CBS late-night star Stephen Colbert may have finally found his mojo.
The wisecracker finished ahead of rival, NBC’s “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon,” last week for just the second time since taking over “The Late Show” from David Letterman in 2015, according to Nielsen.
The victory, in total viewers, was razor thin.
For the week ended Jan. 30, Colbert attracted 2.77 million viewers to Fallon’s 2.76 million. Colbert last beat NBC in total viewers during his debut week.
Fallon, however, held on to the lead in the key 18-to-49 viewer demographic. Winning the demo is crucial to attracting higher ad rates.
Colbert, who joined CBS from Comedy Central, may be benefiting from a President Trump bump, as he’s been more critical of the president than Fallon has.
Former “Daily Show” colleague Jon Stewart joined the “Late Show” on Jan. 31 to joke about Trump’s coming executive orders, including dictating how men dress.
Variety wrote Tuesday that Colbert would be open to hosting the White House Correspondents Dinner again. His last effort was castigated by those in the room but went down well with TV viewers.
Billie Gold, vice president and director of program research at Amplifi, told The Post: “Colbert has been experiencing a bit of a surge as of late and he likely has President Trump to thank for that.
“Colbert is a political satirist at his core and he’s been taking on his popular Comedy Central persona in a big way this past few weeks.”
Even so, one swallow does not a summer make.
Gold added: “While Fallon will likely take the reign back in future weeks, in this politically charged climate, Colbert’s numbers will definitely be recharged.”
While NBC’s “SNL” has been drawing ire from the president for its relentless impersonations of the new team at the White House, Fallon has been accused of playing too nice with Trump.
Bob Thompson, professor of pop culture at Newhouse Syracuse University, added that Colbert got off to a poor start. “His [new] character didn’t seem to resonate the way the other had, but in the last few weeks, he’s been more political than Fallon and people have been circulating those on the internet. Where it ends in the regular season, we’ll see.”
