Colbert Moving to 'The Late Show' Leaves Big Hole at Comedy Central

Today CBS announced that Stephen Colbert would be the new host of The Late Show when David Letterman steps down in 2015. This news leaves Comedy Central with a late-night problem. The Colbert Report has followed The Daily Show with John Stewart for almost a decade now.

Stewart and Colbert's shows are the main source of trouble for their late-night TV rivals. The duo seemed so locked that John Oliver had no room in the line-up. Oliver showed his host potential last summer when he filled in for Stewart on The Daily Show. Due to the lack of openings on Comedy Central, Oliver took a job at HBO hosting Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which starts April 27th.

Although it is unclear how long the decision to make Colbert the new host of The Late Show has been in the works, there have been clues since 2012. Colbert and Stewart renewed their Comedy Central contracts in the summer of 2012, but whereas Stewart extended for three years, Colbert got a shorter extension, to the end of this year.

Colbert is expected to host The Colbert Report for eight months before moving to his new job at CBS. This move is in large part due to the success of Colbert and Stewart on Comedy Central. Younger viewers picked the Comedy Central duo over the programs on the broadcast networks, which led to NBC and ABC's late-night block overhaul. ABC moved Jimmy Kimmel to 11:35 p.m., and NBC replaced Jay Leno with Jimmy Fallon at The Tonight Show.

Comedy Central has yet to say much about the replacement, only saying that they wished Colbert the best.

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