One Reason The Cancellation Of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show Is ‘Incredibly Sad,’ According To John Oliver

John Oliver guesting on The Late Show next to Stephen Colbert
(Image credit: The Late Show)

The world of entertainment can often be as cyclical as anything else in life, but I don’t just mean in the sense of endless reboots and revivals. The movie and TV fanatics of past generations are often the ones who innovate those artforms the most when they come of age, whether it involves gory indie horror, late night talk show comedy, and everything in between. In that way, Last Week Tonight host John Oliver is perhaps most mournful about CBS cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Speaking with THR, the multi-Emmy winner addressed his belief that Last Week Tonight’s past awards success — it earned six noms for the upcoming 2025 Emmy Awards — has played a big part in convincing HBO and parent company WBD to keep the satirical series going for this long, despite its subject matter being as topical and potentially controversial as anything covered in broadcast’s talk shows. (The lack of advertising also helps.) When asked about his personal worries regarding network TV’s late night future, Oliver said:

Yeah, it’s constantly evolving. What’s happened to The Late Show is incredibly sad for comedy and, obviously, for the staff in that building. It really resonated with me when Stephen said he was hoping to hand this show over to someone else. You hope that the franchise lives on partly because there are generations of teenagers watching those shows and deciding, ‘Maybe I’d like to be a comedy writer,’ and then maybe writing on that show.

That’s a response that, ideally, should speak to both those who agree with and disagree with CBS’ decision to axe The Late Show as a show of faith for Skydance’s merger with Paramount, even if the company blamed financial failings as the core reason. Whether one likes or agrees with the material or not, the idea of younger viewers being creatively inspired by something should be a positive to anyone.

It’s impossible to ignore the effect that stalwart TV comedians like Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and more have had on younger generations of comedians and writers. Oliver voiced his hope for that cycle of influence to continue on, even if it won’t be the same.

So, just as there are Colbert writers that watched Letterman, there will be future writers that watched Colbert, and you want that to continue. I’m sure it’ll find a way to exist in some form, we just don’t yet know exactly what that’s going to look like for network television.

At the moment, only The Late Show is going away, and not until the middle of 2026. But it' still comes across as something of a doomsday omen for the format, especially after CBS already got rid of The Late Late Show when James Corden left, and axed After Midnight once Taylor Tomlinson bowed out.

As of this moment, NBC's Tonight Show and Late Night are safe, but both shows made financially motivated cutbacks in 2024 that possibly won't be the last such changes before both hosts' contracts expire. Jimmy Kimmel will also likely be around for a few more years, but one can only imagine that the President's impact on recent events will fuel his urge to retire even more.

As such, it's hard to predict what the late night hours will look like for broadcast network in the next 5-10 years. I wouldn't be too surprised if at least one network attempts to create an A.I. host that just runs endless viral internet clips.

John Oliver also voiced his disagreement with for Jay Leno’s take on political comedy in late night, after the former Tonight Show host disparaged shows and hosts for skewing partisan rather than trying to appease as many audience members as possible.

Last Week Tonight airs Sunday. nights on HBO at 11:00 p.m. ET.

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.



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