Stephen Colbert has, nearly every weeknight for the past 15 months, led the nation’s most-watched late-night show without many of the trappings viewers have come to expect.
There was no energy in the room but my own,” Colbert told Variety of the scaled-back program that has aired during the pandemic.
“Colbert tapped into his most authentic and honest — even vulnerable — voice during the pandemic.
Seeing Colbert bound on to the Ed Sullivan stage is likely to be one of several TV highlights in 2021 that mark the nation’s progress in overcoming a global malaise.
But he got the job done,” said Bruce Franklin, who won an online lottery to attend Monday’s broadcast.
This is the first time that I’m going to be in a big audience in over a year,” said Michelle Farah.
Some of Colbert’s rivals and contemporaries — NBC’s Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, CBS’ James Corden and HBO’s Bill Maher, among them — have already brought their programs back to their familiar studio stages, often with individuals scattered across the seats.
The size of the Ed Sullivan Theater – with two tiers of seating, it is significantly larger than many of the homes of other late-night shows – means having a smattering of attendees would have limited effect.
And while “Late Show” has maintained its dominance among total viewers, rival shows from Fallon and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel have mustered new strength among younger audiences in recent weeks, particularly the crowd between 18 and 49 that is most attractive to advertisers.
Viewers are likely to continue to expect a robust political discussion.
He will miss some elements of the show he’s done for the past year and a quarter.
The audience changes how everybody behaves – you know, the observation changes the observed,” he notes, referring to the principle set by physicist Werner Heisenberg.
He’s open, for example, to the idea of guests using video-streaming to appear on the show, though he’d prefer everyone just come to the theater for a live visit.
No matter the late-night logistics, Colbert is clearly relishing the chance to get back to normal.