Stephen Colbert attended The Hollywood Reporter’s The Most Highly effective Individuals in New York Media celebration in New York earlier this month. After being ousted from his internet hosting function on The Late Present, Colbert hosted an area cable entry present in Monroe, Michigan.
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CBS and dad or mum firm Paramount have backed away from efforts to restrict reposting of Stephen Colbert’s mock look as host of a Michigan public entry present known as “Solely In Monroe.” Colbert posted the hour-long parody a day after being ousted from his almost 11-year-long run at “The Late Present.”
“It has been an excruciating 23 hours with out being on TV,” Colbert joked throughout this system. “So I’m grateful to be right here on Monroe Neighborhood Media, earlier than in addition they get acquired by Paramount.”
The deadpan look, which featured rockstar Jack White as an much more deadpan sidekick, rapidly went viral. This system was reposted broadly on Youtube and different social media platforms, main CBS to initially hearth off copyright safety notices.
“Paramount is seemingly making an attempt to suppress copies of “Solely in Monroe” from showing on different social platforms by submitting frivolous copyright notices,” wrote long-time media reporter Matthew Keys Sunday on X.
In an announcement to NPR on Monday, CBS stated that Colbert’s “Solely In Monroe” episode was “financed and produced by CBS studios” and was permitted for distribution on solely three Youtube channels: The Late Present, Monroe Neighborhood Media and Colbert’s private channel.
“As is our common follow, we ship copyright notices to unauthorized web sites that submit copyrighted content material from CBS and our community/studio expertise equivalent to Stephen Colbert,” the assertion stated. “Nevertheless, for this episode, [we] have determined to waive additional enforcement of this customary business follow till further evaluate.”
CBS canceled Colbert’s top-rated late-night present in July 2025, describing the transfer as a monetary determination. However the cancellation additionally got here as Paramount World – which owns CBS – sought the Trump administration’s approval for its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.
Colbert, a frequent and outspoken critic of President Trump, ended his run as host of “The Late Present” on Friday with a star-studded forged that included Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney.
His look on “Solely In Monroe” drew a lot of its humor from the stark distinction as Colbert stepped from one of the crucial influential posts in tv to a humble native TV set. Friends talked about bigfoot sightings in Michigan and actor Jeff Daniels made sandwiches and introduced the city’s neighborhood calendar.
At one level in the course of the “Monroe” look, Colbert phoned Byron Allen, host of “Comics Unleashed,” the present which CBS has dropped into the outdated Late Present slot. Allen answered and stated, “Is Stephen Colbert one of the best or what?”
Throughout an interview with NPR’s Newsmakers podcast, Allen advised host Ailsa Chang that Colbert is “an American treasure” however stated his present would keep away from the political comedy that got here to outline the Late Present in the course of the Colbert period.
“Not everyone’s gonna love me,” Allen stated. “However there’s that one or two p.c that will be like ‘hell yeah, I am rolling with you’ and I realized that at an early age, and by the best way, that straightforward lesson made me a billionaire.”
