The first night of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen in CBS’s former Late Show with Stephen Colbert timeslot got off to a rough start in the ratings. And while no on expected the panel show to match the draw of a series finale, the numbers suggest an uphill battle to win over audiences.
Comics Unleashed moved into the 11:35 p.m. timeslot immediately after Stephen Colbert said goodbye to late-night TV. On May 22, the show had 878,000 total viewers across its two half-hour episodes, only one of which was a new broadcast. Those numbers are according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day panel plus big data numbers (via LateNighter).
Those numbers represented a steep drop from The Late Show’s farewell episode. Compared to Colbert’s series finale, Comics Unleashed was down 85 percent in total viewers and 95 percent in the demo.
No one realistically expected Allen’s syndicated panel show to replicate the audience for the final episode of one of late-night’s biggest franchises. Series finales are television events, particularly for a host as influential as Stephen Colbert, whose departure marked the end of an era for CBS late-night.
Still, Comics Unleashed also fell well short of The Late Show’s 2026 first-quarter average. The Late Show drew an average of 2.69 million viewers based on Live+7 big data figures.
The CBS show also couldn't compete with NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon or a rerun of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC. Both established late-night shows outperformed Comics Unleashed with about 1.5 million viewersf each.
In a recent interview, Allen made it clear that he doesn't expect Comics Unleashed to replace The Late Show, nor does he feel pressure to capture Colbert's audience. Instead, the media mogul is relying on his show's built-in audience plus any other fans looking for an alternative to the topical political humor dominating late-night during the timeslot.
Allen Media Group released figures highlighting that Comics Unleashed outperformed Fallon and/or Kimmel in more than two dozen local markets on May 22. While national ratings remain underwhelming, the localized wins suggest the series may still have reasons to be optimistic in syndication-heavy markets where Allen Media Group has significant station reach.
Colbert's Late Show also drew impressive numbers on YouTube during its run on CBS. Comics Unleashed has a long way to go in that department. The show's official channel uploaded a 17-minute segment from the May 22 episode, earning 11,000 views in a week.
Shorter clips and perhaps more focus on social media could help turn things around in the coming weeks. But for now, videos also have to deal with a wave of negative comments coming from Late Show fans who (unfairly) think Comics Unleashed is meant to be a one-for-one replacement for Colbert's show.
Whether Comics Unleashed can stabilize its audience in the weeks ahead remains to be seen, but its debut week illustrated just how large the post-Colbert void currently is in late-night television. It won't be an easy task, but CBS and Byron Allen seem confident they have the right plan.
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