Even before CBS announced the unexpected cancellation of The Late Show hosted by Stephen Colbert — allegedly for purely financial reasons — other hosts under the Paramount Global banner were looking over their shoulder. Jon Stewart, who hosts The Daily Show, isn’t sure whether the long-running late-night series will survive as Paramount continues its attempt at merging with Skydance Media. The deal has been delayed for over a year while the companies await FCC approval.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t heard anything from them,” Stewart said in response to a listener question on his The Weekly Show With Jon Stewart podcast — released on Thursday — about whether Skydance would scrap Daily Show once the merger is complete. “They haven’t called me and said, ‘Don’t get too comfortable in that office, Stewart.’ But let me tell you something, I’ve been kicked out of shittier establishments than that. We’ll land on our feet. I honestly don’t know.”
Stewart considered that without Daily Show, it’s uncertain that Comedy Central could continue to hold up on its own with just the remaining shows on its roster. “I think we’re the only sort of life that exists on a current basis other than South Park,” he said. “But I’d like to think we bring enough value to the property, like if they’re looking at it as purely a real estate transaction, I think we bring a lot of value,” he said. “But that may not be their consideration. I don’t know, they may sell the whole fucking place for parts.”
South Park is still alive, but the show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone recently slammed the Paramount-Skydance merger for delaying the release of Season 27. “This merger is a shitshow and it’s fucking up ‘South Park,’” they shared in a recent social media statement. “We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow.”
Steward is taking things day by day and said that “we’ll deal with it when we do,” should it come to that point. He doesn’t want to make any assumptions regarding Skydance Media CEO David Ellison’s plans for the company post-merger, adding: “We’ve all got a surmisal about who actually is owning it and what his ideology is, but ideology may not play a part.”
When news of The Late Show‘s cancellation broke, CBS was adamant about stressing that the decision was wholly unrelated to any “other matters” regarding Paramount. Not everyone is convinced. Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned the motives behind CBS’ decision, writing on X: “CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery. America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”
From Rolling Stone US
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