The media mogul who took Colbert’s hour spent 51 years chasing it

The 10:35 p.m. time slot on CBS looks a bit different now.

Gone are the lengthy monologues, highly produced bits, political jokes, live band, and parade of big-name celebrities and journalists that “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert welcomed on weeknights.

In its place are two back-to-back episodes of “Comics Unleashed,” a panel show that features four comedians, with host and executive producer Byron Allen.

“Are you ready to have some fun?” Allen, in a purple suit, asked his studio audience on last Friday night’s first episode. “Then you’ve come to the right place.” Allen then introduced the comics, who spent the next half hour telling jokes and riffing off of each other about breakups, grocery shopping, traveling and more.

While Allen made no mention of it, “Comics Unleashed” sliding into the vaunted late-night TV hour represents a full-circle moment for him.

A media mogul — the 65-year-old owns the Weather Channel, TheGrio, 13 local TV stations and, soon, BuzzFeed — Allen got his start as a stand-up comic and comedy writer.

At 18, he became the youngest stand-up to perform on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.”

“We originally invited Byron on last February, and he turned it down,” Carson told his audience during that 1979 episode. “He said he couldn’t make it that night because he had to do his homework. True story.”

Years later, he’d seek tips and advice from Carson. “He said, ‘Byron, please remember, I’m not doing a talk show. The first half of my show is a comedy show,’” Allen told The Post in an interview. That led him to develop his own show, “Comics Unleashed,” which started in 2006 and ran in syndication through 2016.

Allen and his crew restarted production last year, and the program had already been running on CBS in the 11:37 p.m. time slot, former home to James Corden’s show and, later, “After Midnight.”

Now, it has moved to 10:35 p.m. Every episode features stand-up comics, plus Allen, sitting together on set. The comics tell their jokes under the guise of a conversation with Allen, who prompts them with segues.

The programming change keeps comedy in the late-night slot on CBS.

David Letterman, the inaugural “Late Show” host who worked alongside Allen years ago as a fellow comedy writer for Jimmie Walker, has criticized CBS for canceling his old show. “But Byron, he’ll still be providing comedy in that time period,” Letterman told the New York Times recently. “I think that’s a valuable bit of resolution here.”

Comics who appear on the show get paid for their one-time appearance and receive some television exposure. A long list of working comics got their first television credits on “Comics Unleashed,” and some early performers — Kevin Hart, Theo Von, Chelsea Handler, Nate Bargatze, Tiffany Haddish — appeared on the show before they would have ever qualified as celebrity guests.

“Comics Unleashed” doesn’t need a big writers’ room, as comics come with their own material. The segues between jokes can be famously clunky, and comedians are told to stick to certain kinds of material. (Norm MacDonald once said of his experience: “Oh, you couldn’t be more leashed.”)

Allen said the aim is to film evergreen comedy that can be funny for years to come. From the beginning, they’ve told comics, “nothing racist, nothing sexist, nothing homophobic.”

The shows are edited to ensure the material meets that bar, including anything that touches on politics. “There’s other places for people to go get that, and if that’s what you want, it’s there. But we also want to make sure this is there, a place where everybody can come together and laugh.”

Meanwhile, CBS’ cancellation of “The Late Show” — and the firing of Trump critic Stephen Colbert — remains under a cloud of suspected political interference. The network canceled the show last year in what it described as a “purely financial decision.” But it was announced just days after CBS parent company Paramount settled a lawsuit Trump had filed against CBS, and as the company sought federal government approval on an $8 billion merger with Skydance.

Allen got the time slot via a “time buy,” meaning he basically leases the airtime from CBS and makes money off of whatever advertising he can sell himself. Allen wouldn’t disclose how much he’s paying but said it’s in the tens of millions.

CBS did not return The Post’s inquiry. Executives have previously said the “Comics Unleashed” deal will last for at least one season.

Allen said CBS initially wanted him to take over the hour beginning in September 2026. But the connective tissue to Carson was so important to Allen that he wanted to start on May 22 because it is the anniversary of Carson’s last episode, in 1992.

“I’ve chased this dream for over 51 years,” Allen said.

As for Colbert, Allen called him “an American treasure.”

“He is really smart, he’s very talented, and he is a good person,” Allen said. “He will be missed, and I do believe he should be a part of the media landscape whether it’s late night, or primetime, or whatever it is that he wants to do.”