Add Jon Stewart to the chorus of voices weighing in on the future of late-night TV amid declining ratings and revenues on linear TV.
While guesting on a new episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Stewart joined Simmons in bemoaning the loss of After Midnight on CBS, and acknowledged that the traditional network business model for late night is on shaky ground.
But he was quick to note that late-night content continues to be popular–arguing that its reach and influence via YouTube and social media may be larger today than it ever was. He also pointed to the work of people like Ziwe and John Mulaney as positive signs for late night-style content flourishing outside of broadcast and cable television.
“I think what ultimately will happen is, you’ll still have something that resembles [late night TV], but maybe not with the [same] infrastructure.”
“The way I look at it is like, I run a Tower Records,” he continued. “People are always going to want music. But I’m still the guy who’s like, come into my giant building and let me show you the new CD rack.”
Comparing linear television to a brick and mortar record store chain, he suggested that there may stop being a business case that supports the infrastructure to put on a traditional nightly late night show “with 250 employees in a big theater,” but that “creativity finds a way… great, funny, interesting people [will] find a way to make topical commentary or interviewing interesting for people” in ways that lend themselves to the new delivery mechanism.
Stewart, ot course, isn’t the first to suggest that late-night TV as we’ve traditionally defined it may be in its waning days. Writing in The New York Times last week, John Koblin posited that Mulaney’s Netflix show might be “Late-Night TV’s Last Gasp,” and in a recent interview, Jimmy Kimmel said he wasn’t sure there’d be any late night shows on network TV in ten years. “Maybe there’ll be one but there won’t be a lot of them,” he added.
As for Stewart, who’s experienced life away from late night following his 2015 retirement from The Daily Show, he told Simmons he’s loving his Monday nights back at the show.
“We have a f*cking ball,” he said of being back working with the show’s team. “Everybody works hard, but it is fun. They’re great people. I love being around them.”
Jon Stewart’s complete interview with Bill Simmons can be viewed on YouTube or wherever podcasts are available.
