The celebrity gossip site RadarOnline revealed that the new chief of CNN, Chris Licht, is considering turning the primetime lineup over to comedians.
According to the report, former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, embattled HBO host Bill Maher, along with comedy giants like Trevor Noah and Arsenio Hall are being considered to host the 9-11 p.m. slots.
CNN has suffered a significant rating crash since Licht took over last year. He's moved several hosts around and welcomed more Republicans to give commentary and answer reporters' questions. It hasn't worked out for the network, however, which is still losing the rating war.
Bringing on comedy news as the next strategy neglects one of the major changes that Licht has tried to change over the past year, however. The comedy hosts lean left and they aren't likely to bring in the Republican voting bloc he's sought for the past year.
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“They’re looking for their version of John Oliver,” an insider claimed, speaking to Semafor.
Oliver has been known for hilarious needling of Republican lawmakers and comedic destruction of the right wing. But his key pieces have been a simple explanation of complex topics like cash bail, police brutality, the World Cup being in Qatar, crime reporting, abortion rights, critical race theory and a slew of other issues. Again, however, his audience is more liberal.
Licht was previously working with Stephen Colbert's "Late Show," which came to CBS in 2015. When it first began, Colbert appeared to be more middle-of-the-road and bland with comedy that tried to appeal to a broad audience. Ratings sank, with Colbert falling behind ABC's Jimmy Kimmel.
Once he started bashing Donald Trump, however and turning left, Colbert increased his following in the key 18-49 demographic. By Feb. 2017, Colbert was standing at the top of the ratings for weeks in a row.