CBS announced today that when David Letterman retires in 2015, Stephen Colbert will replace him.
Colbert's "The Colbert Report" is one of Comedy Central's best shows, right up there with Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show." In fact, Colbert worked as a "correspondent" on Stewart's parody of a news show before getting his own political, ultraconservative, talking-head satire pulpit in 2005.
Colbert has always shamelessly admitted he is a practicing Catholic and, as far as I know, hosts the only TV show with its own chaplain, Jesuit Fr. James Martin.
Now that Colbert is leaving behind one of cable TV's highest-rated shows for a throne on network television, the great maker of all that is banal, will Colbert be able to be his prophetic self, speaking truth to power through sarcasm, wit and, dare I say it, honesty?
All I can say is that the minute he adds a cooking segment, hauls in wild animals, goes stupid over smart, or fires Jim Martin, I'm out of there, making space on my DVR.