Attack on Late Night: Democracy Decaying, and Stephen Colbert Yeeted Off of CBS

👹 The Apocalypse of Late Night Attack on Late Night: Democracy Decaying, and Stephen Colbert Yeeetee Off of CBS Welcome back, you beautiful burned-out bunker builders-- where, in this episode, we explore the neon-lit hellscape we now call the entertainment industry. This is Apocalypse…Now?, the podcast where comedy, culture, and chaos hold hands and walk into the sea. On this episode, I summoned Emmy-nominated comedy writer and grief expert Alison Zeidman to the pod to talk about something terrifying: The death of late-night television. More specifically, the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.Yes. That Colbert. That show. That number-one-in-the-ratings Colbert.Gone. Slain not by market forces or ratings dips, but by a weird, murky cocktail of corporate cowardice, lawsuit settlements, and good old-fashioned fascist vibes. If you're not screaming yet, don't worry — Alison and I did plenty for you. 🎭 Colbert's Cancellation: Coincidence or Coup? Let's get this straight: The Late Show wasn't canceled because of budget cuts. Not really. It wasn't some spreadsheet casualty or "pivot to digital" BS. Three days before the show was axed, Stephen Colbert publicly criticized CBS's parent company for settling a lawsuit with the Trump administration. This tidy little maneuver greased the wheels for the Paramount-Skydance merger. And then—poof. No more Colbert. A "financial decision," they said.I say: financial fascism is still fascism. And Alison Zeidman agrees. From Full Frontal with Samantha Bee to Adam Ruins Everything, she's worked inside the very machine that just pulled the plug on Colbert. So when I needed someone to help me decipher the smoke signals from Hell, she was the obvious choice. 🧠 Behind the Curtain: What It's Like Inside Late Night Alison peeled back the corporate veil and told us what it's like to write politically-charged satire for networks that are… let's say, extremely nervous about upsetting their sponsors. We're talking about legal departments, brand advisors, and executives who panic over an Olive Garden joke because they "have a relationship" with never-ending breadsticks. You want to do a segment about Amazon's worker abuses? Great — make sure every fact is quadruple-checked and legally bulletproof, and maybe don't accuse Jeff Bezos of being a lizard person. You know—basic comedy stuff. Still, even amid the risk-averse bureaucracy, shows like Adam Ruins Everything and Full Frontal managed to get away with more than you'd think until they didn't. Because when corporate media merges with authoritarian politics, jokes stop being jokes. They become liabilities. 🥩 Meanwhile, at South Park... While CBS was sacrificing Colbert to the capitalism gods, South Park dropped an episode that made Satan blush. They deepfaked Trump in a deranged PSA where a nude Trump wanders the desert. The satire was poignant, stupid, brilliant — and, most importantly, allowed to air. Why? Because South Park has a $1.5 billion deal and zero fucks to give. As Alison pointed out, they've achieved juggernaut status — untouchable. They don't care if Comedy Central gets firebombed by lawsuits or angry boomers. They'll still be animating cursed genitalia in a bunker somewhere. But what about the rest of us? The women, queer creators, comedians of color, and indie podcasters who don't have $1.5 billion and a demon puppet army? Yeah. We're not so safe. ⚠️ What Happens When You Silence Satire? Satirical comedy used to be the pressure valve of democracy. A place where we mocked the powerful, exposed the absurd, and reminded people that no, they're not insane — the world is that corrupt. Take away Colbert, take away Bee, take away the weirdos with microphones and Netflix specials, and what's left? Slap fights on TV. Literal ones. CBS replaced Full Frontal with a show where people slap each other in the face. If that doesn't scream cultural collapse, I don't know what does.