{"id":674727,"date":"2026-05-30T20:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T20:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/674727\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T20:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T20:33:13","slug":"how-youtubes-first-late-night-show-is-changing-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/674727\/","title":{"rendered":"How YouTube’s First Late Night Show Is Changing the Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Thursday, CBS aired the final episode of \u201cThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert.\u201d This Thursday, the first-ever creator-led late night show premiered on YouTube<\/a>. It\u2019s an almost too-on-the-nose example of what the future of this medium may look like.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur tagline is the evolution of late night is here,\u201d Ben Gleib, the host of \u201cGood Night with Ben Glieb,\u201d<\/a> told TheWrap. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s not just a slogan for the 47-year-old comedian. During its first episode, \u201cGood Night\u201d featured several staples associated with the late night format: a house band (led by Keith Harris of the Black Eyed Peas), an opening monologue from Gleib, a desk interview with a celebrity (filmmaker and podcaster Kevin Smith), two pretaped man-on-the-street segments and a roundtable interview with two of Gleib\u2019s guests (comedians Zainab Johnsonn and Brent Pella).<\/p>\n

But woven between those tried-and-true moments were flourishes that could only be expected from the YouTube age. Instead of an expansive and cold studio, Gleib films his show from a repurposed segment of his home. Though there were a handful of audience members watching Thursday\u2019s show in person, a projector to the side of Gleib showed a wall of people who had digitally purchased a ticket and were watching the premiere live before it was posted on YouTube Friday. Smith\u2019s interview wasn\u2019t the typical seven to 10 minutes you may expect from \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d or \u201cLate Night with Seth Meyers;\u201d instead it ran for half an hour, a conversational runtime more similar to a podcast episode than a broadcast TV show. Later Smith was joined author Max Lugavere for an even longer discussion with Gleib. And when the episode ended, Gleib led his makeshift studio into another part of his house, a move straight from the livestreaming playbook that gave his audience a behind-the-curtain look into both his late night show and the following afterparty.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re trying to really honor the history of the format and also take it to brand new levels. It\u2019s going to be uncensored, and we\u2019re going to cuss a lot,\u201d Gleib said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood Night\u201d didn\u2019t come from nowhere. The late night series is showrun and executive produced by Stewart Bailey, a late night veteran known for \u201cThe Daily Show,\u201d \u201cLast Call with Carson Daly\u201d and the shortlived but culture-changing \u201cThe Jon Stewart Show.\u201d Nikki Glaser and Scott Galloway are also supporters of the show and are set to appear in future episodes. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a freedom with being independent that I feel working with [\u2018Good Night\u2019] that I haven\u2019t felt in a while,\u201d Bailey told TheWrap. \u201cThere aren\u2019t any allegiances or bridges we can burn because we are starting from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Bailey, \u201cGood Night\u201d is a reminder of why he was drawn to late night in the first place. As a mainstay in the comedy scene, Bailey worked with Gleib for years and has long been impressed with both his comedic wit and his ability to improvise with the crowd on the spot. The two also share a deep love for one late night star in particular. <\/p>\n

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\u201cWe both were inspired by early Letterman in the \u201980s. That\u2019s why I got into late night,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cI didn\u2019t even get a lot of the jokes, but I loved the tone and irony of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

So when Gleib contacted Bailey about making his lifelong dream of hosting a late night show a reality, he jumped at the chance. \u201cIt\u2019s not that I\u2019m going backwards. I\u2019m really just returning to the freedom of rolling up your shirt sleeves and making a show,\u201d Bailey said. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t, historically, ever get a late night show unless you are offered one, but the landscape changed. YouTube became the most powerful entertainment platform on the planet and I realized I could just give myself my dream,\u201d Gleib said. \u201cI\u2019ve been developing and crafting it in my mind for a full five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another major reason why both Gleib and Bailey were drawn to YouTube. Because this team is creating their show from the ground up, they don\u2019t have to answer to any network executives or corporate demands, insights that can put intense pressure on talent and stifle creativity. <\/p>\n

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\u201cFor the first time in late night, we\u2019re going to offer real value to the audience by booking \u2014 alongside celebrities \u2014 guests who could really change their lives: thought leaders, changemakers, experts,\u201d Gleib said, noting that because this show will live on YouTube, it will be easier than ever for audiences to check out his guests\u2019 work. \u201cAlso, it\u2019s much richer for me to make comedy out the canvas of the whole world and not having to ask Chris Hemsworth for the 15th time about if [Thor\u2019s] hammer is still heavy.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re making a show on YouTube, you\u2019re writing basically because you believe in something, not because you think it\u2019s going to test well or be a ratings juggernaut,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to entertain millions. I\u2019d love to get to that point with Ben, and I do think that\u2019s a possibility for us, but that pressure can be crippling. So there\u2019s a freedom with trying to build from the ground up that reminds you what you loved about it in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a dedication to flexibility when it comes to \u201cGood Night.\u201d As the show\u2019s audience and the team evolve, Gleib and Bailey expect the series will change. That degree of adaptability is something late night staples can\u2019t easily copy. <\/p>\n

\u201cI plan for this show to be a living, breathing document. I want it to evolve week to week. We are going to be experimenting with length, format, segment types, the level of interactivity, camera angles, lighting \u2014 all the things we can to keep adding different spices to this recipe until it feels right,\u201d Gleib said. \u201cI think it\u2019ll evolve forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve preached the mentality that if something does go [technically] wrong, we embrace it,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the vibe of the show, which is if you\u2019ve got a ragtag crew, it\u2019s gonna look raggedy at times.\u201d<\/p>\n

One episode in, \u201cGood Night\u201d is still figuring itself out. But Gleib hopes that his show may inspire \u201cthousands of people\u201d to take the leap and try out their own independently made shows. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait for the moment when David Letterman \u2014 one of my heroes and idols \u2014 or Stephen Colbert or Jimmy Kimmel or Arsenio Hall or Jay Leno or Conan O\u2019Brien are sitting on the chair next to me at my desk in my home studio and embracing what we\u2019re doing to honor the format that they created so masterfully,\u201d Gleib said. \u201cI really hope that I make them proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

New episodes of \u201cGood Night with Ben Gleib\u201d premiere Fridays on YouTube<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last Thursday, CBS aired the final episode of \u201cThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert.\u201d This Thursday, the first-ever…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[290674,88,13726,92,5135,9280],"class_list":["post-674727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ben-gleib","tag-entertainment","tag-late-night","tag-tv","tag-what-to-watch","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}