Daily Beast Podcast: ‘Colbert Is Just Not Funny Anymore’

Stephen Colbert didn’t cry on-air over Donald Trump’s re-election unlike one of his late-night peers.

“The Late Show” host might shed some tears after hearing his fellow progressives tear into him.

“The Last Laugh’s” Matt Wilstein and co-host Andy Levy reviewed comedy’s impact on pop culture in 2024 on the latest episode. The Daily Beast show explored Trump’s swing-state sweep and how podcasts may have helped the real estate mogul crush Vice President Kamala Harris.

The podcast, like The Daily Beast, leans to the Left. Hard.

That meant plenty of progressive musings on comedy and culture, which shouldn’t come as a shock. They attacked Spotify superstar Joe Rogan over real and imagined flaws and explored how podcasters influenced the election results.

What was surprising, though, was their take on late-night television. Colbert, in particular, took it on the chin.

Hard.

Levy mentioned that he doesn’t watch late-night TV regularly but he does while visiting his mother.

“I sit there, and I say to myself, and I hate that I’m saying this, but [Colbert] is just not funny anymore,” Levy said while Wilstein echoed the sentiment with a quiet, “Yeah.”

Many on the Right have mocked Colbert for his one-sided monologues in recent years. He’s also embraced “clapter,” jokes that share the “approved” political leanings but aren’t particularly funny.

Levy and Wilstein agreed, but through a different ideological lens.

“I don’t know what happened to him, because he truly was a comedy genius,” said Levy, citing “The Colbert Report” as proof.

“He’s doing the lowest-hanging, hashtag-resistance humor. It is actually painful for me to watch to the point where I’ve said to my Mom, ‘can we please not watch Colbert?’ I’ve reached a point where I’d rather watch Jimmy Fallon, and that’s a wild thing to be saying,” Levy said.

The duo agreed that Jimmy Kimmel offers better late-night liberalism, but they weren’t exactly sold on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host, either.

RELATED: COLBERT – FROM RAZOR-SHARP WIT TO REGIME COMEDIAN

The pair tried to cut Colbert some slack.

“He’s backed off a little bit from the political stuff … he’s trying to find what his role will be.” Wilstein said. “Colbert still has his moments every once in a while, but I don’t know what he’s doing exactly.”

“It’s a little bit baffling to see what’s happening to him as a comedian and as a voice who was so vital and now is making jokes that feel interchangeable with Jimmy Fallon’s soft monologue jokes,” Wilstein continued.

Levy dug in deeper, despite praising Colbert’s interview chops.

“This is the path he and the producers of ‘The Late Show’ have chosen for his monologue-type stuff,” Levy said. “I feel like Alex in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ being forced to watch it. It makes me sad, too, because … he was one of the best things in comedy on TV for a very long time.”

Wilstein suggested Jon Stewart’s 2024 return to “The Daily Show” might have lit a creative fire under Colbert.

Nothing doing, according to “The Last Laugh” podcast.

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