David Letterman is sharing his thoughts on CBS‘s decision to replace The Late Show With Stephen Colbert with Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen.
The former television host and comedian reacted to the news during a recent conversation on The Barbara Gaines Show. Letterman hosted The Late Show for more than two decades, from 1993 to 2015, and then Colbert took over.
“They don’t want to spend any money, so they’re going to make money,” he said. “They charge Byron Allen some reasonable price. He sells all the advertising for his Comics Unleashed, and it’ll be, I think, 90 minutes or two hours of comics talking about funny stuff.”
Letterman continued, “The show is a pretty good idea. It’s all panel. Nobody’s doing any stand-up, except they’re seated doing stand-up.”
Once The Late Show signs off the air on May 21, CBS will begin to run Comics Unleashed in the 11:35 p.m. timeslot beginning May 22. That will be followed by another Allen-produced series, Funny You Should Ask, at 12:35 a.m.
“I created and launched Comics Unleashed 20 years ago so my fellow comedians could have a platform to do what we all love — make people laugh,” Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, previously said in a statement. “I truly appreciate CBS’ confidence in me by picking up our two-hour comedy block of Comics Unleashed and Funny You Should Ask, because the world can never have enough laughter.”
The switch will likely see CBS turn a profit in late night, as Allen is buying time from the network to air his shows. Allen Media Group will also sell the available ad spots in the two hours.
