CBS is turning to comedian-turned-media mogul Byron Allen to replace “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” starting next month.
The network announced Monday that it will air back-to-back episodes of Allen’s “Comics Unleashed,” beginning at 11:35 p.m. for the 2026-2027 season.
CBS, which recently aired Allen’s roundtable-style comedy talk show in the 12:35 a.m. slot, made the decision after it announced last July that it was getting out of the late-night game completely.
The network said it will premiere its first episode of “Comics Unleashed” after Colbert ends his 11-year-run on May 22.
Allen’s show, which has featured comedians including Sebastian Maniscalco, Tiffany Haddish, Gabriel Iglesias, Cedric the Entertainer and Nate Bargatze, first appeared on CBS in September 2006.
As part of the shift, Allen, who is the founder and CEO of Allen Media Group, will also air “Funny You Should Ask” — a comedic gameshow hosted by Jon Kelley — at 12:35 a.m.
The 30-minute show will run back-to-back episodes Monday through Friday starting May 22.
“I created and launched ‘Comics Unleashed’ 20 years ago so my fellow comedians could have a platform to do what we all love – make people laugh,” Allen said.
“I truly appreciate CBS’ confidence in me by picking up our two-hour comedy block of ‘Comics Unleashed’ and ‘Funny You Should Ask,’ because the world can never have enough laughter.”
CBS’ surprise decision to cancel “The Late Night Show” last summer was met with heavy scrutiny from media watchers, who noted that the program had the highest ratings of all late-night programs.
CBS brass said at the time that the decision to cancel Colbert’s show was “a purely financial decision against a challenging backdrop of late night.” They added that the move was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
At the time, Skydance was in the throes of acquiring CBS-parent Paramount in a deal valued at $8.4 billion, following a difficult merger process.
The Trump-bashing Colbert said in November it’s “a reasonable thing to think” his cancellation was politically motivated, but he personally refused to “engage in that speculation.”
