July 22, 2025 • 6 mins
Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina “K-Ray” Ray—dive into the shocking news that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is getting the axe. The team plays Colbert’s best monologue jokes, including a savage Red Lobster punchline that had the whole audience “eating it up.” Ben questions the logic behind canceling a top-rated show: “If it’s #1 and still losing $40 million, what does that say about the ad game?”Plus, the crew speculates on CBS’s real motives—budget cuts, corporate sales, or political pressure?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ben and Skin Show ninety seven point one. The Eagle
Ozzy Osbourne has passed away at the age of seventy six.
We'll be talking about it all day. We'll do a
big segment about it coming up at five point fifteen.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Do not miss that.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
We also have Volbeat and Hailstorm tickets we're going to
be given away. They're going to be at the Toyota
Music Factory Pavilion on Monday. Be listening, have your iHeart appareatium.
We'll give you a chance to win those sometime during
the show. But right now it's time for this.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I don't usually watch Colbert. I kind of record all
the stuff in case something happens, I can just go
back and find it and rip it off the TV
for the show. But last night it was one of
those weird times. I just kind of looked up and
I was like, oh, it's ten thirty, Okay, yeah, that's
I'll just see what Colbert has got to say about
the news that he got last week that his show
is going to be canceled next May. I just wanted
(00:56):
to see how he'd handle it. I had no idea
what was going to happen, what's his model be like,
maybe we'll have a good joke or something. We'll see
what happens. So here is the first joke that he
did when he came out, I'm gonna go ahead.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
And say it. Cancel.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Culture has gone too far. You may have heard the
news last week. We learned that the Late Show will
be ending in May, and I want to.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
It sunk in that they're killing off our show, but
they made one mistake.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
They left me alive.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I try to play into the camera, having fun pretty good.
And then here's his second joke that I wanted to
play for you games.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Our network, CBS, who I want to reiterate, have always
been great partners, put out a statement saying a very
you know, very nice things about me and about the show,
and thank you to them for that. They clarified that
the cancelation was purely a financial decision. But how could
it purely be a financial decision if the Late Show
is number one in ratings? A lot of folks, a
(02:04):
lot of folks are asking that question. Over the weekend,
somebody at CBS followed up their gracious press release with
a gracious anonymous leak saying they pulled the plug on
our show because of losses pegged between forty million and
fifty million dollars a year.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Forty million is a big number.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I could see us losing twenty four million dollars, But
where would Paramount have possibly spent the other sixteen million?
Oh yeah, Still that's still a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I mean, where where does the Late Show rank? Jim?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
What other companies lost that kind of money last year?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Bed Lobster? Damn it.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I told them we should stop offering the audience unlimited shrimp.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Stands over to the audience and all the audience is
eating red lobsters, everyone in the audience. Then he brought
out weird Al and the guy from Hamilton and did
start doing a song and going around the audience and
they today body can make in front of the Cold
Blay cam Bit and Jon Stewart and John Oliver were there.
Seth Myers and Jimmy Fallon were there. Adam Sandler was
(03:04):
randomly there. So I call these late night guys are
there like Solidarity and Kembell takes Summers off.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
That's interesting because Sandler was on Jimmy Fallon last night.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Okay, I mean they've been the same, like yeah, right,
they're the same they might be in the same building.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Yeah, okay, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So it's like not that far away at least, so
it's easy to do, you know. I thought that was
kind of kind of cool though they you know, get back.
And then apparently Fallon said something too, like made a
little bit of a joke, which is kind of like,
say it's bad. John Stewart went on a heavy rant
on his show. He works for the same company as Colbert.
He's probably I I don't know that they'll just canceled
(03:41):
the Daily Show, but he could get slept on the
wrist if he keeps it up, because he went hard
last night apparently.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
But all those all those shows are in danger and
they're in jeopardy and they just have to rediscover themselves.
And they got it. They got to figure out a
way to do it more efficiently. It's number one and
it's losing forty million dollars a year. What does that
tell you? That tells you that just getting the ratings
doesn't work?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Well?
Speaker 5 (04:02):
What are the ratings for The ratings are for selling advertising?
