Stephen Colbert teaches lesson in branding
After Comedy Central execs claimed the comedian’s image belonged to the station, the Late Show host offered a unique spin on the importance of ownership and intellectual property.
Last week, Stephen Colbert was forced to retire the “Stephen Colbert” character from his long-running Comedy Central show, “The Colbert Report.”
He made the announcement during a live taping of “The Late Show” on CBS.
The move appears to be in response to backlash from Comedy Central lawyers, who claimed intellectual property rights over Colbert’s blustering, boastful, politically conservative alter ego.
Colbert brought back the alter-ego version of himself during a live taping after the Republican National Convention, and he hosted one of his signature segments from the Comedy Central show, “The Word.”
RELATED: Stop being an order taker and become a strategic partner. Following the Democratic National Convention, Colbert explained that the lawyers were unhappy about “Colbert’s” appearance. To claim someone’s name and likeness as your property is a strange notion, but when that name is said a certain way and that likeness is contorted just so, it can cause a bit of a branding crisis.
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