RATINGS RAT RACE: Highs For Comedy Central’s ‘Tosh,’ Daily Show’ & ‘Colbert’

COMMENTS (11)

• It’s clear that hip, informed, affluent late night/talk show viewers have migrated from the nets to cable. These latest ratings appear to be telling us that other, general audiences are now getting their late night/talk fix on cable. Last week Letterman was in repeats, which helps these cable shows, and Leno was not, but really, does anyone with above a 4th grade education ever watch Leno?

  The cable shows, Colbert, Stewart and Tosh, in that order IMO, are the future. I watched Leno for a few seconds the other night and he did a joke about Liza Minelli’s wedding!! When was that — 1995? Then he did a joke about George W. Bush. I think he’s out of office, right?

  Dave is always on vacation. Colbert and Stewart are the future. Everyone raves about Daily Show but I think Colbert is the top program.

  Comment by Shrimp — Friday August 20, 2010 @ 1:46pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I don’t think Stewart and Colbert are the future, but it’s time for Leno and Letterman to retire. Stewart and Colbert are to loud and think yelling the punch lines make the jokes funnier, (it doesn’t) and Leno and Letterman are relecs of a by-gone era. When they leave they can take those old gezzers Imus and Stern with them.

    Comment by Alex — Friday August 20, 2010 @ 2:58pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • You’re right about Colbert being better. While no one can top the Daily Show when they have some meaty hypocracy in the media which they are ripping to shreds–their straight up comedy bits and field reports have gotten kind of stale. Nowdays when I watch the Daily Show I usually just stick around for the first segment (on current events), then, if the guest sucks, I’ll change channels. Colbert is hilarious, though. He’s way better at pulling off straight comedy stuff without having to rely on politics.

    Comment by Jcar — Monday August 23, 2010 @ 1:49am PDT  Reply to this post

• To kind of go along with your comment Shrimp, I think Chelsea Lately is the future of late night. She is doing a terrifc job on E! and I love to watch her. Sure it may not be Colbert or Stewart, but it is still on cable.

  Comment by RJ — Friday August 20, 2010 @ 2:22pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Makes sense. Shrimp is right. Tosh.0 is the most well-written talking head show on television. Every week it’s smarter, edgier and funnier than anything else out there.

  Comment by Flyin' — Friday August 20, 2010 @ 3:08pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Tosh made fun of a severely disabled man walking down the street. There was no wit. Nothi hip or edgy. He stood next to footage of a disabled person and laughed. He is the very definition of a douchebag

  Comment by Carter — Friday August 20, 2010 @ 3:31pm PDT  Reply to this post

• It is important to point out that Tosh 2.0 is dreadfully unfunny. It might be fun to watch a series of stupid web videos, but host Tosh is just wasting time in between. I turn to the much funnier show with the much funnier host, The Soup.

  Comment by Daggor — Friday August 20, 2010 @ 4:28pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Really? Important to point out? Congrats on stating opinion as fact. The ratings prove otherwise kiddo.

    Comment by ke — Saturday August 21, 2010 @ 10:46am PDT  Reply to this post

    • Ah yes, the higher the ratings the better the show. Now there’s a real factoid.

      Comment by Kieran4 — Sunday August 22, 2010 @ 8:55am PDT  Reply to this post

    • If ratings were the barometer of what is good or bad, “2.5 Men” would be the best show on TV right now (which we all know isn’t true).

      I hate Tosh.0 as well. The clips themselves can be amusing, but Tosh rarely adds anything to them and the writing is easy and stupid.

      The web redemption segments aren’t that bad (they can actually be funny), but the talking head stuff that makes up the bulk of the show generally sucks. The Soup is way better at the whole “making snarky comments about video clips” thing.

      Comment by Jcar — Monday August 23, 2010 @ 1:55am PDT  Reply to this post

• The edgy-ness (or douchey-ness) of Tosh is what’s makes it hilarious. Laughing at other peoples’ misfortune has been a staple of the american television diet for much longer than the existence of The Soup or Tosh (America’s Funniest Home Videos).

  Comment by nick l. — Saturday March 5, 2011 @ 10:53pm PST  Reply to this post