‘37% of America can’t take a joke:’ Spike says the end of ‘The Late Show’ is about more than money

Thirty-seven percent is the funniest number. There are studies that prove this. Take a look throughout comedy, standup, movies, and television: When a number is used in the setup of a joke, it’s more often than not the number 37. And now, with the forced cancellation of one of America’s premier comic institutions, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the number 37 is taking on a more ominous role.

Thirty-seven percent of Americans think the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is a great idea.

It was announced several months ago that CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was being canceled, with a final show date of May 21. Numerous rationalizations for the move have been floated throughout the media of all ideological stripes. Is the financial model of traditional late-night television just no longer viable? CBS confirmed that the late show format loses money annually — a lot of money. And with the evolution of how audiences increasingly consume content through social media platforms, this is an undeniable reality.

But what is also undeniable – at least to anyone willing to take an honest assessment of the current media, political, and social landscapes – is that the Trump administration has a pattern of pressuring both media corporations and individual personalities to either deliver positive coverage of President Donald Trump and his policies, or face government retaliation.

Political satire is nothing new

Humor has been a chief weapon in the arsenal of the Fourth Estate for as long as there’s been a First Amendment. Political cartoons posted on handbills in the town square poked fun at King George, Abe Lincoln, and Tammany Hall. Late-night talk show hosts ribbed Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, and every resident of the Oval Office who has followed.

That seems to have changed with Trump. This president has an unfiltered, immediate, and rapid-fire response to anything he perceives as a slight, disloyalty, unflattering, or even a joke. And not just in word alone. The retaliation has often taken the form of agency pressure, threats of license revocation from the FCC, or even threats of a criminal investigation from Trump’s Department of Justice.

Couple this with the ever-evolving landscape of media corporate mergers and ownership changes, which often rely on approval from the federal government, and it’s hard to deny the perception that this president and his administration have no hesitation putting the full weight of executive power behind controlling what American audiences see and hear.

Which brings me back to my original statement. Thirty-seven percent of America can’t take a joke. A conglomeration of recent polling puts support for Trump and his policies at 37%. That is at or near record low numbers for a president at this point in a term. If we were to ask Americans what they think of Stephen Colbert, if they think he’s funny, or if he has any talent at all, I’ll wager that around 37% think he’s none of these things. And at that point, I think it’s not unreasonable to draw the conclusion that the cancellation of Stephen Colbert, and the institution that is “The Late Show on CBS,” isn’t being driven by financial decisions. No more than CBS’s decision to pull a 60 Minutes story of the Trump administration’s handling of immigrant detention to allow for “further vetting” of the segment.

Of course, all of this is just one man’s opinion, and the Paramount Skydance Corporation (heavy Trump supporters and donors) has forgotten more about business than I will ever dream of knowing.

But this administration, the industries whose growth and success rely on staying in that administration’s good graces and those who support Trump, his policies and his unquenchable thirst for personal devotion, 37% of our fellow citizens seem to think the American media landscape is better off without the institution that is “The Late Show” and without opposing views like those expressed by Stephen Colbert or any other late night comedian from Jimmy Kimmel to Johnny Carson to Jack Parr. Thank goodness that doesn’t appear to be the opinion of the parade of the biggest names in entertainment, everybody who is anybody, who have been a part of the final week of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

If those cheering for the chilling and even silencing of dissenting voices think that makes us a better nation, I don’t know what else I could possibly tell them. The expression of opposing viewpoints is what lit the spark that gave birth to this idea of America. The free expression of opinion, without fear of government suppression or retaliation, is the very first right enshrined in our founding documents for a reason. It seems to me that 37% of Americans have forgotten that, or just don’t have a sense of humor. Or maybe it’s just the other 63% of us.

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