Donald Trump is turning out to be a gold mine for his comic foes on late-night television, lifting ratings and advertising revenues for shows that deliver the sharpest criticism of the new US president.
On CBS’s Late Show, Stephen Colbert has homed in on politics, helping him unseat NBC’s Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon as the most-watched nightly chat show for three straight weeks.
Late-night television is an important source of profit and cultural cachet for US broadcasters. NBC has long dominated the networks’ rivalry, but Mr Colbert has widened his lead to nearly 300,000 viewers in the week ending February 17, the most since he debuted on CBS in 2015.