Stephen Colbert succeeded David Letterman as the host of The Late Show on CBS on Tuesday after nine years on the Colbert Report. In order to do so, he adopted “a tamer version of the character he played on the Colbert Report”, according to the Guardian’s Ruth Spencer, who dubbed the show only “funny-ish” but still important for television as it “offers something we desperately need in late night: smart commentary”. So what did other critics think of his debut show?
Robert Bianco, USA Today:
He’ll need to relax a bit: As you might expect, given the stakes and the hype, he seemed a bit over-caffeinated. But calm will almost certainly come with time. Colbert has said he sees no need to reinvent the talk-show wheel – and in his debut, he made no effort to do so. All the standard spokes were in place: the pretaped comedy bits, the surprise guests (a Jon Stewart cameo), the monologue, the sidekick bandleader (Jon Batiste) and the “big get” opening guests, led by George Clooney and Jeb Bush.
Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times:
He is unlike Letterman, too, in ways that suggest new possibilities – younger, though at 51 still the oldest host in late night; less acerbic; less haunted. He seems too smart and sensitive never to have had a dark night of the soul, but self-loathing does not seem to be one of his challenges. Jeb Bush and George Clooney were his first guests, a yin-yang booking that seemed to say, “Whatever you might have expected from all those years of liberal-skewing, conservative-skewering satirical faux punditry, the new Colbert would not bow down to your expectations.”
James Poniewozik, the New York Times:
The overabundance of the first Late Show With Stephen Colbert may be a flaw ... but it’s also the best reason to be excited for the second, and the next hundred. This show may not completely know what it is yet, but it knows exactly who its host is: a smart, curious, playful entertainer who’s delighted to be there.
Brian Moylan, the Guardian:
He has the opposite problem of Letterman, so often criticised for seeming chilly and aloof during interviews. Colbert talks a little bit too much, making it hard for his guests to get a word in. With Clooney it was obviously a gag, but opposite his other guest, Jeb Bush, it came across as nerves or over-eagerness, like a golden retriever who’d fetched a felled duck out of the reeds. Add to that his odd tic of chewing on his pen a little too much and Colbert seemed like a novice who couldn’t contain himself.
Melissa Maerz, Entertainment Weekly:
Colbert is the master of asking obvious but fascinating questions that hardly anyone else ever asks … He asked why Bush’s mom said that we don’t need another Bush in the White House. He poked fun at Bush’s campaign poster, which simply reads “Jeb!” (“It connotes excitement,” insisted a flustered Bush, without any trace of excitement.) It was an honest, awkward conversation, and it showed great promise for Colbert, who will likely find more cringe-comedy gold as the 2016 campaign heats up.
Hank Stuever, the Washington Post:
Late Show With Stephen Colbert had given itself a little too much to do in one night, including booking a long outgoing jam of Everyday People from Batiste and the house band, called Stay Human; they were joined by Colbert, Mavis Staples and an array of musicians I feel terrible about not naming. This group sing-along meant that the show ended somewhat curiously with the spirit of a final episode instead of a first ... Overall, Late Show seems to be in good hands. If it was too busy, it was a busy-ness from the heart.
And on Twitter ...
I was worried about Colbert's show until he had a long conversation with a satanic goat skull and then asked George Clooney about Darfur.
— Matt Zoller Seitz (@mattzollerseitz) September 9, 2015
#Colbert still playing a character, just not as interesting a one.
— Hendrik Hertzberg (@RickHertzberg) September 9, 2015
Stephen #Colbert doesn't even need to make jokes. Just eat on camera and I will lose it.
— Ali Spagnola (@alispagnola) September 9, 2015
