CBS announced that Stephen Colbert will take over for David Letterman in 2015.

Good:

1.  Stephen will be a great host.  Unlike Jon Stewart (who was a Political Science major and then a stand-up comic), Stephen was always an actor first.  Much of the humor on his show was political, but much was not.  I think he sees himself as an entertainer first, not a political pundit, and this should translate well into the standard talk show.  His interviews with musicians and actors on his own show prove he can handle it.

This is a picture my wife made of Stephen Colbert using dryer lint. It’s now hanging in a Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum somewhere. Her web page is here: http://www.heidihooper.com

2.  It’s already angered the right wing lunatics.  Rush Limbaugh, in his soft-spoken way not given to hyperbole, declared that “CBS has declared war on the Heartland.”  Others complained all over the Twitterverse about it, because of course everyone is always forced to watch TV shows they don’t like. You can always judge a man by who his enemies are.

3.  He will stay in New York.  West Coast humor just isn’t as, I dunno, intelligent as East Coast humor. Even Harvard graduate Conan O’Brien seems to have dumbed down his show heading west.  I don’t know if it’s the writers or the audience or what.  New York has an attitude that lends itself to a certain type of humor that doesn’t seem to be anywhere else. (Just like British comedians have a different type of humor than American comedians.)

Bad:

1.  We’ll miss the Colbert Report!  With John Oliver moving to HBO, will Comedy Central attempt to create another political show, or will the time slot be given to South Park reruns? Maybe they’ll expand the Daily Show to an hour, which would also give Stewart more time for the interviews without having to say “To see the whole thing, go to our web page.”

2. He’s not going to be playing his conservative character in this new show.

3.  Colbert will not be getting Peabody awards where he’s going, and he’ll be just another talk show competing with all the others at Emmy time.

4.  I feel sorry for Craig Ferguson, whose show is often hilarious.  I thought he’d be next in line since his show follows Letterman and is owned by Letterman’s production company.

The bottom line is that this is a good move for him (bigger audience, bigger pay, etc.) but bad for us.