Speaking of whether or not late-night shows are still profitable, The Daily Show set a new record Monday night—likely one that its parent company isn’t so thrilled about: its opening segment ran a full 29 minutes before the show took its first commercial break.
The nearly half-hour-long segment, which saw Jon Stewart unload on CBS and Paramount for canceling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, topped his previous high-water mark (set just last month) by a full minute. It was Stewart’s first time back behind the desk since the Colbert news broke—and he used it to deliver not just praise for his longtime friend, but a pointed challenge to the executives behind the decision.
In doing so, Stewart may have found yet another way to bite the hand that feeds him. Comedy Central, after all, is in the ad-selling business—and in a typical half hour, the network airs around eight minutes of commercials. Monday night, that time slot belonged almost entirely to Stewart, who used it to question the very economic and editorial decisions being made by CBS, and their shared parent company.
While The Daily Show is officially scheduled to end at 11:35 p.m., on nights Stewart hosts, that seems more like a suggestion than a rule. In recent months, most of his monologues have run between 17 and 23 minutes, followed by a guest interview and the show’s final act. Those nights often stretch the total runtime—including commercials—to 45 minutes or more. Last night ran full 57 minutes on Comedy Central.
Watch the Monday night’s full opening segment below:
Jon Stewart said Colbert was ranked number one. If read many places that CBS is losing $40,000,000 a year on the show which includes $16,000,000 paid to Colbert and 200 people collecting salary putting the show together. Is Stewart saying CBS is lying when they claim the show is losing $40,000,000 a year? If they are losing $40,000,000 a year then certainly they could not be considered a number one show. It’s not like they are a new show trying to gain audience and sponsors.
None of what Stewart said makes sense.
Monday nights are scheduled for an entire HOUR. Haven’t been 35 minutes for many months.