--- title: Stephen Colbert: The Colbert Report and Its Early Critics description: When skepticism gave way to praise canonical: https://time.com/3600004/stephen-colbert-report-finale-critics/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-15T15:00:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:58.266Z article:section: History og:title: Here's What Critics Said About The Colbert Report When It Premiered og:description: When skepticism gave way to praise og:url: https://time.com/3600004/stephen-colbert-report-finale-critics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad0ea990d5852fb9/69868a3555a85962bda8040d/3colbert-close-up5470-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1311 og:image:height: 737 og:image:alt: #cancelcolbert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's What Critics Said About The Colbert Report When It Premiered twitter:description: When skepticism gave way to praise twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad0ea990d5852fb9/69868a3555a85962bda8040d/3colbert-close-up5470-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What Critics Said About _The Colbert Report_ When It Premiered > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 15, 2014 3:00 PM UTC  NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 8: Host Stephen Colbert appears during the "Been There: Won That: The Returnification of the American-Do Troopscapeon" special of The Colbert Report on September 8, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Scott Gries/PictureGroup) NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 8: Host Stephen Colbert appears during the "Been There: Won That: The Returnification of the American-Do Troopscapeon" special of The Colbert Report on September 8, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Scott Gries/PictureGroup) Scott Gries—Picturegroup/Comedy Central  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 15, 2014 3:00 PM UTC When _The Colbert Report_ began it’s nearly decade-long run in 2005—[the show rolls its final credits on Dec. 18](http://time.com/3550515/the-last-show-of-the-colbert-report-will-air-on-dec-18/)—viewers and critics were excited but nervous. Colbert’s blowhard persona had been a mainstay of _The Daily Show_, but many worried that, given a whole half-hour to anchor, the character would grow tiresome. Even in the first few weeks, the jury was out. “Unfortunately, in just two weeks on the air, this half-hour spoof of a no-spin-zone type show has already stretched Colbert’s character and the artifice that supports it past its natural breaking point,” wrote [ _USA Today_](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2005-10-30-colbert-report%5Fx.htm). “Colbert was an invaluable part of the _Daily Show_, but as the whole show, he’s not enough and too much simultaneously.” And [New York](http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/tv/reviews/14840/) magazine decided that one of _Colbert_’s rivals at Comedy Central, David Spade’s _The Showbiz Show_, was the better of the two. _The Colbert Report_, wrote critic Adam Sternbergh, “has problems so intrinsic as to be potentially unfixable.” (_The Showbiz Show_ ended in 2007.) Even critics who liked the show, like Heather Havrilesky at [_Salon_](http://www.salon.com/2005/10/18/colbert%5Freport/), found the show “foolish, bizarre, idiotic fun,” mostly interesting in regards to his characters spoof of Bill O’Reilly. ### See 13 Stephen Colbert Cameos You Might Have Missed  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Lake-town Spy Todd Eyre—Warner Bros.  Exit 57 - Various Characters (pictured top left) Comedy Central  Dana Carvey Show - Various Characters ABC  Strangers With Candy - Chuck Noblet Comedy Central  Missing Persons - Chet Davies ABC  Saturday Night Live - Ace, The Ambiguously Gay Duo (pictured left) NBC  Spin City - Frank ABC  Simpsons - Colby Krause (pictured right) Fox  Curb Your Enthusiasm - Tourist HBO  American Dad! - Dr. R. Dandliker (pictured left) Fox  Bewitched - Stu Robinson (pictured left) Columbia  Mr. Peabody & Sherman - Paul Peterson 20th Century Fox  Monsters vs Aliens - President Hathaway Dreamworks Still, when the consensus emerged, it was one that stuck: The show was great. “\[H\]e packs more wit and acid commentary in 22 minutes of his one-man show than multiple skits by the entire cast of ‘SNL,’” declared [The New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/arts/television/25watc.html)_,_ and the [The Los Angeles _Times_](http://articles.latimes.com/2005/oct/21/entertainment/et-colbert21) said that “Colbert, with his young Republican haircut and dead-serious eyes, is a terrifically artful speaker; there may be no better reader of writing on TV than him.” TIME’s James Poniewozik concurred: --- > “” --- And here’s another reason to swagger: His legions of fans would say that the question of whether he’s too much to take—for 11 seasons, much less 30 minutes—seems as “foolish, bizarre, idiotic” as the character to whom they’re saying good-bye. **_Read James Poniewozik’s full Nov. 14, 2005, piece on_** **The Colbert Report:** [The American Bald Ego](http://time.com/vault/issue/2005-11-14/page/128/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3600004/stephen-colbert-report-finale-critics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3600004/stephen-colbert-report-finale-critics/"},"headline":"Here's What Critics Said About The Colbert Report When It Premiered","datePublished":"2014-12-15T15:00:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:58.266Z","description":"When skepticism gave way to praise","url":"https://time.com/3600004/stephen-colbert-report-finale-critics/","keywords":["Television","stephen colbert"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad0ea990d5852fb9/69868a3555a85962bda8040d/3colbert-close-up5470-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad0ea990d5852fb9/69868a3555a85962bda8040d/3colbert-close-up5470-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"#cancelcolbert","caption":"#cancelcolbert","creditText":"Scott Gries—Picturegroup/Comedy Central","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3600004/stephen-colbert-report-finale-critics/","name":"Here's What Critics Said About The Colbert Report When It Premiered"}}]}] ```