This is a tale of two Stephens.
The first is Stephen Colbert, the modestly talented late night television host scheduled for unemployment next May as CBS cuts its losses, said to be $40 million or so a year. The network tired of losing so much merely to provide a platform for Colbert’s political screeds.
In a commentary on our times, and the widespread delusion of the political left, Colbert’s demise has been blamed on President Trump. Consequently, a smattering of protests have been heard, mostly from similarly marginally talented types perhaps fearing loss of their positions on the public airwaves.
Censorship, they allege. Economic reality, I reply. When people aren’t buying what you’re selling, you lose your job. Period, Full stop. Even PBS and NPR are being dragged kicking and screaming to that reality.
Ever wonder why the government doesn’t have to subsidize Fox News?
The hyperbolic describe Colbert as a genius. Are they talking about the guy whose idea of COVID humor was dancing around with people dressed as syringes? Have they noticed that since he got his walking papers, Colbert has used his low-ratings show as a vehicle for absurd attacks on Trump, including some F-yous?
Genius? I think not.
Now, to our other Stephen, better known as Steve Allen. He didn’t, as Colbert has, fiddle with the pronunciation of his last name in a pathetic attention seeking ploy. Allen easily could have gone that route by using his full name, that being Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen.
A brief history lesson is in order for the younger crowd that tends to be both ignorant of history before their birth, and a lot that has happened since their arrival. It is Steve Allen who invented the Late Night TV genre that Colbert inhabits (not for long), first on a local TV station, and then nationally on The Tonight Show beginning in September 1954.
Allen was the first host of The Tonight Show. Not only was Steve Allen a funny comedian, he also was a trailblazer, introducing the staples of man-in-the-street interviews and comedic interaction with audience members.
Along the way, Allen might showcase his musical skills, playing the piano, for example. I’ve seen clips of him playing the trumpet, in a foursome with Doc Severinsen, then a member of the Tonight Show band who would go on famously to lead that ensemble.
Allen was a prolific music composer, said to have written more than 8,500 songs, Perhaps the best known is “This Could Be the Start of Something Big.”
Allen wrote more than 50 books, he acted in TV shows and movies. He hosted a variety of other TV shows.
This Stephen has not one, but two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, recognizing his monstrous contributions to TV and to music.
Steve Allen also had a political side, but didn’t shove it into our faces on a nightly basis. Yes, he was on the political left, back when that end of the political spectrum practiced rational behavior.
I feel sure Allen would not have approved of riots to support criminal illegal immigrants, or anti-Semites.
Steve Allen was a strong supporter of free speech, but thought raunchy comedians Lenny Bruce and George Carlin went too far with their profanity.
Allen was a Democrat, yet he married a Republican, actress Jayne Meadows.
Allen had shows canceled, but never gave the verbal middle finger to anyone over it. He didn’t encourage protesters to take to the streets and proclaim his genius.
But Allen deserved to be described as a genius. He was funny, a talented host, musician, composer, writer and actor.
Allen was a titan. Compared to Allen, Colbert is a comparative dwarf and, most assuredly, not a genius.
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