{"id":12,"date":"2026-05-22T16:47:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T16:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12"},"modified":"2026-05-22T16:47:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T16:47:04","slug":"inside-colberts-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12","title":{"rendered":"Inside Colbert\u2019s Success"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

My view of Stephen Colbert and the demise of his show is even less objective than that of all of the superstars who have been paying elaborate tribute to him in recent weeks. He and his formidable wife, Evie, are good friends in Montclair, N.J., where we have all lived for many years. My formidable wife, Emily Lazar, worked for Stephen in a senior role from the start of\u00a0The Colbert Report<\/em>\u00a0in 2005 until she left\u00a0The Late Show<\/em>\u00a011 years later.<\/p>\n

Read more America 250: Our Revolutionary Era Colleges Were Hotbeds of \u2026 Royalism<\/a><\/p>\n

Emily echoes Stephen when she says that the people who have worked with him on both shows deserve more credit than the press has given them.<\/p>\n

Geniuses in any realm always say the same. Steve Jobs had Steve Wozniak and Jony Ive; Bruce Springsteen has his E Street Band, and Stephen, the ringmaster, has had an inspired team of writers and producers behind him all along. Sadly, most of them are now looking for work.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with\u00a0Tom Purcell, Stephen\u2019s muse and alter ego in nerdiness. Like Raymond Siller for Johnny Carson or Merrill Markoe (with big assists from Steve O\u2019Donnell, Bill Scheft, and others) for David Letterman, Tom\u2019s role has been bigger than just executive producer. From the start, beyond great jokes, he has provided intellectual heft, especially on politics. If, like millions of others, Colbert has helped you process your disgust with Trump, you can thank Tom along with Stephen himself. Supervising Producer\u00a0Paul Dinello, one of Stephen\u2019s oldest friends, is a human oil can who loosens up his comic joints. Head writer\u00a0Jay Katsir\u00a0has written an astonishing array of good jokes\u2014political and otherwise\u2014over the years.<\/p>\n

If, like me, you think that Stephen\u2019s character on the old show was one of the most brilliant creations in the history of television, you should also thank\u00a0Allison Silverman, an executive producer of\u00a0The Colbert Report,<\/em>\u00a0who, with\u00a0Rich Dahm, helped him form the character.<\/p>\n

Stephen\u2019s high-status blowhard look on that show\u2013an underrated dimension-was fashioned largely by makeup artist\u00a0Kerri Plante-Price.\u00a0Matt Lapin\u00a0has been both shows\u2019 versatile court jester\u2014Colbert\u2019s Colbert.\u00a0Andro Buneta,\u00a0the art director, created a visual look that made the graphics almost another character. Set designer\u00a0Brendan Hurley,\u00a0costume director\u00a0Antonia Xereas\u00a0(critical for comedic bits), scrappy talent booker\u00a0Amy Schwartz, and the late, great\u00a0Amy Cole\u00a0(Stephen\u2019s uber-competent chief of staff) are just a few of the altar boys and girls who offered up the high priest (Stephen) what he needed before he even knew himself. I\u2019m sorry for not mentioning all the other great teammates.<\/p>\n

Read more The Democratic Party Is Divided (But Not How You Think)<\/a><\/p>\n

This is not just because she\u2019s my wife: Emily Lazar was the talent producer, and later an executive producer, in charge of the guests, and her vision of who Stephen\u2019s character should meet, argue against, and improvise with was critical to the success of\u00a0The Colbert Report<\/em>. My favorite moments were when she convinced Stephen to run as a South Carolina favorite son candidate for president in 2008 (he eventually withdrew); she convinced President Obama to order General Ray Odierno to shave Stephen\u2019s head in Iraq; and she convinced Stephen to dance a\u00a0pas de deux<\/em>\u00a0from the\u00a0Nutcracker<\/em>\u00a0with the principal dancer of the New York City Ballet. On\u00a0The Late Show<\/em>, she produced an intimate interview about death with then-Vice President Biden.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0this week,\u00a0Bill Carter writes\u00a0that Chris Licht, best known for being fired as president of CNN, was responsible for stabilizing\u00a0The Late Show<\/em>\u00a0after a rocky start in 2016 by injecting more material lampooning Trump. This ticked me off because I was an eyewitness to what really happened. At the 2016 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia and the Republican Convention in Cleveland, I watched as Emily pleaded in vain with Licht to include more Trump material and political guests at the conventions and beyond. He ignored her before finally adopting her recommendation after Trump won.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s cold comfort for Colbert, but his firing last year will be in history books a century from now as an illustration of how America\u2019s would-be tyrant tried to silence criticism. Don\u2019t let cowardly CBS executives confuse the issue. I learned from a lawyer close to the deal that Trump had decreed that Skydance Media\u2019s purchase of Paramount would not be approved unless Colbert was fired. Period. Sure, there were financial losses, but on their own, they would not have led to the show\u2019s cancellation.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry about Stephen\u2019s future. He has loads of talent and lots of opportunities. It will be fun to see how he seizes them.<\/p>\n

Read more The Democratic Party Is Divided (But Not How You Think)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Colbert\u2019s cancellation was political. But the brilliance of his shows also belonged to the writers, producers, and staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,5,2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-foreign-policy","category-podcast","category-politics","category-the-monopolized-economy"],"yoast_head":"\nInside Colbert\u2019s Success - USA Business Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside Colbert\u2019s Success - USA Business Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stephen Colbert\u2019s cancellation was political. But the brilliance of his shows also belonged to the writers, producers, and staff.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"USA Business Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-22T16:47:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/67a295b6f3c78e16a747b74b6405b4d0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366\"},\"headline\":\"Inside Colbert\u2019s Success\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-22T16:47:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12\"},\"wordCount\":816,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/67a295b6f3c78e16a747b74b6405b4d0.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"Foreign Policy\",\"Podcast\",\"Politics\",\"The Monopolized Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12\",\"name\":\"Inside Colbert\u2019s Success - USA Business Chronicle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/67a295b6f3c78e16a747b74b6405b4d0.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-22T16:47:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/67a295b6f3c78e16a747b74b6405b4d0.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/67a295b6f3c78e16a747b74b6405b4d0.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=12#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Inside Colbert\u2019s Success\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"USA Business Chronicle\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Inside Colbert\u2019s Success - USA Business Chronicle","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Inside Colbert\u2019s Success - USA Business Chronicle","og_description":"Stephen Colbert\u2019s cancellation was political. But the brilliance of his shows also belonged to the writers, producers, and staff.","og_url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12","og_site_name":"USA Business Chronicle","article_published_time":"2026-05-22T16:47:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/67a295b6f3c78e16a747b74b6405b4d0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366"},"headline":"Inside Colbert\u2019s Success","datePublished":"2026-05-22T16:47:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12"},"wordCount":816,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/67a295b6f3c78e16a747b74b6405b4d0.jpg","articleSection":["Books","Foreign Policy","Podcast","Politics","The Monopolized Economy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12","url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12","name":"Inside Colbert\u2019s Success - USA Business Chronicle","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/67a295b6f3c78e16a747b74b6405b4d0.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-22T16:47:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/67a295b6f3c78e16a747b74b6405b4d0.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/67a295b6f3c78e16a747b74b6405b4d0.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=12#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Inside Colbert\u2019s Success"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/","name":"USA Business Chronicle","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com"],"url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}