CBS reveals the way it will exchange Stephen Colbert in late-night schedule
CBS has filled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s spot in the late night schedule.
The network announced Monday that Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen will take over the 11:35 p.m. slot starting May 22 — the day after Colbert’s Emmy-winning Late Show airs its final episode.
Comics Unleashed is a comedy talk show featuring Allen, a media mogul and the founder of Allen Media Group, as well as comedians including Nate Bargatze, Sebastian Maniscalco, Tiffany Haddish, Gabriel Iglesias and Cedric the Entertainer. It first premiered in September 2006 and has been airing in the 12:35 a.m. hour since After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson ended last June.
The roundtable show will air two half-hour episodes back to back from Monday to Fridays for the 2026-2027 season as part of an expanded time buy agreement. Then, the 12:35 a.m. slot will be filled by Allen’s comedy game show Funny You Should Ask, which is hosted by Jon Kelley and has been airing since 2017.
“I created and launched Comics Unleashed 20 years ago so my fellow comedians could have a platform to do what we all love – make people laugh,” Allen said in a statement. “I truly appreciate CBS’ confidence in me by picking up our two-hour comedy block of Comics Unleashed and Funny You Should Ask, because the world can never have enough laughter.”
The move comes less than a year after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was canceled in July, with CBS execs calling it an “agonizing” decision.
“This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” executives said in a statement at the time.
However, there has since been speculation that the cancellation might have been to appease Donald Trump because Paramount, which owns CBS, relied on the presidentially-controlled FCC to approve its $8 billion sale to Skydance. Colbert has long been a vocal critic of Trump, most recently making fun of the President’s firing of US Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Colbert took over as host of The Late Show from David Letterman in 2015. The storied franchise will conclude May 21 after 33 years.
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“We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire The Late Show franchise at that time,” a joint statement from CBS execs said last July. “We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.”
