary, and now it’s the reverse. That certainly has happened in my business.
Ultimately, the host of HBO’s Real Time (which is available to stream with an HBO Max subscription), applied the rationale above to late-night programs. He specifically named contemporary talk show hosts like John Oliver, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart contrasting their approaches to political humor from those of the hosts of yesteryear. While Bill Maher said he wasn’t trying to “knock” his peers, he did explain his particular observations of how they present the news of the day when they’re on air:
In those days, [David] Letterman, [Jay] Leno, [Johnny] Carson, they never told you their politics. Now, we’ve moved into an era, you know, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart and John Oliver, I’m not knocking them, I’m just saying — Kimmel. The most important thing was to signal to the audience what your politics are…. It’s not scripted, but it was very predictably just whatever MSNBC was saying, I agree with 100%.
Jay Leno actually spoke about political humor and its place with late-night TV earlier this summer. While weighing in, Leno said that he does “love” comedy that hits upon politics, but he also said that “people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.” John Oliver responded to the sentiments, arguing that “comedy can’t be for everyone” and that it’s “inherently subjective.” Still, Bill Maher argues that not leaning towards one side is the way to go, and he shared his take on what happened when hosts leaned towards one side:
And, of course, half the country was like, ‘Well, this is just insulting to me.’ Whereas Leno never did that. Leno just played it right down the middle. He just [said], ‘I will make fun of everybody.’
While this discussion about the merits of political humor continues, The Late Show’s cancellation is also still being talked about. Paramount, the parent company of CBS, said the show was canceled due to financial reasons, with reports suggesting the program was losing the company millions of dollars per year. However, some believe the cancellation was politically motivated, as it came after Paramount settled a $16 million suit with U.S. President Donald Trump – a move that Colbert openly criticized on air. At the same time, that lawsuit was a piece of business that had to be resolved before the aforementioned company could merge with Skydance.
Stephen Colbert continues to discuss politics on its show, which is set to end in May 2026. It is indeed true that politics have been present within late-night TV, though whether that’s appropriate or not is up to people’s personal preferences. We’ll see if other industry veterans speak out and share thoughts that align with Bill Maher’s and Jay Leno’s.
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