I pretty much agree with my pal Paul Harris about The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Last night's was a bit weak and the John McCain interview contained everything I don't like about politicians coming on shows like this. But overall, I think Colbert is already better than anyone else currently doing a late night show…
…and I'll go farther than that: I think he's showing the potential to be better than anyone who's ever done a late night show. That's right: Better than Johnny or Dave or Dick or Jay or any of those folks.
I am not predicting anything about ratings because these days, who knows? But the guy is funny and charming and he's as good an ad-libber as any of them. They need to sand off a few more rough edges and he needs to relax more and they still haven't quite figured how the bandleader fits into the proceedings. But the host himself is terrific and he's actually talking to his guests most of the time instead of setting them up for pre-planned speeches.