Lawyers argue over whether Colbert can be Colbert
NEW YORK — After CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert told viewers that lawyers representing his old Comedy Central show said he couldn’t be Stephen Colbert anymore, he thumbed his nose at them with a transparent dodge.
Lawyers representing his old company complained to CBS after he revived the character he played under his own name on The Colbert Report — a clueless, full-ofhimself cable news host. They said that the character Stephen Colbert was their intellectual property, “which is surprising, since I never considered that guy much of an intellect,” Colbert said on the Late Show on Wednesday.
The audience booed when Colbert, “with a heavy heart,” said it has been decreed that the character is kaput. “I feel the same way, but what can I do?” Colbert said. “The lawyers have spoken. I cannot reasonably argue that I own my own face and name. And as much as I’d like to have that guy on again, I can’t.”
He then introduced “Stephen Colbert’s identical cousin,” an interview with himself displaying the same cocked eyebrow expression his old character had. Then the real Colbert did one of the old show’s most popular recurring segments, retitling The Word to The Werd.
Representatives from CBS and Comedy Central declined to comment. Until 2005, the two networks were corporate cousins.
Since starting at the Late Show last fall, Colbert has struggled to establish himself with his own personality. So fans were delighted last week when he briefly brought the old character back. The Late Show has been making an aggressive play for attention with two weeks of live shows coinciding with the Republican and Democratic conventions. Besides the reappearance of his character, old friend Jon Stewart appeared last week for his first extended comic riffs on TV since leaving Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.