After David Letterman announced his retirement from the Late Show, there was an ever-so-brief period before Stephen Colbert was officially announced as Letterman's successor.

Though Colbert was reportedly at the top of the list, there was speculation about CBS possibly going with Ellen Degeneres, Tina Fey, or even Conan O'Brien. CBS pulled the rip-cord rather quickly though, announcing Colbert's appointment on Thursday.

This brings die-hard fans of Colbert, including this writer, into tricky territory. We don't want his current show to end, though it necessarily will. And we want Colbert to succeed, but we worry that it might not.

The End of the "Report"

Stephen Colbert, for the fifteen Americans who don't already know, hosts a late night Comedy Central show called the Colbert Report, where he plays a satirical blow-hard rightwing character named "Stephen Colbert."

The show started in 2005, and for those who appreciated multi-level irony, great character work, improvisation, and general political comedy genius, the Colbert Report quickly outshone the Daily Show, great though that program is. Since then, the show has continued to be the number one place of (ironic) catharsis for those who get frustrated by the phoniness of politics and media -- all enabled by a phony character called "Colbert."

So with Colbert being named the host of Late Show after Letterman's retirement sometime in 2015, the Colbert Report will no longer exist -- and neither will the lovable, always wrong (in the rightest way possible) "Stephen Colbert." It's one of the reasons why I was hoping for a long, drawn out battle for the spot with Conan or Ellen finally taking it. But apparently Colbert was always the heir apparent.

Maybe the Report and Colbert were always temporary things. In 2005, a time of terrorism, two wars, increasing political division, absent media scrutiny, and a world that just seemed out of control, the Colbert Report (and its progenitor, the Daily Show) flourished.

You always need a jester in the court, especially when no one else is questioning the rulers. Colbert, performing the awkward-yet-unbelievably-courageous "Colbert" character in front of then President Bush (and Dick Cheney!) in 2006 -- mocking and criticizing the fictional WMD's and the President's intelligence -- was the epitome of what made Colbert, and "Colbert," absolutely necessary.


Now, maybe Colbert doesn't see it that way. After all, he's gone from subversive "court fool" to guest (as Colbert, not "Colbert") at a Presidential State Dinner.

But for fans, this hurts.

Honestly, it's a problem. "Colbert" and his Report (both pronounced with a soft "t") are singular and will never be replaced by anyone, no matter how genius.

Worries for Colbert on CBS

And while true fans wish him the best of luck -- Knock 'em dead, Stephen! -- we fear the worst.

That's because, with late-night TV, we've seen the worst: Its name was the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.


Granted, the disastrous ascension and subsequent fall of the similarly genius and niche host Conan O'Brien in the Tonight Show spot was the result of NBC and the machinations of Jay Leno (a good reason why Conan would be great at CBS, and it would feel like justice). That sort of thing would never happen to Colbert with Letterman and CBS.

But Colbert could fail as a mainstream host, and here's why. One of the chief reasons CBS wanted Colbert was because he's got a rabid fan base -- fans big enough to donate to "Colbert's" real-live SuperPac, big enough to support a presidential bid (only in South Carolina), and big enough to boost CBS's ratings (so thinks CBS) with the essential 20 and 30-somethings crowd.

That built-in fan base loves Stephen Colbert, but they love him as the catalyst and brain behind "Stephen Colbert." As is an obvious part of any broadcast late night show, the host can't be too divisive, too political, or too out of the mainstream.

"Colbert" is definitely all of those things and more to his religiously avid fans. A "secularized" Colbert, without his alter-ego, might ring empty to his fans. The tamed-down Conan O'Brien certainly did - which was certainly part of the problem in that disaster.

Also, while leaving the hardest-edged politics behind, politics will follow Colbert, nevertheless. Already, Rush Limbaugh has accused CBS of "declaring war" on his America with the appointment. Limbaugh is Limbaugh, but older, more conservative viewers of CBS might feel the same.

In any case, Colbert is a capable host, and will probably bring a lot of comedic genius and innovation to a mainstream late night outlet, which is much needed. I, and other members of the "Colbert Nation," wish him the best of luck.

Perhaps in the future my skepticism will sound like skeptics of the Colbert Report in its first two weeks, who thought "Stephen Colbert" was a bit that could never stretch beyond one season of television (one difference should be clear, I may worry Colbert's new gig won't work, but I hope it does).

Maybe we'll someday see the Colbert Report as just one part of Stephen Colbert's lifelong legacy in entertainment.

But "Stephen Colbert" and his Report will always have their own legacy... something to explain to the kids "what it was like at the time" some day: An all-too brief, improbable decade of brilliant, honest, and unmatched political satire. That's something to be thankful for.

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