Colbert receives third-highest 'Late Show' ratings ever with Comey interview

James Comey delivered more than a little excitement to Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night — and that’s saying a lot, as the late-night host was more than a little hyped for the strongly-promoted appearance.

Along with answers to some of Colbert’s most-burning questions about his ousting by the Trump administration, the ex-FBI director also brought with him “The Late Show”s highest overnight rating on any night this season and its third-highest overnight rating ever.

Starting at 11:35 p.m., the sitdown posted a 3.5 rating/9 share for Colbert’s program that evening, and a 0.6/4 in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary data from Nielsen’s metered markets. That second number marked the program’s highest-rated Tuesday in the key demo for the season.

Also Read:Watch Stephen Colbert's Full 32-Minute Grilling of James Comey Here (Video)

The highly-anticipated interview also gifted “The Late Show” with its biggest lead over NBC’s “The Tonight Show” (1.8 percent) since its premiere back in September 2015 (which saw a 2.5 percent over Jimmy Fallon’s late-night program).

Speaking of Tuesday’s competition Colbert’s program won its times slot by around 0.1 of a point, with the “Tonight Show” putting up 1.7/5 overall and a 0.6/4 in the 18-49 range, while ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” earned a 1.5/4 and 0.4/3 in the key demo.

You can see Colbert’s full 32-minute grilling of Comey here.

“The Late Show” airs weekdays at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.

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