Before The Late Show with Stephen Colbert officially comes to an end later this month, Stephen Colbert has reacted to the announcement of his replacement. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on May 6, Colbert revealed that he sent a congratulatory note to Byron Allen after CBS announced that Allen’s Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen will take over the 11:35am slot once “The Late Show” ends on May 21.
“God bless him. I know Byron. We got to know each other last year, actually. He’s fascinating. You know his history with Carsokn?” Colbert told the outlet, as per USA Today.
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CBS said it will air two back-to-back half-hour episodes of “Comics Unleashed” from Monday to Friday. After that, two episodes of Funny You Should Ask, which is also produced by Byron Allen will air in the 12:37am slot.
“Comics Unleashed,” which first launched in 2006, features different comedians performing stand-up comedy.
Here are the five things to know about him:
- Byron Allen was born in 1961 in Detroit and moved to Los Angeles not long after. As a teenager, he began doing stand-up at clubs in Los Angeles, where comedian Jimmie “JJ” Walker discovered him and offered him a job as a writer. He went on to work alongside David Letterman and Jay Leno, per IMDb.
- Allen pitched jokes to Jay Leno and David Letterman at just 14 years old before appearing on The Tonight Show in 1979 and became the youngest comedian ever to appear on the show at just 18 years old, per Hollywood Reporter as cited by Forbes.
- In 1993, Allen launched his production firm named CF Entertainment which focused on low-cost TV programming. The company is now known as Allen Media Group and grew steadily over the years and made major acquisitions including TheGrio in 2016 and the Weather Channel from Comcast for $300 million in 2018.
- Allen filed a lawsuit against AT&T in 2014 claiming the company discriminated against his business because of race and the case was settled in 2015 and Allen received seven cable channels as part of the agreement. He later filed similar lawsuits against Comcast and Charter Communications, which were settled in 2020 and 2021 respectively. He also sued McDonald’s, claiming that they refused to advertise with Black-owned media, according to Forbes.
- Unlike Colbert’s Late Show which was known for its sharp political humor, Allen has a very different vision for Comics Unleashed. “I tell the comedians we’re shooting ‘I Love Lucy,'” he told The Los Angeles Times. “Something that’s evergreen. So I don’t want to hear any political humor. Just be funny, family-friendly and advertiser-friendly,” per USA Today.
As Stephen Colbert prepares for his final episode on May 21 with his next big project being a new Lord of the Rings film he will write with his son. Byron Allen steps into one of television’s most storied time slots.
