Stephen Colbert: What's behind his Internet push for the 'Late Show'
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
A promotional video for the upcoming CBS 鈥淟ate Show鈥� with new host Stephen Colbert has been posted in advance of Colbert鈥檚 September debut on the show.听
Much of Colbert鈥檚 video involves him saying farewell to his 鈥渃olbeard.鈥�
鈥淎s much as I enjoyed being incognito, now that we're gearing up for the beginning of the聽鈥楲ate Show,鈥� I need to be more cognito," Colbert says during the video. 鈥淧lus, CBS is making me shave it off because Tom Selleck's mustache has a non-compete clause.鈥�
Colbert tries various beard styles as he shaves off the beard, including the 鈥渉alf-Wolverine,鈥� in which he shaved off the beard entirely on one side of his face and left sideburns like those worn by Hugh Jackman鈥檚 鈥淴-Men鈥� character on the other side. (If you check out the video, be aware of language.)
The video wasn鈥檛 the only 鈥淟ate Show鈥� promotion that debuted on the Internet recently. There鈥檚 also now a website, Twitter account, YouTube channel, Facebook page, and podcast, among other material, promoting the show.听
Colbert had a tongue-in-cheek attitude about the social media campaign, according to a .听
鈥淪ay what you will about the Internet, I think it鈥檚 here to stay!" he said. "Launching ColbertLateShow.com puts me in the same league as Google.com, Facebook.com and ferretfancier.blogspot.com!鈥澛�
While Colbert of course has plenty of goodwill from audiences who tuned into his Comedy Central program 鈥淭he Colbert Report,鈥� the key to this push may lie in one of Colbert鈥檚 comments while trying out different beard styles.
鈥淲hat else do Millennials love?鈥� he pondered. Colbert has his 鈥淐olbert Report鈥� cachet, of course, but when it comes to late-night shows, audiences are now used to 鈥淭he Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon鈥�-style of program which enjoys a very healthy Internet presence. (鈥淭he Tonight Show鈥� has almost 3 million followers on Twitter and its YouTube channel has more than 7 million subscribers).
Plenty of Millennials are no doubt ready and eager to embrace Colbert himself. The 17,000 subscribers already signed on to the "Late Show" YouTube channel would seem to be proof of that. But creating a strong Internet presence for the show as well can鈥檛 hurt in terms of bringing on new fans.
