The Guardian's Andrew Lawrence delivered a scathing review of Byron Allen's "Comics Unleashed," the official replacement for Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" in CBS's 11:30 p.m. slot.
"The applause, dear God, the applause," Lawrence wrote.
"It has you bracing against the headboard and groping for the remote when "Comics Unleashed," detonates onto the screen just before midnight. A soulless barrage of whoops, cheers and apparatchik-grade terror clapping, it hits like a jet engine at takeoff, swallowing the show’s disembodied announcer in a silo of his own manufactured zaniness."
Lawrence faulted the program for lacking writers or a discernible point of view and criticized the set, calling it generic -- adding it resembles a furniture showroom with B-roll from Shutterstock and Comedy Cellar photos.
Guests deliver rehearsed standup material rather than discuss current events.
"It felt more like stumbling across an old ice machine in a dark hotel hallway, still running somehow despite the fatal-sounding clatters and groans," said Lawrence, recommending viewers watch Kimmel or Oliver instead.
Colbert's final show drew 6.7 million viewers, while Allen's debut attracted 995,000.
Allen pays CBS $15 million annually for the half-hour segment.
Watch the video below.