The liberal thesis that CBS has become MAGA TV took another hit on Tuesday’s edition of CBS Mornings as co-host Vladimir Duthiers interviewed The Daily Show’s Josh Johnson about his upcoming HBO standup special. While Comedy Central is a fellow Paramount property and HBO’s parent company Warner Bros. is in the process of merging with Paramount, Duthiers sat down to marvel with Johnson about his “storytelling,” despite Johnson recently calling Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an Uncle Tom.
Duthiers inquired, “When did you realize the audience was not necessarily interested in a punch line but that they were interested in your storytelling?”
Johnson answered that, “I look at what I want to deliver to an audience is a show that is really interesting and really funny.”
In some corporate synergy, CBS's Vladimir Duthiers interviews The Daily Show's Josh Johnson to promote his upcoming HBO stand up special, "When did you realize the audience was not necessarily interested in a punch line but that they were interested in your storytelling?"
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In addition to his attacks on Thomas, Johnson is also the kind of comedian who thinks President Trump calling Sen. Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas” is racist and not Warren’s actual attempts to claim she is Cherokee.
Still, Duthiers moved on to hype Johnson’s rise through The Daily Show’s ranks, “Johnson got his start in Chicago working his way through comedy clubs. Then he made the move to New York. He has been at The Daily Show since 2017. First as a writer…. Then in 2024 Johnson became a correspondent… and later a rotating host.”
Johnson is the newest member of The Daily Show’s rotation of hosts, having joined in July 2025 and, other than Jon Stewart, brought in the highest ratings. He was also the most liberal in 2025.
To help further the aim of corporate self-promotion, Duthiers did not play any of Johnson’s more outrageous moments, such as implying Republicans really wanted to call Kamala Harris the N-word or claiming that being against DEI means you are against teaching history. Instead, Duthiers played clips of him calling Cookie Monster a “little blue bitch” over “shrinkflation,” calling King Charles “the world’s oldest nepo baby,” and criticizing Trump over his ballroom.
Johnson then told Duthiers, “Like the actual subject matter is not funny, but the jokes that come out of that subject matter are funny.”
Duthiers then promoted the HBO special, “That ability to just observe the world around him has been driving much of his comedy, including on one of stand-up's biggest stages.”
If the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger is approved, that would mean that Last Week Tonight with John Oliver would also become a Paramount property, which would ensure Duthiers and his wife, Last Week Tonight senior news reporter Marian Wang, have the same corporate boss. Even with Stephen Colbert now gone, Duthiers has plenty of in-house liberal comedians to promote.
Here is a transcript for the May 26 show:
CBS Mornings
5/26/2026
9:49 PM ET
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: When did you realize the audience was not necessarily interested in a punch line but that they were interested in your storytelling?
JOSH JOHNSON: I look at what I want to deliver to an audience is a show that is really interesting and really funny.
JOHNSON [2014]: If you are looking up at me and you are like, this guy has been mugged, you would be right. I am very muggable.
DUTHIERS: Johnson got his start in Chicago working his way through comedy clubs. Then he made the move to New York. He has been at The Daily Show since 2017. First as a writer.
RONNY CHIENG: Josh Johnson, everybody.
DUTHIERS: Then in 2024 Johnson became a correspondent.
CHIENG: What do you think about Cookie Monster's battle with shrinkflation?
JOHNSON [2024]: What do I think? I think Cookie Monster is being a little blue bitch, alright?
DUTHIERS: And later a rotating host.
JOHNSON [2026]: Let's start with King Charles, the world's oldest nepo baby.
DUTHIERS: When you come in and they say, we're going to build a show around this particular thing that happened, how do you feel when you look at the news that you are going to then have to mine for a comedic tilt or slant on it?
JOHNSON [2026]: Honestly, as soon as I heard about the ballroom I knew we would end up paying for it. Like Trump is the type of dude to wine and dine you and then forget his wallet.
JOHNSON: Like the actual subject matter is not funny, but the jokes that come out of that subject matter are funny.
JOHNSON [2026]: Sitting with you like, I hope you had a great time. I just –
DUTHIERS: That ability to just observe the world around him has been driving much of his comedy, including on one of stand-up's biggest stages.