So what does that tell you that advertisers are not
buying that?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
And I would also, I mean, it'd be interesting to
me to see what the real numbers are. I don't
think those are the real numbers because how long has
he been on the air?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Years? Ten years?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So they're just going to keep losing forty million a
year and do nothing to adjust the budget and then
suddenly just pull the plug because oh my god, look,
I mean this this was done so they could sell
the company. Companies do stuff like that all the time,
and it just so happens that this is a high
profile thing because of the lawsuit, because of what sixty
Minutes did. I'm real curious to sixty minutes.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Make money for the network. I mean you.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Can, like, Okay, if it's losing forty million, I bet
the show budget is extremely high. Well why not cut
the budget in half?
Speaker 5 (04:50):
That's what I thought. And you know, I used to
sell that, and it's like you're talking about late fringe
and that's not a high profile thing to like those
ads like one hundred and fifty bucks for thirty seconds.
Like I've sold late night talk show ads for one
hundred and fifty dollars, two hundred dollars for a thirty
second ad in Dallas Fort Worth, right, And I've also
sold you know, CSI Miami thirty second spot for eighteen
(05:14):
grand for thirty seconds right in prime. And so it's like,
if you're spending a ton of money on late Fringe,
you're not.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's good.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
That's a hard thing to do, so just figure out
a more efficient way to do it.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, but this was, this was it's hard to believe
that this isn't related to celebration company.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Especially when Trump put out a big post that's like
celebrating it and he said Kimmel's next, and Colbert was like, no, no, no, Kimmel,
you don't get to be the martyr. I'm the guying.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
These things happen.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I mean, most lawsuits are business or politically or and
or both motivated. My brother in law was involved in
the Time Warner merger lawsuit with the Department of Justice
that was politically motivated. These things happen all the time
in our world.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I am excited, and I know we got to hustle here,
but just he's got ten months to play with this
thing and see what happens. And it reminds me of
Conan going out. Conan knew he was going out, and
he was doing all he could to ramp up the
NBC budget, and there were so many live animals randomly
showing up on the show.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
So that's your bit.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
He'll go out with a bang. But so yeah, there
we go.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
All right, there you have it. There's your TV news.
Coming up next, the official unofficial show of Dallas Cowboys
Training Camp on officially gets it underway next as we
review the things that Shoddy, Jerry and Steven had to
say yesterday. That's coming your way next
Ben and Skin Show ninety seven point one. The Eagle
Ozzy Osbourne has passed away at the age of seventy six.
We'll be talking about it all day. We'll do a
big segment about it coming up at five point fifteen.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Do not miss that.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
We also have Volbeat and Hailstorm tickets we're going to
be given away. They're going to be at the Toyota
Music Factory Pavilion on Monday. Be listening, have your iHeart appareatium.
We'll give you a chance to win those sometime during
the show. But right now it's time for this.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I don't usually watch Colbert. I kind of record all
the stuff in case something happens, I can just go
back and find it and rip it off the TV
for the show. But last night it was one of
those weird times. I just kind of looked up and
I was like, oh, it's ten thirty, Okay, yeah, that's
I'll just see what Colbert has got to say about
the news that he got last week that his show
is going to be canceled next May. I just wanted
(00:56):
to see how he'd handle it. I had no idea
what was going to happen, what's his model be like,
maybe we'll have a good joke or something. We'll see
what happens. So here is the first joke that he
did when he came out, I'm gonna go ahead.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
And say it. Cancel.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Culture has gone too far. You may have heard the
news last week. We learned that the Late Show will
be ending in May, and I want to.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
It sunk in that they're killing off our show, but
they made one mistake.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
They left me alive.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I try to play into the camera, having fun pretty good.
And then here's his second joke that I wanted to
play for you games.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Our network, CBS, who I want to reiterate, have always
been great partners, put out a statement saying a very
you know, very nice things about me and about the show,
and thank you to them for that. They clarified that
the cancelation was purely a financial decision. But how could
it purely be a financial decision if the Late Show
is number one in ratings? A lot of folks, a
(02:04):
lot of folks are asking that question. Over the weekend,
somebody at CBS followed up their gracious press release with
a gracious anonymous leak saying they pulled the plug on
our show because of losses pegged between forty million and
fifty million dollars a year.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Forty million is a big number.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I could see us losing twenty four million dollars, But
where would Paramount have possibly spent the other sixteen million?
