My pal Paul Harris notes that the opening titles of Stephen Colbert's show now say it's "live on tape." As Paul notes, it's impossible for a show to be "live" if it's been recorded for broadcast later. And it's not "on tape," either. It's a digital recording.
But I'd like to point out that it's even worse than that. If "live on tape" means anything, it means that the show is recorded in real time with no edits. Colbert's show is edited all the time. The cold opening comedy piece is always pre-recorded. If Colbert ventures out on the street, as he did last week with Robert DeNiro, we see him exiting the main part of the theater and then they cut to an exterior segment that was recorded earlier. And sometimes, they just plain edit an interview that ran long or got boring.
When he has done shows "live" (for real), they sometimes pre-record most of the show earlier, then do live segments at the proper time. They've been known to even bring in two audiences, one for the non-live portions done earlier.
I would love to see a show like that done live — or at least recorded in one non-stop effort with no edits. Alas, late night TV prizes polish over spontaneity. Once upon a time, it was the other way around and that was one of the big things that separated late night from prime time.
Also, the other day, I caught an interview with James Corden, who was talking about his experiences hosting the Grammy Awards. He mentioned that his late night program ran new shows Monday through Thursday, then aired a rerun on Friday. This is not so. His show goes on in most time zones after Midnight…so he has new shows that air Tuesday through Friday and a rerun that runs Saturday morning. And I really can't bring myself to watch Jimmy Kimmel's show but do they still call it Jimmy Kimmel Live? It's recorded earlier, too.