As CBS swapped out Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” with Byron Allen’s “Comics Unleashed,” the new 11:35 time slot saw a lackluster ratings debut.
“Comics Unleashed,” which debuted its first episode on CBS the day after Colbert wrapped up its run, tallied 878,000 total viewers across its two half-hour shows on Friday, May 22, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day panel plus big data numbers. The first half-hour was a first-run episode and the second one was a repeat from September 2025.
As expected, it’s a hefty 87% downfall from the night before, which saw the series finale of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Thursday, May 21 bring in 6.74 million viewers on CBS, according to Nielsen preliminarily numbers, which marked the show’s most-watched weeknight episode ever.
While the finale was elevated for obvious reasons as Colbert ended his late night run on CBS, the “Comics Unleashed” debut was also down 59% from the “Late Show” season average of 2.15 million viewers. For reference, “The Late Show” averaged 2.69 million viewers in Q1 2026, per Nielsen live-plus-seven-day viewing figures.
For comparison, “The Tonight Show” scored as 1.74 million viewers at 12:07 a.m., which was delayed due to NBA playoffs, while “Seth Meyers” scored 773,000 viewers at 1:09 a.m. “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” likewise, brought in 1.68 million viewers, while “Nightline” brought in 947,000.
CBS announced in July 2025 that “The Late Show” would come to an end in May 2026, and Colbert’s last day on air was confirmed in January. CBS leased the timeslot to Allen, who bought the late night hours through the 2026-2027 TV season.
Allen shouted out Colbert as one of the late night “pioneers” at the start of Friday’s broadcast for “Comics Unleashed,” also paying his dues to Bill Maher, Chelsea Handler, John Oliver, Conan O’Brien, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart, Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah and his “personal favorite and a childhood hero” Johnny Carson.
“I’d also like to thank our incredible partners at CBS, Google, YouTube, and one of our sponsors, Procter and Gamble,” he added. “Last, but not least, I’d like to thank you, the audience, for allowing us to do what we love. Make you laugh, because this world can never have enough laughter. Thank you.”
“Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.
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