Oh yeah, Still that's still a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I mean, where where does the Late Show rank? Jim?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
What other companies lost that kind of money last year?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Bed Lobster? Damn it.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I told them we should stop offering the audience unlimited shrimp.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Stands over to the audience and all the audience is
eating red lobsters, everyone in the audience. Then he brought
out weird Al and the guy from Hamilton and did
start doing a song and going around the audience and
they today body can make in front of the Cold
Blay cam Bit and Jon Stewart and John Oliver were there.
Seth Myers and Jimmy Fallon were there. Adam Sandler was
(03:04):
randomly there. So I call these late night guys are
there like Solidarity and Kembell takes Summers off.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
That's interesting because Sandler was on Jimmy Fallon last night.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Okay, I mean they've been the same, like yeah, right,
they're the same they might be in the same building.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Yeah, okay, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So it's like not that far away at least, so
it's easy to do, you know. I thought that was
kind of kind of cool though they you know, get back.
And then apparently Fallon said something too, like made a
little bit of a joke, which is kind of like,
say it's bad. John Stewart went on a heavy rant
on his show. He works for the same company as Colbert.
He's probably I I don't know that they'll just canceled
(03:41):
the Daily Show, but he could get slept on the
wrist if he keeps it up, because he went hard
last night apparently.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
But all those all those shows are in danger and
they're in jeopardy and they just have to rediscover themselves.
And they got it. They got to figure out a
way to do it more efficiently. It's number one and
it's losing forty million dollars a year. What does that
tell you? That tells you that just getting the ratings
doesn't work?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Well?
Speaker 5 (04:02):
What are the ratings for The ratings are for selling advertising?
So what does that tell you that advertisers are not
buying that?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
And I would also, I mean, it'd be interesting to
me to see what the real numbers are. I don't
think those are the real numbers because how long has
he been on the air?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Years? Ten years?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So they're just going to keep losing forty million a
year and do nothing to adjust the budget and then
suddenly just pull the plug because oh my god, look,
I mean this this was done so they could sell
the company. Companies do stuff like that all the time,
and it just so happens that this is a high
profile thing because of the lawsuit, because of what sixty
Minutes did. I'm real curious to sixty minutes.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Make money for the network. I mean you.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Can, like, Okay, if it's losing forty million, I bet
the show budget is extremely high. Well why not cut
the budget in half?
Speaker 5 (04:50):
That's what I thought. And you know, I used to
sell that, and it's like you're talking about late fringe
and that's not a high profile thing to like those
ads like one hundred and fifty bucks for thirty seconds.
Like I've sold late night talk show ads for one
hundred and fifty dollars, two hundred dollars for a thirty
second ad in Dallas Fort Worth, right, And I've also
sold you know, CSI Miami thirty second spot for eighteen
(05:14):
grand for thirty seconds right in prime. And so it's like,
if you're spending a ton of money on late Fringe,
you're not.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's good.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
That's a hard thing to do, so just figure out
a more efficient way to do it.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, but this was, this was it's hard to believe
that this isn't related to celebration company.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Especially when Trump put out a big post that's like
celebrating it and he said Kimmel's next, and Colbert was like, no, no, no, Kimmel,
you don't get to be the martyr. I'm the guying.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
These things happen.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I mean, most lawsuits are business or politically or and
or both motivated. My brother in law was involved in
the Time Warner merger lawsuit with the Department of Justice
that was politically motivated. These things happen all the time
in our world.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I am excited, and I know we got to hustle here,
but just he's got ten months to play with this
thing and see what happens. And it reminds me of
Conan going out. Conan knew he was going out, and
he was doing all he could to ramp up the
NBC budget, and there were so many live animals randomly
showing up on the show.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
So that's your bit.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
He'll go out with a bang. But so yeah, there
we go.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
All right, there you have it. There's your TV news.
Coming up next, the official unofficial show of Dallas Cowboys
Training Camp on officially gets it underway next as we
review the things that Shoddy, Jerry and Steven had to
say yesterday. That's coming your way next
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