Stephen Colbert is nearing the final stretch of his Late Show hosting tenure at CBS, with the previously canceled talk show staple set to conclude in May, and he hasn’t exactly spoken glowingly about his home network in the time since. The bad blood runneth over once more on Monday evening, as Colbert went against his superiors’ wishes by ripping into both them and the FCC over not allowing him to air an interview due to a potential rule change regarding equal opportunity partisanship for late night guests.
Seemingly as proof of his prior "flaming toboggan ride" comments, The Late Show’s President’s Day episode was also affected by BTS challenges. The ep featured solo marquee guest Jennifer Garner promoting Season 2 of her Apple TV+ drama The Last Thing She Told Me, but before she took the stage, Stephen Colbert had thoughts to share. Taking a few minutes to address the fact that the episode was also meant to feature an interview with Texas state representative James Talarico, Colbert said he was flat-out forbidden from showing it to his broadcast audience. Here’s how the host started his incensed mini-segment:
You know who is not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas state representative James Talarico. He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers — who called us directly — that we could not have him on the broadcast. Then I was told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this: let’s talk about this.
As if Colbert could be trusted to successfully follow any and all rules laid out before him, even if he fully aligned with them. Naturally, he took every opportunity to defy those supposed orders by addressing the interview-sniping directly.
The Strangers with Candy vet took specific aim at FCC boss Brendan Carr, who spoke out in January about the impulse to revive the long-dormant "equal time" rule that states if a broadcast TV and/or radio program invites a political candicate from a certain party as a guest during an election period, the program must also then invite a guest from the opposing party. To that end, Colbert shared his belief that re-enforcing that rule now is just a sign of Carr's own allegiance to POTUS Donald Trump. As he put it:
Well, sir, you’re chairman of the FCC, so FCC you. Because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself. Sir, ya smelt it because ya dealt it. You are dutch-ovening America’s airwaves.
Colbert's rant also referenced fellow late night host Jimmy Kimmel, who was previously suspended for comments made after Charlie Kirk's death, as well as the infamous Nipplegate incident. He played an audio clip of Carr speaking about Colbert and Kimmel's reactions to the "equal time" rule, and saying that they're free to make the jump to streaming services where the FCC's rules won't factor in. To which, of course, the host had a snappy response:
Great idea, man whose job it is to regulate broadcast TV. Suggest everyone just leave broadcast TV. It’s like when Arby’s changed their slogan to ‘Arby’s: Would It Kill You To Eat A Salad?’
When in doubt, Arby's is always right there for a quick punchline.
Colbert wasn't done yet, and he pointed out that he was forced to pull an interview over something that wasn't even officially put back into the rulebook yet.
Now as I said, at this point, he’s just released a letter that says he’s ‘thinking’ about doing away with the exception for late night. He hasn’t done away with it yet. But my network is unilaterally enforcing it as if he had. [Audience boos.] But I want to assure you this decision is for purely financial reasons.
Colbert likely hasn't made himself any new friends across the political aisle since the Late Show was canceled, and it could be that his on-air behavior has ruffled some feathers and provoked certain network execs to get stricter as his time gets closer to wrapping up. We'll have to wait and see if more provisions get cascaded down to him in the final three months.
Before he was finished, Stephen Colbert vowed to his audience that he was still determined to bring his interview with James Talarico to the masses, directing them to find the video streaming on The Late Show's YouTube page, where it no longer fell under the FCC's ruling. In fact, that interview can be watched below.
Here's a look at the The Late Show's lineup for the rest of the week, assuming no last-minute changes will affect any of them.
- Tuesday, February 17
- Kaitlan Collins, Walter Isaacson
- Wednesday, February 18
- Senator Jon Ossoff, Kyle MacLachlan, Thundercat sitting in with Louis Cato and the Late Show Band
- Thursday, February 19
- Melissa McCarthy, Michael Pollan
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weeknights on CBS at 11:35 p.m. ET, with episodes streaming the next day via Paramount+ subscription.
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