CBSNation! Stephen Colbert is baaaaack.
It's been a bumpy road for the Emmy-winning star since he took over as host of The Late Show in September, following David Letterman's retirement. The series has been bogged by months choppy ratings, a 2016 Emmy Awards snub and criticism from viewers, many of them fans of Colbert's former show, Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, who had hoped to see him concentrate on his expert mockery of politicians on network TV.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, posted Wednesday, Colbert talked about how the criticism over his show has affected him.
"I'm a human being. Yeah, I care," he told. "If there's something informative, if there's some criticism that would be helpful, I'm happy to listen to it. But you know, you are the show, and so you can't not take it personally. And the only difficult thing really is I like what we do, and so I don't entirely know how to feel about negative criticism."
CBS recently installed CBS This Morning executive producer Chris Licht as The Late Show's new showrunner. Since he arrived, there have been several changes and this week came the biggest and most welcome of them all: The return of...Stephen Colbert.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert is being aired live during the weeks of both the Republican and Democratic national conventions, the former of which began Monday. To kick off the festivities, Colbert recently crashed the Republican convention by parodying a Hunger Games character also reprised his popular Colbert Report character on TV for the first time since his former show ended its 11-season run in December.
And he used his catchphrase, of course.
"Hello nation," he said to a cheering audience on his show Monday as he arrived on a gold chariot drawn by muscular men wearing Uncle Sam costumes.
Colbert carried Captain America's shield and a Sting sword from The Lord of the Rings, which he also sported on the Colbert Report's finale.
"Did you miss me?" he said. "I know I did."
It was rumored earlier this year CBS would opt to switch the time slots of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and The Late Late Show With James Corden, which airs afterwards. While Corden's ratings have been lower, given his show's later time, he has found much success with his celebrity guest segment, "Carpool Karaoke," which have spurred many viral videos.
CBS denied the rumor. When asked if the rumor made him feel bad, Colbert told The Hollywood Reporter, "The implication of that question is that the show isn't good enough in its present position. So of course that makes you feel bad. But it doesn't jibe with what I know about our show, so you recover."
The Hollywood Reporter said that "clearly, in bringing back Colbert's old character, CBS is hoping to concoct the type of viral sensation that Fallon has mastered and that James Corden, star of Colbert's lead-out Late Late Show, has achieved many times over with 'Carpool Karaoke.'"
Also this week, in a videotaped segment for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Colbert also reunited with fellow former Comedy Central star Jon Stewart, whose hit series The Daily Show spurred the Colbert Report as a spinoff.
Meanwhile, Colbert's character comeback video and his clip with Stewart have both gone viral, having been viewed more than 3.2 million times collectively. And The Late Show With Stephen Colbert has since seen some of its best ratings among the coveted 18-49 demographic since February, AdWeek reported Tuesday.
"Mr. Licht has started by taking over some mechanics of the show that Mr. Colbert was insisting on doing himself, so Mr. Colbert can concentrate on being himself," The New York Times had reported in May. "Now it's up to Mr. Colbert to decide who that is—and for CBS to let him."