Stephen Colbert’s final bow as host the late show was condemned as a “letdown” by Diversity The newspaper wrote that Colbert was never good at the show’s skits or interviews with celebrity guests.
Colbert was eventually fired by CBS as ten years of steadily falling ratings and a forty million dollar annual budget deficit diminished their viability.
Thursday’s show was the host’s final night broadcasting from the famous Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City. However, in the end, Diversity not impressed.
Writing for the newspaper, TV critic Daniel D’Addario lamented that even in his last big show, “Colbert, ultimately, couldn’t escape being Colbert,” as his failures were still front and center. The critic lamented, “Unfortunately, this host is talented in neither interviews nor sketches.”
For example, D’Addario criticized Colbert for constantly talking about his older guest, Beatles founder Paul McCartney.
“In one particularly inexcusable moment, Colbert attempted to vent anger on McCartney by asking if he had ever met the Pope. (McCartney had not met; Colbert had, which is why he asked – to brag about it. But then again, McCartney is a Beatle.)” D’Addario said.
He also criticized Colbert for appearing as McCartney’s back-up singer during the famous Beatle’s musical performances. D’Addario could not truly understand why Colbert felt he had to remain on stage during McCartney’s songs.
The critic also pointed out that Colbert made a “nonsense point” about Pope’s refusal to appear on the show because the Ed Sullivan Theater’s hot dogs “didn’t meet their rider.”
Speaking of the Pope, Colbert apparently tried to earn some publicity before the show by spreading a rumor among the media that he had actually made Pope Leo XIV his final guest.
In early May, Colbert told the media that bringing the Pope on the show was his “white whale” guest coup. And many outlets assumed this meant Colbert had succeeded in exposing the Pope.
Variety Colbert’s material, especially the “wormhole” bit, was panned.
“Given nearly a year’s advance notice, one might think Colbert would have come up with better material. Particularly baffling was the disastrous taped sketch about a wormhole swallowing his studio that took up the better part of the show’s second half,” D’Addario wrote, concluding that it was nothing but a “total waste of time”.
In the end, D’Addario felt that Colbert’s ego got the better of him.
“Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ endgame makes it appear that the host lacks a healthy sense of ego, as the production allowed one guest after another to pay tribute to Colbert’s service to democracy and the wider world,” he concluded.
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