Nine months after his Comedy Central show went off the air, Stephen Colbert’s new “Late Show” debuts on CBS on Tuesday at 10:35 p.m. MDT. Jeb Bush will be Colbert’s first guest in the remodeled Ed Sullivan Theater, signaling that Colbert plans to be a major force in humor about the 2016 presidential race even as he ditches the conservative character that catapulted him to stardom.
Colbert hit the press circuit hard in recent weeks. The result is dozens of positive pieces previewing his highly anticipated move from cable to network television, including Time and GQ cover stories.
Colbert’s early guests suggest he will book lots of political types: Besides Bush, he has Joe Biden on Thursday, Justice Stephen Breyer next Monday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon next Thursday and then Bernie Sanders next Friday. He’s also got Tesla’s CEO, Uber’s CEO and Kevin Spacey from “House of Cards” in the first two weeks.
CBS wants Colbert to do political humor. It’s one of the reasons the network picked him, according to CBS president Leslie Moonves. It will differentiate him from others in the 10:30 time slot just as the 2016 race heats up. The Washington Post
