As Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers return from their summer hiatus, media outlets are working overtime to assure readers that late-night TV’s struggles have nothing to do with politics. Late Nighter, a trade site focused on the format, ran a feature this week framing the looming season as a test of the medium itself rather than the hosts’ increasingly partisan material.
According to the piece, the real culprits behind collapsing ratings are YouTube, TikTok, and changing audience habits.
Stephen Colbert on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert – YouTube, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
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It’s a familiar pattern in Hollywood coverage: when the industry’s chosen darlings stumble, the press shifts the narrative to anything but the obvious. And right now, the obvious truth is that Americans are tired of turning on network television at 11:30 p.m. only to be met with political sermonizing disguised as “comedy.”
The Media’s Argument: It’s the Format, Not the Content
The Late Nighter article leans heavily into the idea that late night is still “relevant” because monologues about politics regularly go viral online. If clips rack up millions of views on X or YouTube, the thinking goes, then the format must not be broken. Instead, broadcasters just need to “adapt” to the digital-first era.
Jimmy Kimmel reading tweets from President Trump at The Oscars – YouTube, New York Post
In other words: politics isn’t the late night problem — distribution is. The media’s prescription? Keep doing the same kind of heavily politicized monologues, only package them better for the internet.
The Audience’s Verdict: They’ve Checked Out
But ratings tell a different story. Jimmy Fallon, who once ruled late night with celebrity games and lighthearted comedy, has fallen to a distant third. Seth Meyers, whose “Closer Look” segment has become a nightly progressive editorial, draws fewer than a million viewers on a good night. Even Stephen Colbert — who dethroned Fallon precisely by going full political after 2016 — has seen steady erosion.
Jimmy Kimmel speaks to Arnold Schwarzenegger on Jimmy Kimmel Live – YouTube, Jimmy Kimmel Live
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Jay Leno, one of the last late-night hosts to enjoy true mass appeal, put it plainly in a recent interview: if you’re constantly attacking one side, you’re alienating half your potential audience. It’s common sense, and it’s why the heyday of Johnny Carson feels like ancient history.
The Colbert Case Study
CBS has already announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026. Officially, executives blamed economics: high costs, declining ad sales, and audiences shifting online. Unofficially, the timing raised eyebrows. Colbert had just taken shots at his corporate parent for settling with Donald Trump, and soon after, the show’s fate was sealed.
Stephen Colbert dances around with human needles – YouTube, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Whatever the inside politics at CBS, the reality is clear: Colbert is still pulling more viewers than his competitors, but he’s not bringing in the broad, multi-generational audience that networks used to count on or the advertising dollars that keep a shot afloat.
In an era when every dollar of ad revenue matters, half a country tuning out makes the math a lot harder to justify for bean counters at CBS.
The Gutfeld Exception
There’s one glaring exception in the late-night landscape: Greg Gutfeld on Fox News. Unlike Colbert, Kimmel, or Fallon, Gutfeld isn’t failing — he’s thriving. His show consistently outrates the traditional network late-night hosts, often topping the charts with more total viewers than the “big three” combined.
Greg Gutfeld on his late night show Gutfeld! – YouTube, Fox News
But here’s the crucial distinction: Fox News is a political channel. Viewers tune in precisely because they expect politics. Gutfeld’s comedy leans into that reality, giving his audience what they came for.
Network late night, on the other hand, was never supposed to be niche programming. ABC, CBS, and NBC are broadcast channels with a mandate to reach broad audiences. No one would blink if Stephen Colbert delivered progressive monologues on MSNBC. But on CBS? That’s supposed to be comedy for everyone. When politics became the nightly menu, half the country simply changed the channel — or turned the TV off altogether.
Media Spin vs. Viewer Reality
The takeaway from Late Nighter and similar coverage is that late-night hosts should double down on their political material because “that’s what works online.” But doubling down is exactly what drove audiences away from television in the first place.
Snoop Dogg sits with Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show – YouTube, The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon
Yes, people will watch a 90-second clip of Colbert mocking Trump or Kimmel jabbing at Republicans. That doesn’t mean those same people will stick around for a full hour of one-sided content every night. Viral moments do not equal sustainable ratings.
Conclusion: Doubling Down on Decline
The media may be determined to frame late night’s troubles as a format issue, but viewers know better. Late night didn’t lose its cultural power because of YouTube. It lost it because it stopped being comedy for everyone and turned into political therapy for a narrow slice of the audience.
Stephen Colbert Delivers a Monologue on The Late Show – YouTube, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
As long as Hollywood outlets keep telling Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon, Meyers, and other late night hosts who come along that politics isn’t the problem, the hosts will keep digging deeper into the very hole that’s burying them. The result won’t be a revival of late night — it’ll be its obituary.
Do you think politics is a problem on late night? Sound off in the comments below and let us know!
I am the definition of a “red pill”. Was full liberal, voted twice for obama. Because of obama I will never stray to that side of the aisle again. It seems like a lifetime ago that I watched “the daily show” nightly. Like I was a completely different person. I can’t even stand to look at these people now, let alone hear their voices.
Same! I watched “The Daily Show” every night; it was my main news source for years. With the GOP running turds like McCain and Romney is was hard not to lean toward Obama.
That changed in 2015. I was living in San Diego and could see the damage immigration was doing to the country, even before Biden’s open borders. I could also see my taxes going up up up. Paychecks becoming smaller as more taxes were levied and getting hammered by the CA environmental mandates, including the extortion level gas taxes.
I became an outcast at work when people found out I was planning on voting for Trump. Eventually, I learned to keep my mouth shut but when Covid came I finally could move out of CA and to a red state. I’ve been lucky to find remote work jobs since then, and fear moving back to a Dem state (most of the companies in my industry are dumb enough to be located in blue).
I’m in a good sized city in the Midwest that’s hardly ever mentioned. Yet, we’ve hit a million in the “area” in the past decade. Our population has doubled due to the flood from the South. With all the wonderful traffic and housing issues. Our streets have come to a crawl. Plus I drive around working on medical equipment, all over and the foreign truckers are a huge problem. Huge. 90 downhill, 65 up. Always camped in the left lane in a dead heat with another 18 wheeler doing 55 for miles.
I’m glad you improved your situation by moving OUT of San Diego. It’s mind blowing that I even had to type that sentence.
“That’s what works online.”
That attitude is *exactly* why the entertainment industry is burning right now. People think online reflects reality despite repeatedly being shown the two have no correlation. Online clout doesn’t mean squat IRL; likes and views don’t put food on the table. Yet Hollywoke, video game studios, publishers, all of them have fallen into that very trap.
There’s no point in trying to explain that to groups like Late Nighter. In fact, I’m opposed to such. Let them continue leading these partisan hacks into bankruptcy and irrelevancy. Because that’s the only way anyone will learn.
Exactly. Many a brand, like Marvel, is failing because they think that the few dopes that praise their wokeness on Twitter and Reddit represent the entire fanbase. Newsflash to these companies: social media does not encompass the entire world.
It is awesome they think “Going Viral” is the measure of popularity.
Most of the time when these folks go viral it is because they said or did something so incredibly stupid people have to watch it to believe a real late night host would say or do something so dumb.
We’re laughing at them, not with them.
Nothing, not even financial failure or audience disinterest, must get in the way of The Message.
We live in an age of pure propaganda. Avoid the mainstream media, including Hollywood.