Stephen Colbert has only been off CBS for a week, but the internet is already drafting him for a new job: saving PBS.
The pitch is simple: put Colbert on public television as the host of a series of specials built around the same mix of comedy, politics, culture, and civic-minded mischief that made him broadcast television’s No.1 late-night host.
The proposed version of the idea has PBS using each installment as a pledge-drive event.
In concept, it’s not all that far removed from the comedy specials satirist Mark Russell produced for PBS over three decades, from 1974 to 2004. Only this version comes with a newly available late-night host, a threatened public-media landscape, and an extremely online fan base ready to make noise.
The idea began picking up steam over Memorial Day weekend after Ashley Rickards posted a plea to social media: “Colbert could save PBS. Please have your NEW show on PBS. We will buy all the tote bags. PLEASE.”
Rickards, an actor/director/writer best known for her starring role as Jenna Hamilton in the 2011-2016 MTV series Awkward, told LateNighter she has never met Colbert, but has watched him “religiously ever since I stopped paying my publicist—make of that what you will.”
Dismayed by his CBS exit, she said she posted her PBS idea late Sunday, “thinking I was just yelling into the void and woke up to numbers I had to refresh twice to believe.”
Within 48 hours, Rickards said, the post had crossed 485,700 views across her profiles, with nearly 97 percent of interactions coming from people who didn’t already follow her.
The campaign’s premise is not coming out of nowhere.
Colbert has specifically defended PBS on-air. In April 2025, after the Trump administration announced plans to rescind $1.1 billion in federal funding from NPR and PBS, he joked on The Late Show that both public-media entities were “already operating on a shoestring budget,” adding, “Daniel Tiger can’t even afford to wear pants.”
The broader public-media world has also embraced Colbert. Last November, he and his wife Evie McGee Colbert were honored at New York Public Radio’s Stand With Public Media gala, where the evening’s rallying cry was “You Can’t Defund the Truth.” The event’s message—defending nonprofit, mission-driven journalism and culture—tracks closely with what Rickards’ campaign is trying to bottle.
Rickards says Colbert’s appeal is not just that he is funny. “He’s been one of the steadiest voices defending journalism, science, history, and democracy on national television,” she said. “Those are the same values PBS was built on. The alignment is so natural it almost writes itself.”
There’s been no response yet from PBS or Colbert’s camp, but Rickards says she is preparing to send a formal pitch to PBS, as well as Colbert’s representatives.
“Monday: the pitch goes out,” she said. “After that, it’s not up to me—it’s up to PBS and Stephen’s team to decide.”
And if nothing comes of it? Rickards says she still sees value in making the case.
“If PBS and Stephen each see a runway here, this becomes a real show,” she said. “If not, I’ll have spent a week of my life advocating for public media at a moment when public media needs advocates, and that’s not nothing.”
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Steven Colbert for a president!!! No better candidates. Reagan was an actor, Z elinski was a comedian, what better man for this job? Everyone knows him, he knows more about government than any of those current squatters in the WH and he is a DECENT HUMAN who recognizes people skills for leadership roles! Steven for PRESIDENT, spread the word!
The last thing America needs is someone who’s never served in public office to become president! Drumpf is living proof of that!