The Late Show may be ending with Stephen Colbert, but it began with David Letterman. And while Letterman hasn’t officially shared his thoughts on CBS cancelling the show he created, a new video gives fans a pretty clear indication of where the original Late Show host stands.
On July 21, the official Letterman YouTube account uploaded a 20-minute supercut of the late-night legend bashing CBS over the years. Clips ranged from 1994 to 2013, demonstrating just how long Letterman had issues with the network that gave him a job for 22 years.
The clips include Letterman bashing the network for its programming, lack of Late Show advertising, and years of failing to celebrate the show’s milestones. But even with all the footage of Letterman ripping CBS, the most telling line may be the video’s caption: You can’t spell CBS without BS.
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It’s unclear how much say Letterman has in what goes up on his YouTube channel. Worldwide Pants Inc., the production company founded and owned by Letterman, controls the archives from Late Show with David Letterman. A social media team at the company is likely behind the supercut, but it’s a safe bet to say Letterman supports mocking CBS after it unceremoniously cancelled The Late Show and Stephen Colbert.
The video also proves that late-night TV hosts going after their corporate bosses is nothing new. Letterman did it in the ’90s, Conan O’Brien did it with NBC for years, and now Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and John Oliver consistently bite the hand that feeds. The difference now is the political considerations that seem to have been a contributing factor to The Late Show going off the air.
If the YouTube montage can be taken as David Letterman voicing his support for Colbert, he joins a long list of late-night TV personalities who have done the same. Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Andy Cohen, Jon Stewart, and John Oliver have all lamented the loss of The Late Show and questioned CBS’s motivation for ending the top-rated show.
Colbert can spend the next 10 months following Letterman’s lead in more ways than one. His monologue on July 21 showed he wasn’t going to go easy on Paramount, CBS, or President Donald Trump. And when The Late Show officially ends in May 2026, Colbert’s best move may be to follow Letterman to streaming and leave behind the BS of network television.
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