The Night That Satire Died
And good ol’ boys were drinking whiskey and rye… while satire quietly died.
CANNED.
When The Late Show with Stephen Colbert got the axe last night, albeit with 10 more months to run, it felt like someone yanked a whole era of late night out from under us.
And I don’t mean just jokes. I mean hope.
✨ When Satire Felt Like Leadership
I can still see it. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, furious over the absurdity of a news cycle that chewed up reality and spat out corporate‑packaged narratives like a bad supermarket sweep. Indignant at the passage of Citizens United — and the grotesque notion that Super PACs would now be rebranded as “people”…
They turned their outrage into a bit, but not just any bit. It was a rallying cry wrapped in satire, a mirror held up to a system that insisted money was speech and corporations were citizens. Colbert didn’t just joke about it… he formed his own Super PAC to expose the farce from the inside, dragging the whole charade into the daylight with a grin and a wink.
Stewart stood right there with him, both men wielding their platforms like lanterns, lighting up the dark corners of a political process most Americans never even saw. And for a brief moment… we all felt less powerless.
They riffed, they raged, and then, half serious and half satire, they announced they would run for president too.
And you know what…
It wasn’t just funny.
It was electric.
And Honestly…I have a confession, readers: my husband is a conservative/libertarian blend, and I’m liberal, though I don’t necessarily fit neatly with the Democrats either. And yet both of us would have punched that ballot and grinned doing it.
It was the kind of wild‑eyed, righteous energy that made even people who never agreed on politics look up and say:
Yeah. I’d vote for them. Either of them. Happily.
And Both of us, Still would.
🛠️ Champions of the People
This wasn’t just comedy.
Colbert and Stewart have always been fighters. Not for ratings. Not for party lines.
For people.
💥 They fought tooth and nail for the PACT Act: to make sure first responders and military veterans got the healthcare and benefits they were promised after breathing in toxic smoke pits and debris from 9/11.
It is the epitome of military and first responder dark humor… and honestly, for two people who never served in those capacities, they have a beautiful mastery of it. They understand how to lace gut punch truths with just enough laughter to keep you breathing through it.
💥 They called out every flavor of bullshit, left, right, and corporate center, while we sat there with our late night snacks, laughing and thinking a little harder about the world.
💥 They reminded us that satire isn’t just to entertain; it is to illuminate.
📺 Why Satire Replaced the Networks
Here is what a lot of execs don’t want to admit:
For most Americans my age, we don’t even bother with the big networks anymore.
We don’t turn to Fox or CNN or MSNBC to figure out what is going on… the bias, the spin, the ratings chasing panels are exhausting.
Instead, we grew up trusting Jon Stewart on The Daily Show… or now, Aaron Parnas breaking down the day’s chaos in straight talk clips… because they actually cut through the garbage.
Satire felt honest in a way the suits didn’t.
It was someone finally saying the quiet part out loud, with enough humor to make it bearable.
✊ Why This Cancellation Hits Different
CBS says it is just business. Ratings are fine. Costs are high.
But let’s not kid ourselves… there is a glaring elephant in the room.
The cancellation comes hot on the heels of Colbert’s very public fallout with his parent company, Paramount, the same Paramount that quietly forked over 16 million dollars to Donald Trump to settle a lawsuit over claims that 60 Minutes was biased.
Colbert did not mince words… on air he called it a big fat bribe. And then, barely a week later, we hear his show is ending. Maybe that is coincidence. Maybe it is not.
Either way, it stings.
📜 A Legacy Written in Ink and Fire
Colbert isn’t perfect. Stewart isn’t perfect.
But damn if they haven’t consistently used their platforms to do good, real, tangible good, long after the cameras stop rolling.
Somewhere, Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain himself, is rolling in his fucking grave. And there is a reason he even had a pen name: because what he wrote about was often too sharp, too biting, too damn hard to swallow under his own name.
Satire was never meant to be safe or easy. It was meant to rattle cages, drag the truth into the light… and do it with a smirk.
🌱 What Can We Do Now
We can keep laughing, even when it hurts.
We can share the clips that cut through the garbage, support the voices that still dare to speak plainly, and stop rewarding the ones that sell us spin.
We can write, post, vote, show up, and remind the suits that satire isn’t a side dish, it is part of how a healthy democracy keeps itself honest.
Subscribe to the people doing the work.
Send your attention and your dollars to those holding the line.
Support veterans and first responders through the PACT Act’s rollout.
Call your representatives when you see that line between truth and fiction start to blur.
We can be loud, we can be funny, we can be unflinching… just like they taught us.
Because the night that satire died doesn’t have to be the night that hope died too.
🎭 Here’s Hoping
Here’s hoping Colbert either runs against the machine, opens a Substack, or jumps back in with Stewart on The Daily Show to keep calling out the bullshit. Because honestly, between those two men and what little is left of SNL, there is no more comic relief… no more cathartic late night gut punch that makes you laugh and think at the same time.
If satire is going to survive, it might have to be rebuilt by the very people who taught us why it mattered in the first place.
📚 Bibliography
The Guardian – Stephen Colbert’s Late Show to end next year amid Paramount backlash
Entertainment Weekly – Elizabeth Warren questions Late Show cancellation in wake of Trump settlement
The Wrap – Stephen Colbert calls Paramount’s Trump settlement a “big fat bribe”
Pitchfork – The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to End Next Year
NPR – PACT Act signed into law, expanding health care for toxic-exposed veterans
Associated Press – Jon Stewart, veterans advocates celebrate PACT Act victory
Decider – Jimmy Kimmel Rages After Shocking Stephen Colbert Cancellation