I probably shouldn't be amazed…but amazed I am at the number of people on the 'net who were ready to write off Stephen Colbert's new Late Show after but two or three outings. There were those declaring it an unfixable disaster halfway through Show One…when a lot of us were saying, "Hey, this is pretty good."
I don't know why anyone needs to be so harsh about this kind of thing. There has rarely been a program of this type that did not evolve and change as its star and staff learned what they were doing…and more importantly, what they were doing that audiences liked. Oddly enough, a lot of the folks I saw posting that they didn't like the show did say it was a lot better than Fallon's or Kimmel's.
There are a number of things I'd like to see changed but I'm going to keep watching it — something I have not found myself able to do with the other such programs these days. I'd like to see Stephen talk to us more and read to us less. I'd like the show not to be so loud and I'd like to see the studio audience stop chanting his name and giving everything a standing ovation.
Did you notice this? The first show opened with a pre-recorded bit of Colbert and various folks performing our national anthem. Then when they cut to the stage, the very first thing we saw was the bandleader, Jon Batiste, waving to the studio audience to stand up. It's not Colbert's fault that this has become de rigueur for talk shows but I wish he or someone would dial it back. (I thought, by the way, that the band was great. I think all these late night bands are great…or at least all more than up to the limited demands of the gig.)
I'd also like to see less editing. The showpiece of Show Three was the Joe Biden interview which was very interesting and unlike so much of what we see these days on talk shows, very real. It was more interesting and more real when I watched the longer, uncut version online this morning.
Here it is for those of you with twenty minutes. It's in two parts which should play, one after the other, in the player I've embedded below…
What I liked about it: It was, I felt, real — two men who'd experienced loss discussing it not as Vice-President and Big TV Star but just as two men. And you say you want to see the real Stephen Colbert? That's him, folks — and it's one of the reasons I think he'll turn out to be one of the best late night hosts ever. I don't think 95% of those who've had or currently have that job description could have handled that conversation.
What I didn't like about it: I'm still uncomfy with the idea that politicians can come on these shows, answer mainly softball questions, and show America what great, witty — often, writer-assisted — human beings they are. Colbert's not going to fawn like that over Ted Cruz or Donald Trump next week, nor should he.
Okay, so you could argue Joe Biden is not a candidate for president. Fair enough…but he still could be. (If he does run, I don't think this interview will help him, by the way. I think it'll just enable his opponents to argue that he's weak and fragile. I can already hear the commercial about how Biden couldn't handle chatting with military families behind a rope line…how's he going to stand up to Putin? A lot of America wants "tough" in their presidents. Some people don't even seem to want knowledge or experience, just "tough.")
You could also argue that Cruz and Trump are simply not the guys to talk about personal, soul-touching matters and that's fair enough too. I'm just not sold on the idea that political guests should be on a show of this kind.
The interview after it with Travis Kalanick, one of the guys behind Uber, was edited beyond belief. That may not have been the show's fault because reportedly, the conversation was interrupted twice by audience members — supposedly cab drivers who hate Uber — yelling out. According to the blogs of at least two people who were there, Colbert handled the situation with skill and calm, asking the interrupters to sit down and he would ask politer versions of their questions to Kalanick — which he did, though all of that was trimmed from the show.
I don't think Kalanick came off well. I wonder if he fared better in the unedited version.
The comedy spots last night were pretty good, too. Even allowing for my reservations about the Biden spot, it was a pretty fine episode, one that oughta have Colbert's detractors thinking, "Hey, this could turn into something I'd want to watch regularly." I'm already watching regularly. I'll let you know if that changes.