CBS’s late-night shows will look a little closer to normal next week. According to Variety, both Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show and James Corden’s The Late Late Show will return to tape episodes in studios starting August 10, though neither will include live audiences. It’s unclear whether the shows will return to their home studios or someplace new. Late Late Show co-executive producers Ben Winston and Rob Crabbe told Variety that Corden’s show will have a “new look,†adding that there’s “nothing more important to us than the health and safety of our team, so seeing our crew safely back together again has been worth all the work and planning to get us to this point.†Similarly, during his last episode taped from home, Colbert told viewers that when he returned from his two-week hiatus, “I won’t be in the Ed Sullivan Theater, but I also won’t be sleeping where I work.†But according to Deadline, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said on an earnings call on August 6 that the hosts “will be returning to their buildings next week.†Guess we’ll have to just watch Monday night’s shows to clear up the confusion.
Colbert and Corden aren’t the first two late-night shows to return to studios or at least evolve from taping remote episodes from home during lockdown. On July 6, Conan O’Brien began taping his late-night show from the Largo in Los Angeles, while Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show moved from the host’s home to his 30 Rock studio beginning July 13. (Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal continues to produce episodes from home, while Jimmy Kimmel is currently on hiatus from his show, which has been featuring guest hosts.) Neither shows feature in-person guests or studio audiences, and presumably, Colbert and Corden’s shows will have a similar structure.