Former evening show host Stephen Colbert has started a new YouTube channel – and the numbers are already formidable. With only a single clip out, the channel has passed 185,000 subscribers. No promotion. No warning. Just pure organic growth.
It all started with a short clip that circulated online over the weekend. In the video, which is typical Colbert – dry, satirical and with a sting aimed at both the media industry and Donald Trump – he jokes that it has been an “excruciating 23 hours without being on TV”. He thanks Monroe Community Media for housing him “before they too are acquired by Paramount.”
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It’s funny. It’s rude. And that’s typical Colbert.
But what has really captivated us here in the editorial office is not only the content of the clip – but how Colbert has chosen to distribute it.
– 269,000 subscribers in a few days
When we first noticed the channel, it had 177,000 subscribers. The day before, it had 60,000. Now, as we write, it has passed 269,000 – and the only thing that’s there is the one clip that was posted on May 22nd.
No advertising. No teasers. No cross-posting on Threads, Instagram or other platforms where Colbert normally moves. Just a fresh YouTube channel with a vague name – and a clip that people seem to find all by themselves.
And it’s quite fascinating.
At the time of writing, the video has had 1,128,637 plays
What exactly is Colbert planning?
We do not know the extent of what is to come. We also don’t know about the quality, if there will be more cuts, or if Colbert has a bigger project in the works. But he has a home studio from the pandemic. He has the ability to produce content quickly. And he clearly has an appetite for continuing to comment on the present – even though he no longer has a daily evening show on CBS.
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What we do know, however, is that there is still a large audience for Colbert. Almost half a person has not registered for nothing.
Trump can’t kill the jokes
It is also not difficult to guess how much of this content will be about Donald Trump. The relationship between Colbert and Trump is legendarily strained, and recently a longtime reporter in the late-night world claimed that Trump was personally involved in getting Colbert canceled.
Now Colbert is enjoying a kind of temporary retirement life – but he has already shown that he can still bite the bullet.
And Trump? He can threaten with the FCC. He can threaten legal action. He can try to ban anything that resembles satire.
But he’s never going to kill all the jokes about himself. For every time he knocks down one vote, a new one appears.
“A beautiful, beautiful thing”
As our fellow commentator Sharon pointed out: This is just proof that Colbert is not disappearing. And Trump will still have to play this game – knocking down moles with the FCC behind him. But it will never work.
“He can’t kill all the jokes about him. He’s just never going to make it,” Sharon says.
She loves that Colbert hasn’t even announced his channel, hasn’t pushed it out – and that people are still flocking in.
“Donald Trump is going to go after you too. He’s going to say that you have to ban these like the Lego videos in Iran. And there’s still going to be the next guy and the next guy – and that’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.
Subscribe – before Trump finds out
We don’t know what Colbert has planned. Perhaps this will be a platform for small, everyday jabs at power. Maybe it will be something bigger. Anyway: The channel is worth following.
And as we say in the editorial office: Subscribe now – before Trump finds out, and before the FCC gets it on the radar.
Because one thing is certain: Stephen Colbert is not finished. He just eats a sandwich, makes fun of the president – and quietly builds up his own little media machine.
And it’s hysterical.
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