Bob Odenkirk may be set to deliver some more beatdowns when the action sequel Nobody 2 hits the 2025 movie schedule on August 15, but he’s been known as a comedian and a TV star far longer than he’s been a big-screen badass. He’s also been friends with late night host Stephen Colbert for 30 years, give or take, so it’s only fitting that the Better Call Saul vet would have a take on The Late Show’s sudden cancellation at CBS.
EW, Odenkirk shared that he doesn’t have any key insider information about the network’s headline-making decision, and that he wasn’t even sure how to go about weighing CBS execs’ money-saving reasoning against claims that the cancellation happened to curry favor with the President and the FCC so that the corporate merger between Skydance and Paramount Global could be approved. According to Odenkirk:
I can’t make out the political side of this versus the economic side of it. I do know that viewing patterns have shifted.
I don’t know that anyone actually would expect Bob Odenkirk to offer concise insights into broadcast network cancellations, although I have little doubt he’d excel at playing a character pretending to know all about network cancellations. It’s a thin line.
Saturday Night Live, with Odenkirk exiting to make Mr. Show with Bob and David the year before Colbert joined the NBC staple via TV Funhouse.
In any case, Odenkirk seems more confident in Colbert’s future in entertainment than he seems about the future of late night talk shows. As he put it:
Maybe that format has kind of run its time? And also, by the way, one less person doing that will maybe help some of the other shows be stronger. But I know Stephen — we’re gonna see lots more of Stephen.
Let’s never forget the time that Odenkirk and Colbert played each other for a fake biopic of The Late Show.
If the reports about Colbert intentionally trolling studio higher-ups are true, fans might be seeing the late night host in another format far sooner than CBS’ May 2026 deadline. Odenkirk opined that he could end up guiding his own future in the way that Conan O’Brien did when he vacated NBC for TBS and then Max, all while evolving the traditional talk show concept. I’d watch whatever comes next, and I won’t exactly be mad if it involves zero political humor.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is airing four new episodes this week, featuring such guests as Bowen Yang, Jamie Lee Curtis, Liam Neeson, Renée Rapp, and more. Fans can stream eps the next day via a Paramount+ subscription.