For twenty years, late-night television has been the thrilling home for comedian and megatalent Stephen Colbert. Jon Stewart’s apprentice, Colbert originally made his mark as a reporter on Comedy Central’s news-parody programme The Daily Show, which is presently hosted by Trevor Noah. Colbert went into a starring position as host of his own parody series, The Colbert Report, using his abilities as a political analyst. Having achieved popularity, the comedian was chosen to succeed David Letterman as host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS beginning in 2015. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, one of the most popular late-night programmes, has included a band from its start, headed by musician Jon Batiste. Batiste now seems to be cutting ties with late-night television. Jon Batiste is departing his job as the bandleader for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a role he has held for seven years, according to a report by Deadline. Louis Cato, who served as the show’s interim bandleader for a portion of this summer’s broadcast, will take Batiste’s position. When the late-night programme resumes for its seventh season later next month, he will take up Batiste’s spot permanently. In a statement on the most recent episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Colbert acknowledged the loss for the programme and praised Batiste for his contributions, making the facetious remark that the host would love to have Batiste return to promote his subsequent album.
Since accepting the role of a lifetime as the bandleader of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jon Batiste has had a meteoric rise as an artist. Before his late-night gig, Batiste was a well-known musician who won five Grammy Awards in 2022 alone, including Album of the Year with We Are. He reached a career high point in 2021 when his score for the Pixar animated picture Soul received the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Together with fellow Nine Inch Nails members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, he was awarded the Oscar. According to Emmys.com, Batiste is now up for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Talk Series for his role as producer of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Jon Batiste, 35, definitely did not find it easy to leave his coveted job as bandleader for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Although Batiste wasn’t there when Stephen Colbert announced his departure on Thursday’s show, fans will undoubtedly see and hear the singer again. According to CNN, Louis Cato, who will take over for Batiste, is a talented musician in his own right. Cato has worked with several musicians before his current gig on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, including Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, John Legend, and Talib Kweli. The Late Show staff holds him in high respect, and host Stephen Colbert even praised Cato’s musical brilliance by dubbing him a “musical genius.”
