The Death of Late Night as We Once Knew It Seems Imminent

“…Johnny Carson’s final show was watched by 55 million people. 55 million. Let’s put that number in perspective: President Biden’s State of the Union address was watched by 27.3 million viewers earlier this year — and Biden’s address was carried by 16 different networks in primetime. Carson was live at 11:30 p.m. on just one network, NBC.

So one could only imagine what Carson would think about what late-night has become, particularly during and after the Trump presidency: hyperpartisan, pious propaganda pushed by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Trevor Noah and a few others. It would be one thing if these hosts hit members on both sides of the political aisle, but that almost never happens. Conservatives are not only wrong on policy, audiences have been told on a nightly basis, but conservatives are bad people with nefarious intentions, all while Democrats are treated with reverence and portrayed as purveyors of truth.

“Sir, you attract more skinheads than free Rogaine,” Colbert once said of President Trump in a 2017 monologue. “You have more people marching against you than cancer. You talk like a sign-language gorilla who got hit in the head. In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s (expletive) holster.”

Could you envision Carson ever getting so personal and angry?…”