Comic Colbert to succeed US late-night icon Letterman

Comic Colbert to succeed US late-night icon Letterman

Comic Stephen Colbert can succeed TV icon David Letterman as host of the "Late Show" next year, CBS said Thursday, the most recent move during a changing of America's late-night previous guard.
The announcement came after Letterman said he will step down next year, and follows the departure of rival veteran Jay Leno as host of "The Tonight Show."
Colbert, forty nine, who has presented the award-winning The Colbert Report satirical show since 2005, paid tribute to Letterman as a model that other late-night hosts hunt to.
"Simply being a guest on David Letterman's show has been a highlight of my career," he said. "I never dreamed that I would follow in his footsteps, though everybody in late night follows Dave's lead.
"I'm thrilled and grateful that CBS chose me. Now, if you may excuse me, I even have to travel grind a niche in my front teeth," he said, bearing on Letterman's gap-toothed smile.
Letterman, sixty six, a pillar of American late-night TV speak shows, announced last week that he will leave his "Late Show" studio at CBS next year once a 22-year run.
Colbert -- who got into hot water recently over offensive language regarding Asian Americans -- has agreed to a five-year cope with CBS, starting when Letterman stands down a while in 2015.
"Stephen Colbert is one amongst the most ingenious and respected forces on tv," said CBS boss Leslie Moonves.
"David Letterman's legacy and accomplishments are an incredible supply of pride for all of us here, and nowadays's announcement speaks to our commitment of upholding what he established for CBS in late night."
Before launching The Colbert Report, Colbert spent eight years as a correspondent on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart, which has won nineteen Primetime Emmy awards.
On The Colbert Report, which has won four Primetime Emmys, Colbert plays a parody of an ultra-conservative talk show host, though he himself is widely perceived as liberal.
Right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh lambasted CBS's decision to put Colbert in control of a US media-cultural institution.
"CBS has simply declared war on the heartland of America," he said. "No longer is comedy going to be a covert assault on traditional American values... Currently it's just wide out within the open."
- Merry-go-round -
Letterman's announcement last week was the most recent in a merry-go-spherical of changes bringing a younger generation of hosts to the fore in the US late-night landscape.
In February, thirty-nine-year-old Jimmy Fallon took over at NBC's "The Tonight Show" when Letterman's long-time rival Leno, sixty three, announced his departure.
"Saturday Night Live" star Seth Meyers is NBC's new talk-show hope at twelve:30 am, inheriting Fallon's previous time slot.
The changes have also concerned some geographical rivalry: Leno taped "The Tonight Show" in Los Angeles, but the show moved to New York with Fallon.
That left Jimmy Kimmel as the only major late-night host still on the West Coast. Letterman conjointly tapes in New York.
But tellingly, CBS failed to specify where the Colbert "Late Show" will be created, saying the location "can be determined and announced at a later date."
Letterman's "Late Show" is famous for Letterman's witty repartee with A-list celebrity guests, his satirical prime-10 lists and a raft of normal features together with a phase dedicated to clever animals known as Stupid Pet Tricks.
Colbert triggered a firestorm on social media last month after attacking the owner of the Washington Redskins, who refuses to alter the American football team's name, that is considered derogatory by several Native Americans.
Colbert stressed that his over-the-top jibes were meant as parody.