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Daily Beast Podcast: ‘Colbert Is Just Not Funny Anymore’

Progressive 'Last Laugh' hosts skewer 'Late Show' stars as 'painful'

Stephen Colbert didn’t cry on-air over Donald Trump’s re-election unlike one of his late-night peers.

“The Late Show” host might shed some tears after hearing his fellow progressives tear into him.

“The Last Laugh’s” Matt Wilstein and co-host Andy Levy reviewed comedy’s impact on pop culture in 2024 on the latest episode. The Daily Beast show explored Trump’s swing-state sweep and how podcasts may have helped the real estate mogul crush Vice President Kamala Harris.

The podcast, like The Daily Beast, leans to the Left. Hard.

That meant plenty of progressive musings on comedy and culture, which shouldn’t come as a shock. They attacked Spotify superstar Joe Rogan over real and imagined flaws and explored how podcasters influenced the election results.

What was surprising, though, was their take on late-night television. Colbert, in particular, took it on the chin.

Hard.

Levy mentioned that he doesn’t watch late-night TV regularly but he does while visiting his mother.

“I sit there, and I say to myself, and I hate that I’m saying this, but [Colbert] is just not funny anymore,” Levy said while Wilstein echoed the sentiment with a quiet, “Yeah.”

Many on the Right have mocked Colbert for his one-sided monologues in recent years. He’s also embraced “clapter,” jokes that share the “approved” political leanings but aren’t particularly funny.

Levy and Wilstein agreed, but through a different ideological lens.

“I don’t know what happened to him, because he truly was a comedy genius,” said Levy, citing “The Colbert Report” as proof.

“He’s doing the lowest-hanging, hashtag-resistance humor. It is actually painful for me to watch to the point where I’ve said to my Mom, ‘can we please not watch Colbert?’ I’ve reached a point where I’d rather watch Jimmy Fallon, and that’s a wild thing to be saying,” Levy said.

The duo agreed that Jimmy Kimmel offers better late-night liberalism, but they weren’t exactly sold on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host, either.

RELATED: COLBERT – FROM RAZOR-SHARP WIT TO REGIME COMEDIAN

The pair tried to cut Colbert some slack.

“He’s backed off a little bit from the political stuff … he’s trying to find what his role will be.” Wilstein said. “Colbert still has his moments every once in a while, but I don’t know what he’s doing exactly.”

“It’s a little bit baffling to see what’s happening to him as a comedian and as a voice who was so vital and now is making jokes that feel interchangeable with Jimmy Fallon’s soft monologue jokes,” Wilstein continued.

Levy dug in deeper, despite praising Colbert’s interview chops.

“This is the path he and the producers of ‘The Late Show’ have chosen for his monologue-type stuff,” Levy said. “I feel like Alex in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ being forced to watch it. It makes me sad, too, because … he was one of the best things in comedy on TV for a very long time.”

Wilstein suggested Jon Stewart’s 2024 return to “The Daily Show” might have lit a creative fire under Colbert.

Nothing doing, according to “The Last Laugh” podcast.

Editor’s Note: It’s a brutal time to be an independent journalist, but it’s never been more necessary given the sorry state of the corporate press. If you’re enjoying Hollywood in Toto, I hope you’ll consider leaving a coin (or two) in our Tip Jar.

10 Comments

  1. It’s hard to be funny nowadays. My wife and I watched Chris Rock’s SNL monologue from a week or so ago. After it was over she turned to me and said deadpan “I think Will Smith slapped the funny out of him.”

  2. Anyone who follows any of these named people or who cares what they think or say is missing something essential in life.

  3. I don’t tune in to Colbert, so the only time I have seen him in the past few years is in a clip I encountered online. I thought it was very funny, even though Colbert scarcely said a word. His guest was Jon Stewart. Stewart was ranting on how the origins of the COVID virus were an impenetrable mystery even though it just happened to show up down the street from a virus lab in Wuhan. Colbert couldn’t stop him, and watching Colbert get pale and sweaty as he was forced to listen to his mentor speak obvious truths was delightful.

  4. I went to high school with him, he was never funny & I think he still owes me money for pot.
    His mom was a nice lady though.

  5. Soooooooo late to the party. Absolutely blinded by their politics.

    Colbert was never anything but a propaganda puppet. Funny never entered the equation.

  6. Wow, I think Colbert’s been on fire. But then again, I can’t stand djt. Maybe one’s political leanings play a part?

  7. I watch the monologues of all the late-night hosts – Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon, Meyer – and Colbert makes me laugh out loud way more than the others. It’s not just his jokes that are better but also his delivery. Whereas Kimmel and Fallon just stand around reciting their jokes and Meyer sits behind his desk, Colbert is a theatrical performer, gesticulating, dancing, changing his voice, using various props and disguises. I find him far more entertaining than the others.

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