David Letterman was not consulted about Stephen Colbert – ‘Late Show’ hire

Just in case you were wondering, it does not seem as though David Letterman had a whole lot of skin in the game when it came to the decision to bring Stephen Colbert on board as the new host of “The Late Show.” As it turned out, he really did not have any at all.

Speaking in a new, extensive interview with the New York Times, Letterman admitted that he thought that it would have been a good opportunity to either give the show over to a woman or a black host, which would potentially give the late-night landscape some diversity. He does like Stephen Colbert, though (and so do we), and admits to being fine with the decision even though it really wasn’t his to make:

“[I thought] just as a courtesy, maybe somebody would say: ‘You know, we’re kicking around some names. Do you have any thoughts here?’ But it doesn’t bother me now … At the time, I had made the decision [to leave] and I thought, O.K., this is what comes when you make this decision … Not my show. When we sign off, we’re out of business with CBS.”

We actually think that Letterman could have been much more than just a courtesy to CBS if they bothered to use him properly. After all, this is a man who is one of the most influential performers of the past thirty years on the air! Couldn’t he have some sort of insight into who is extremely qualified for his job? We do think that Colbert has the talent to do the job and do it properly; the biggest thing he has to contend with is shedding the skin of his former character.

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