Over the past thirty-two years, David Letterman has served as an icon of late-night television, surpassing Johnny Carson in 2013 as the longest-serving late-night television host. Debuting on late night with Late Night with David Letterman on NBC in February 1982 and eventually leaving to host the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS in 1993, Letterman has garnered 52 Emmy nominations, four American Comedy Awards, and a Kennedy Center Honors, naming him one of the most influential personalities in the history of television.

However, on April 3, 2014, Letterman announced his retirement sometime in 2015. Speculation about who would replace Letterman ensued over the next week, but on April 10, CBS announced that Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report would be replacing Letterman in 2015, to the delight of many fans.

Colbert’s rise to fame began with his joining the Daily Show, a satirical late night news show on Comedy Central, in 1997. In 1999, Jon Stewart became host, focusing the Daily Show on a more political orientation than it had previously. It was on the Daily Show that Colbert developed the persona that would make him famous. The persona, named Stephen Colbert after its creator, is a caricature of right wing news pundits. Colbert described the character as “well-intentioned, poorly informed high-status idiot”.”The character is often seen arguing a right winged stance on a wide assortment of issues. However, it almost always becomes clear to the audience that the character is wrong, knowing absolutely nothing about what he is talking about. The main purpose of the character is to accentuate the logical fallacies and hypocrisy seen in many modern day news pundits. The character’s inspiration is drawn significantly from Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly. This criticism is implied, however, as the character has been shown to adore O’Reilly, referring to him as “Papa Bear” despite O’Reilly’s blatant dislike of Colbert and the show to which Colbert has stated “if it wasn’t for [O’Reilly], this show wouldn’t exist.”

Colbert gained his own spinoff show, The Colbert Report, in 2005. He continued developing his character on the show, which took much of its inspiration from the O’Reilly Factor. The show has been nominated for an Emmy every year from 2006 to 2012, winning two in the process and has gained a viewership of over 1.9 million people. Colbert even coined a new term, “Truthiness”, that went on to be the Merriam-Webster 2006 Word of the Year.

Without a doubt, Colbert will be capable of taking over Letterman’s post. His prolific use of sarcasm and irony on his show over the past nine years has proven that he can follow in Letterman’s footsteps. Unfortunately, however, Colbert will not don his persona when he switches over to The Late Show. He will instead host the show as himself, a side of Colbert that has not been seen on screen many times. This decision has troubled many of Colbert’s fans, who have grown accustomed to the loud, truculent, in your face style seen on the Colbert Report. There is no doubt that many will be saddened by the persona’s retirement; however, Colbert will still evince his incredible wit even without the iconic persona. There is still much to be seen from Colbert, and the Late Show will give him another chance to show America how talented he truly is.