Judd Apatow says late-night hosts will 'fight until last breath' after Stephen Colbert's CBS exit

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Judd Apatow raised concerns about the looming threat faced by Hollywood’s late-night talk show hosts and spoke about the importance of them following the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s 'The Late Show' on CBS.

Apatow added that the remaining hosts "are going to fight until their last breath to be allowed to express themselves." He also paid tribute to late-night institutions, saying they portray "human frailty in a hilarious manner."

The filmmaker thanked Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers for turning critical issues into entertaining conversations while still keeping audiences informed.

Judd Apatow talks about the importance of late-night shows

Apatow voiced his support for late-night television following Colbert’s exit from CBS, stressing the cultural importance of the format and the role hosts play during difficult times. In his piece for Rolling Stone, the 'Freaks and Geeks' creator shared how late-night television shows helped people deal with important moments in the world.

“We watched Letterman talk about 9/11. We went through political events through the eyes of these people,” he said. “I’m amazed at the way talk-show hosts are able to write jokes that allow us to laugh at something that is dark and troubling." 

"You can’t give enough credit to people like Kimmel and Colbert and Fallon and Seth Meyers for the Herculean feat that is. Imagine it was your job to wake up in the morning and look at what happened in the Iran war and know you have to go do an 11-minute monologue about it. It’s almost unbelievable that they pull it off, ever," Apatow expressed. 

Judd Apatow hopes late-night TV isn't 'dying out'

Judd Apatow also addressed growing concerns about the future of late-night television, saying he hopes the format does not disappear despite constant discussions about declining relevance and industry changes. The remaining hosts "are going to fight until their last breath to be allowed to express themselves."

“Some people say late-night is dying out, but I hope not. I love the host with the desk, with the band, doing the monologue. I love it when the monologue works. I love it when it doesn’t," he remarked. 

"I hope one day our country is stable enough that some of the monologues don’t have to be about all the horrifying things that happened that day. But when almost everything that happens is horrifying, you really do need to gather and talk about it,” Apatow noted. 

"So I pray that when all of the entertainment industry is owned by one man in the future, some bizarro creature who’s half man, half robot, who makes all decisions for us in our surveillance state, that he likes talk shows. And even if it doesn’t make economic sense, I hope he lets at least one stay on the air," the director concluded. 

Why did Judd Apatow speak about cancel culture around late-night TV?

Judd Apatow spoke about the cancel culture surrounding late-night talk shows because many hosts have recently faced backlash. Political jokes, satire, and commentary on sensitive topics often trigger criticism from the hierarchy.

One example is Kimmel’s show, which faced cancellation after a monologue connected to the death of Charlie Kirk. 

The latest example is Colbert, whose show was canceled by Paramount. The company stated that the decision was based on financial reasons and not politics. However, Colbert was criticized by the current administration and faced backlash over his remarks.