As former late night stalwart Stephen Colbert follows in David Letterman’s bearded foodsteps, his ex-time slot is apparently having little trouble attracting audiences. Kicking off its CBS arrival back in late May 2026, media mogul Byron Allen’s comedian-fueled Comics Unleashed has been a dependable winner for the network. To the point where the Late Show’s replacement is now starting to beat out direct competitors like Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel.
The current late night landscape is a bit more dismal than it used to be, with The Tonight Show currently airing repeats during Jimmy Fallon's summer hiatus. Jimmy Kimmel Live! is still airing new episodes, but the host has been on his own summer vacation for weeks now, with guest hosts such as Rosie O’Donnell and Jelly Roll filling in. For those reasons or others, it looks like more younger viewers are choosing to click over to Comics Unleashed as the 2026 TV schedule goes forward.
According to LateNighter, Byron Allen's comedian-filled chat show Comics Unleashed can now celebrate reaching the #1 spot above Tonight Show and Kimmel Live! for the very first time in the key 18-49 demographic. It's not the most massive margin, but a margin still exists that puts it atop its competitors in a big way, despite it not following the traditional late-night format.
The ratings tide began to change on Monday, August 24, though Allen's first hour of programming didn't actually garner more overall viewers than shows on other networks during that same time slot. Here's how it broke down.
Show |
Average Viewer Total |
Avg Viewers 18-49 |
|---|---|---|
Comics Unleashed |
879,000 |
155,000 |
Jimmy Kimmel Live! |
1,583,000 |
125,000 |
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon |
1,068,000 |
132,000 |
Given these are the only Nielsen stats currently available that lay out the latest late night numbers, it's unclear if Comics Unleashed's demo win is just a fluke or more of a growing norm as viewer habits continue to evolve beyond traditional TV scheduling.
All things considered, it's possible that Allen's intentional lack of political discussions make his shows easier to watch than late night monologues that are almost always centered on politics these days. Or maybe it's just viewers' growing habit of watching late night clips on YouTube and social media rather than live. Or maybe it's the fact that Allen also keeps episodes almost entirely non-topical in regards to news headlines, which keeps the discussions from feeling dated.
Because guess what? Comics Unleashed has also been airing repeat episodes during the summer break. So yeah, that was an older episode that beat out both Jimmys for the key demo.
When he took his shot at securing the late night CBS slot, Byron Allen confidently claimed his show isn't a Colbert replacement in a technical sense, considering it’s been around for longer than the Colbert-hosted version of Late Night existed. And it looks like his confidence is already paying off after just four months, and I can picture him bopping around in celebration the way Colbert did after his final episode.
