CBS will reportedly replace “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” with a new late-night program block led by comedian Byron Allen.
Beginning May 22, the network will air “Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen” at 11:35 p.m., followed by the comedy game show “Funny You Should Ask” at 12:35 a.m., according to The Hollywood Reporter. The lineup debuts the day after Colbert’s show airs its final episode on May 21.
Both programs are produced by Allen, who has emphasized a focus on apolitical, family-friendly comedy.
“I tell the comedians we’re shooting ‘I Love Lucy,'” Allen told The Los Angeles Times in 2025 while petitioning to become Colbert’s replacement. “Something that’s evergreen. So I don’t want to hear any political humor. Just be funny, family-friendly, and advertiser-friendly.”
“Comics Unleashed” originally ran in syndication from 2006 to 2016 and later had a brief run on CBS from mid-September 2023 to mid-January 2024, filling the former slot of “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” The format features a rotating panel of comedians performing stand-up and engaging in talk show-style banter.
“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 said in a statement, per THR. “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.”
CBS announced last summer that “The Late Show,” which began in 1993, would conclude this year and not be replaced with a traditional late-night format.
“This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” the network said at the time.
Colbert followed the announcement with an expletive-laced monologue in which he blasted President Donald Trump and CBS. During the segment, Colbert referenced Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company, noting that it paid Trump a $16 million settlement after being accused of election interference.
CBS Entertainment CEO George Cheeks later reiterated that the show had been losing “significant” amounts of money, describing the losses as being in the “tens of millions of dollars.”
“At the end of the day, it just wasn’t sustainable to continue,” Cheeks acknowledged.
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