(Video here.) Meanwhile, for those interested in going deeper, the Hollywood Reporter delves into whether Viacom, Comedy Central’s parent company, can actually stop Colbert from playing Colbert.
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Colbert for almost a decade played a bloviating, right-wing talk-show host on Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report” to great renown – so much so that it got him a job at CBS hosting that network’s “Late Show” after David Letterman stepped down from the job.
I put “Stephen Colbert” in quotes because it wasn’t the CBS late night talk show host we saw last week – it was the character from The Colbert Report that we’d all assumed had been retired as soon as Stephen left Comedy Central. Besides the reappearance of his character, old friend Jon Stewart appeared last week for his first extended comic riffs on TV since leaving Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”.
Fortunately, the host was able to gain some comfort from a surprise guest – the identical twin cousin of “Stephen Colbert”.
The corollary, of course, is that Colbert developed the property in question. The late night host filmed a new segment of The Word last week, in character, and while it was entertaining, it did not please his former bosses. The “Viewer Mail” segment on “Late Night”, in which Letterman would purportedly read viewer letters, was transformed into the “CBS Mailbag”. “Corporate lawyers”, Colbert said, announcing the character would no longer appear. Indeed, between 1999 and 2005, the two companies were one, after Viacom purchased CBS Corp.
“The Werd” segment was identical to what he used to do, except for the “e” in the name. Colbert said on his Wednesday show.
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The Top 10 list remained a staple of Letterman’s show until he retired a year ago. It would certainly be a fun lawsuit to see them arguing over which forms of Stephen Colbert Stephen Colbert can use.
