![\"Byron](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/byronallen1500.png\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\tScreeenshot: Allen Media Group\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
First on LateNighter: Preliminary ratings are in for Byron Allen<\/a>\u2019s 11:35 p.m. Comics Unleashed<\/a> debut on CBS Friday night. As for how the show performed\u2026 well, it depends on how you look at it.<\/p>\n According to initial panel-only Nielsen Live+Same Day ratings data, the first half-hour of the show, which was a first-run episode, drew a national audience average of 995,000 total viewers and 116,000 viewers in the 18\u201349 demo.<\/p>\n The show\u2019s second half-hour\u2014a repeat from September 2025\u2014drew 600,000 total viewers and 55,000 viewers in the demo.<\/p>\n Against the prior night\u2019s Late Show with Stephen Colbert<\/a> finale\u2014which logged a series high of 6.7 million total viewers and 1.1 million demo viewers by the same ratings measure\u2014Comics Unleashed was down 85% in total viewers and-95% among younger viewers. Versus the previous week\u2019s Late Show repeat in the same slot, the show fell -46% in total viewers and 65% in the demo.<\/p>\n The show\u2019s debut also wasn\u2019t able to beat its 11:35 competitors. A first-run episode of NBC\u2019s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon<\/a>\u2014which aired a half-hour later than usual on the East Coast due to an NBA overrun earlier in the evening\u2014averaged 1.5 million total viewers Friday night and 319,000 viewers in the demo, while a repeat of ABC\u2019s Jimmy Kimmel Live!<\/a> drew 1.6 million total viewers and 208,000 in the demo.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the national picture. Locally, Allen Media Group is telling a different story.<\/p>\n According to ratings data released by Allen\u2019s company, Comics Unleashed outperformed Fallon and\/or Kimmel in more than two dozen local markets Friday night, giving Allen a more favorable set of numbers to tout as his long-running comedy showcase begins its new CBS run.<\/p>\n Whether the show\u2019s ratings performance was affected by Friday being Allen\u2019s 11:35 debut, from Kimmel being in repeats and Fallon airing later than usual, or some combination of the above remains to be seen. Also still to be seen is how many viewers Comics Unleashed and its competitors add once delayed-viewing data comes in over the next several days.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that Comics Unleashed is produced at a fraction of the cost of a traditional late-night show, and is built on an entirely different financial model. Allen pays CBS for the time and sells the commercial spots on the show to advertisers directly.<\/p>\n Though Friday\u2019s episode marked the 11:35 p.m. debut for Comics Unleashed on CBS, viewers saw an otherwise normal episode of the long-running series. Allen did mark the occasion<\/a> during the show\u2019s first commercial break, appearing from the show\u2019s set to pay tribute to the late-night figures who came before him\u2014and to call out one of his sponsors, Procter & Gamble, which appeared to subsidize the message.<\/p>\n Allen Media Group\u2019s 12:37am entry, Funny You Should Ask<\/a>, also made its official CBS debut Friday, coming in second behind a time-delayed Late Night with Seth Meyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Complete national ratings charts for Friday May 22, 2026 follow below:<\/p>\n Live+SD ratings (Panel Only, All Viewers 2+)<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2020 = airs at 7pm PT, * = 30-minute program<\/p>\n Live+SD ratings (Panel Only, 18-49 demo)<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2020 = airs at 7pm PT, * = 30-minute program<\/p>\n Ratings Data\u00a0\u00a9 The Nielsen Company, used under license.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Screeenshot: Allen Media Group First on LateNighter: Preliminary ratings are in for Byron Allen\u2019s 11:35 p.m. Comics Unleashed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":826323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[30],"tags":[78823,148000,171,50812,65691,47174,10507,173,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-826322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-byron-allen","tag-comics-unleashed","tag-entertainment","tag-jimmy-kimmel-live","tag-late-night-with-seth-meyers","tag-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert","tag-the-tonight-show-starring-jimmy-fallon","tag-tv","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116648624278775868","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779819413970-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAvg Share
(%)Avg Viewers
(000s)Vs
Wk Ago<\/tr>\n\n 10:00 PM<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n Gutfeld! (FNC)
\n \n <\/td>\n4.52<\/td>\n 2,213<\/td>\n -7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 11:35 PM<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n Jimmy Kimmel Live!
\n
Repeat\n <\/td>\n5.79<\/td>\n 1,647<\/td>\n +24%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n COMICS UNLEASHED 1
\n \n <\/td>\n3.28<\/td>\n 995<\/td>\n \u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n COMICS UNLEASHED 2
\n
Repeat\n <\/td>\n2.43<\/td>\n 600<\/td>\n \u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
\n
Aired at 12:07 AM this day\n <\/td>\n6.54<\/td>\n 1,519<\/td>\n \u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 12:37 AM<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK-1
\n
Repeat\n <\/td>\n2.35<\/td>\n 489<\/td>\n \u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK-2
\n
Repeat\n <\/td>\n2.46<\/td>\n 430<\/td>\n \u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC)
Aired at 1:09 AM this day
Repeat<\/td>\n4.37<\/td>\n 709<\/td>\n +11%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Avg Share
(%)Avg Viewers
(000s)Vs
Wk Ago<\/tr>\n\n 10:00 PM<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n Gutfeld! (FNC)
\n \n <\/td>\n1.51<\/td>\n 162<\/td>\n +26%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 11:35 PM<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n Jimmy Kimmel Live!
\n
Repeat\n <\/td>\n3.47<\/td>\n 208<\/td>\n -8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Comics Unleashed-1 (CBS)<\/td>\n 1.82<\/td>\n 116<\/td>\n \u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Comics Unleashed-2 (CBS)
Repeat<\/td>\n1.06<\/td>\n 55<\/td>\n \u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
\n
Aired at 12:07 AM this day\n <\/td>\n6.53<\/td>\n 319<\/td>\n \u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 12:37 AM<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Funny You Should Ask (CBS)
Repeat<\/td>\n1.13<\/td>\n 50<\/td>\n \u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Funny You Should Ask-2 (CBS)
Repeat<\/td>\n1.39<\/td>\n 51<\/td>\n \u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC)
Aired at 1:09 AM this day
Repeat<\/td>\n4.1<\/td>\n 139<\/td>\n +54%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n