Welcome to LateNighter’s Spon-Con Watch. In-show advertising is as old as late night itself, but as shows face declining ratings and shrinking budgets, sponsored content (or “brand activations,” as they’re called in marketing circles) have become increasingly common and, at times, more elaborate than ever before. In this recurring feature we keep tabs on how late-night shows are working to wed commerce with comedy.
Stephen Colbert opted to forgo commercial time last night to cook up a promo for Arby’s with the help of two surprise celebrity guests.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been something of an outlier in late night when it comes to sponsored content, partaking in brand activations far less frequently than The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live! Though he did so last night, it replaced an actual commercial break rather than a segment of the show, as the other shows do.
After his monologue, Colbert asked his studio audience if they’d care to skip the usual commercial break in favor of “More Show.” The crowd, apparently primed in advance for the segment, chanted “More show!” Then, when told it would be sponsored by Arby’s, they replied in unison, “Offering slow smoked barbecue sandwiches for a limited time only!”
With that, Colbert launched into a special edition of his “Meanwhile” segment focused excluisvely on meat-centric stories, dubbed “Meatwhile.”
“CBS likes me to park it over here and sell off part of the show to the highest bidder so they can dive into the cashpile of corporate-sponsored content that is my segment ‘Meanwhile,’” he said in a riff on the usual intro.
After covering a few news stories that revolved around meat, Colbert was interrupted by two surprise guests: Cedric the Entertainer and Anthony Anderson. The duo are partners in AC Barbeque, a brand that makes dry rubs and sauces and has just opened its first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Century City, California.
“There’s only one meat story anyone should be talking about right now,” they told Colbert. “And that’s the barbecue sandwiches from Arby’s.”
Announcing that their sauces are available on Arby’s Pulled Pork and Brisket Sandwiches for a limited time only, Anderson and Cedric each took turns hawking their signature AC Barbecue sauces. With the pair arguing over which one is better—Anthony’s Spicy Chipotle Smoke or Cedric’s Sweet Bussin’ Brown Sugar—Colbert offered to try both sauces on Arby’s menu items and determine which one made for a better sandwich.
“The winner is clear,” Colbert said after tasting both—his tongue firmly in cheek: “My mouth.”
Last night’s Arby’s integration was not the first time The Late Show has put the “More Show” segment to use, but was is the first since a paid partnership with Nissan in March of 2024.
Colbert’s EP Jon Stewart and Arby’s go way back, of course, with the fast food chain embracing Stewart’s frequent barbs at their expense during his first term at The Daily Show. Unlike Stewart, Colbert was not openly antagonistic towards the brand, though he was sure to disclose throughout the segment that it was sponsored
