{"id":2464217,"date":"2025-07-20T08:11:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T12:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-colbert-had-listened-to-this-johnny-carson-wisdom-the-late-show-wouldnt-be-cancelled\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T08:13:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T12:13:46","slug":"if-colbert-had-listened-to-this-johnny-carson-wisdom-the-late-show-wouldnt-be-cancelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-colbert-had-listened-to-this-johnny-carson-wisdom-the-late-show-wouldnt-be-cancelled\/","title":{"rendered":"If Colbert Had Listened to This Johnny Carson Wisdom, The Late Show Wouldn&#8217;t Be Cancelled"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fif-colbert-had-listened-to-this-johnny-carson-wisdom-the-late-show-wouldnt-be-cancelled%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2464217&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Teh article criticizes modern late-night comedy hosts, especially Stephen Colbert, for abandoning the conventional role of entertaining audiences with humor in favor of delivering politically charged, partisan content. It contrasts Colbert with Johnny Carson, the legendary host of &#8220;The Tonight Show,&#8221; who famously avoided politics to focus solely on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/6-celebrities-who-risked-their-careers-to-defy-cancel-culture\/\" title=\"6 Celebrities Who Risked Their Careers to Defy Cancel Culture\u00a0\">making people laugh<\/a>, which earned him widespread respect across the political spectrum. The piece argues that by politicizing their shows, Colbert and his contemporaries alienated a large portion of their audience, contributing to declining ratings and, ultimately, Colbert&#8217;s cancellation. the article suggests that Colbert&#8217;s departure serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of mixing comedy with radical political messages,emphasizing that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gutfeld-unaffected-by-wgas-writers-strike\/\" title=\"&quot;Gutfeld!&quot; Unfazed by WGA Strike.\">late-night format<\/a> should prioritize humor and unity rather than divisiveness.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>In the famous words of Ed O&rsquo;Neill from Wayne&rsquo;s World 2, &ldquo;people need to be entertained.&rdquo; Unfortunately, today&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >late night comics didn&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t embrace this motto and broke hard left in favor of partisan politics, with one of the worst offenders being Stephen Colbert.<\/p>\n<p>If <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/cancellation-justified-late-show-stephen-colbert-even-worse-can-imagine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colbert<\/a> had simply stuck to the formula followed by the late great Johnny Carson of &ldquo;Tonight Show&rdquo; fame, it might have saved him. The simple trick was as follows: Don&rsquo;t get political.<\/p>\n<p>Carson was the master. Beloved by all. Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike tuned in with gratitude. Because he had only one goal in mind: To make us laugh.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/johnny-carson-what-our-current-late-night-hosts-can-learn-king-1887031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Newsweek article<\/a> from last year cited an interview that Carson gave to Barbara Walters in 1984, where he said, &ldquo;I think one of the dangers if you are a comedian, which basically I am, is that if you start to take yourself too seriously and start to comment on social issues, your sense of humor suffers somewhere.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He continued, &ldquo;Some critics have said that our show doesn&rsquo;t have great sociological value, it&rsquo;s not controversial, it&rsquo;s not deep. But The Tonight Show basically is designed to amuse people. To make them laugh.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>The story&rsquo;s title was: &ldquo;What Our Current Late-Night Hosts Can Learn From the King.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You never knew Johnny&rsquo;s politics,&rdquo; Jay Leno said of Carson. &ldquo;Johnny would come out and equally make fun of everybody.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Today, you&rsquo;d be hard-pressed to find even one voice in late night comedy who doesn&rsquo;t express constant disdain for President Donald Trump or his supporters.<\/p>\n<p>Comedians all across the country revered Carson as the gold standard for decades. If you were a standup comic performing on his show, and he invited you over to sit down next to him after your set, you&rsquo;d been given his blessing. The sky was the limit.<\/p>\n<p>His successors &mdash; which include the likes of <a href=\"http:\/\/westernjournal.com\/stephen-colbert-done-cbs-ending-liberal-late-night-show-good\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colbert<\/a>, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers &mdash; disrespect his memory each time the camera starts to roll, and they deliver a state-sponsored monologue filled with political propaganda.<\/p>\n<p>Could this politicization have played a part in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/leftists-fume-cbs-axing-stephen-colbert-cnns-brian-stelter-quietly-admits-real-reason\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colbert&rsquo;s cancellation<\/a>? It isn&rsquo;t some great mystery. When you alienate half your audience, your ratings will suffer.<\/p>\n<p>Liberal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/telling-democratic-senators-freaking-stephen-colberts-cancellation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">politicians and online<\/a> personalities are screaming that Colbert was cancelled as part of a conspiracy for revenge, or that his firing was fueled by Trump&rsquo;s recent settlement with CBS&rsquo; &ldquo;60 Minutes&rdquo; for deceptively editing an interview with Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the public knows the truth.<\/p>\n<p>Colbert sold out his own ability to uplift the country and unite us through humor. He and his fellow hosts sold their likenesses to the highest bidder and, like puppets, said whatever words were shoved into their mouths.<\/p>\n<p>Shame on them.<\/p>\n<p>The condescending monologues, the emotional outbursts, the interviews with Hollywood elites agreeing with every point &mdash; it was insufferable. More importantly, it wasn&rsquo;t funny!<\/p>\n<p>In an age when the internet can pull up almost anything on command, do they even make the top 50 anymore? Top 100?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/stephen-colbert-done-cbs-ending-liberal-late-night-show-good\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colbert<\/a> committed the cardinal sin of comedy: He preached radicalized political sermons when all Americans wanted was a few laughs.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The reason I don&rsquo;t go back or do interviews is because I just let the work speak for itself,&rdquo; Carson told Esquire back in 2002.<\/p>\n<p>Well, Colbert let his work speak for itself, too. And the result was his cancellation.<\/p>\n<p>He took the greatest gift he&rsquo;d ever been given and corrupted it. For what? Admiration of far-left Democrats and talking heads?<\/p>\n<p>Carson was beloved by the common man. The real Americans. He was welcomed into millions of homes as a friend.<\/p>\n<p>Colbert, on the other hand, will become a cautionary tale. His biggest contribution to comedy will be that he hastened the death of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/taylor-tomlinson-becomes-youngest-network-late-night-host-in-20-years\/\" title=\"Taylor Tomlinson, youngest network late-night host in two decades.\">late-night network television<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In truth, he should have been cancelled much sooner, but better late than never.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a paraphrased version of the provided text (limited to about 55 words):<\/p>\n<p>As Ed O&#8217;Neill said in *Wayne&#8217;s World 2*, &#8220;people need to be entertained.&#8221; Sadly, many late-night hosts, especially Stephen Colbert, abandoned this principle for partisan politics. Had Colbert followed Johnny Carson&#8217;s lead-focusing on humor without politics-he might have avoided cancellation and kept audiences united through laughter instead of division<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2464218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Colbert.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[16091,7958,46702,39326,59494],"class_list":["post-2464217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-colbert","tag-comedy","tag-johnny-carson","tag-the-late-show","tag-tv-history"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Colbert.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2464217"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2464221,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464217\/revisions\/2464221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2464218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2464217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2464217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2464217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}