Still, The Late Show’s finale made a strong case that, as late night peters out, we’re losing some of the most valuable things that we could once find in abundance on television: collectivity, spontaneity, irreverence, ritual, the art of conversation, variety as an ethos as well as a genre. The greatest loss, as microdemographics turn away from and against one another and a grim pall descends over public life, might be that of late night as a venue to forget our differences (or at least laugh about them) long enough to have fun together, like a functional society. That’s bad for our democracy, even if it’s far from the most urgent threat out there. Colbert never could have saved us, but he did remind us, daily, of the stakes and offer an entertaining reprieve. So, what now? As Letterman told his former bosses in his last Late Show appearance, paraphrasing CBS’s giant of journalism Edward R. Murrow: “Goodnight and good luck, motherf-ckers.”
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