This Thursday marks the end of an era for The Late Show – a beloved US cultural touchstone which is about to disappear. Here's everything you need to know about the final episode, the guests, the reasons behind CBS pulling the plug, and what could be next for Stephen Colbert...
More than a decade of late-night history ends this week, with Stephen Colbert’s tenure as the host of the US show The Late Show coming to an end this Thursday.
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As a reminder, The Late Show has been CBS’s flagship late-night talk show for many years. It first aired in 1993 with David Letterman hosting. Colbert joined the show in 2015 and stood out for his wit, charm, and his hugely popular political monologues skewering the Trump administration.
Colbert’s 11-year run ends on Thursday 21 May, and he’ll leave the late-night landscape significantly poorer.
Here’s everything you need to know about his last hurrah – as well as the reasons behind the cancellation of The Late Show.
What can we expect from the final show?
The show’s finale will have an extended runtime, and last line-up of guests is being kept a secret.
The last few guests this week have included Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg and David Byrne, and we do know that tonight’s penultimate show (Wednesday 20 May) will include a performance from rock legend Bruce Springsteen - as well as the final (and beloved reoccurring segment) The Colbert Questionert. This time, it’ll be Colbert who answers the famous 15 questions – so viewers will finally get to know what number he’s thinking of.
Fellow talk show hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, John Oliver and Jimmy Fallon joined Colbert on his show last week for a reunion of the Strike Force Five - the group they previously formed to support and pay their writers during the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.
During the interview, they agreed to be present during Colbert’s last show. They also voiced their discontent toward the decision to cancel the show.
“I’m waiting for angry Stephen to come out,” Kimmel said during the group interview. “I want to see you go nuts.”
Kimmel and Fallon have also announced that they will go dark on Thursday, with ABC and NBC airing reruns in honour of Colbert’s swansong.
Who could be appearing on the last episode?
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Colbert revealed there’s still one famous person he hoped to interview before the show ends...
“The pope is my white whale,” Colbert said, referring to Pope Leo XIV. “I wrote him. I said, ‘Come on!’ No, I said, ‘Your Holiness, I hope this letter finds you well or, at the very least, infallible. Would you please come on my show? We don’t have to talk about politics.’”
Could Colbert get his wish? Only two days left to find out...
Why is Colbert leaving?
It’s not just Colbert retiring, but the whole franchise coming to an end.
In July, CBS announced that The Late Show would conclude its 33-year run. The network insisted that its decision to pull the plug was "purely a financial one" and that it wasn't "related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."
Cue: laughter, as no one bought that excuse. Many pointed to possible pressures by Trump’s administration, considering Colbert has never shied from parodying, criticising and exposing Trump as a con man.
There’s also the timing of the announcement, which coincided with Colbert slamming CBS' corporate parent, Paramount Global, for agreeing to pay $16 million to Trump over an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris that aired on 60 Minutes. Colbert called Paramount's settlement "a big fat bribe."
Both The Late Show and 60 Minutes are CBS shows. At the time, Paramount was finalizing a multibillion-dollar megamerger with Skydance, which required approval from the Trump administration...
Sherlock Holmes could join the dots in a coma.
Add the fact that Trump has never hidden his dislike for Colbert and the show – as well as any show or host who dares to exercise their First Amendment right to criticise him – and the “financial” explanation seems even weaker.
Trump even celebrated the news on his Truth Social platform, gloating: “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired”. He added that Colbert’s “talent was even less than his ratings.”
Note: “Fired”, not ‘cancelled’.
Colbert clapped back on camera: “How dare you sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism?... (turning face to another camera, which featured a tag that read ‘eloquence cam’) Go fuck yourself.”
Explaining the cancellation of the show, Letterman told The New York Times: “He was dumped because the people selling the network to Skydance said, ‘Oh no, there’s not going to be any trouble with that guy. We’re going to take care of the show. We’re just going to throw that into the deal. When will the ink on the check dry?’ (...) I’m just going to go on record as saying: They’re lying.”
He concluded, referring to CBS’ reasoning for cancelling the show: “Let me just add one other thing... They're lying weasels."
The Late Show is no more – What will fill the time slot?
CBS announced last month that The Late Show’s time slot will be filled with a show titled Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen.
Good luck with that.
The roundtable series, featuring Allen alongside four comedians who “share stories, tell jokes and bring the biggest laughter to television,” currently airs on CBS immediately after The Late Show.
Colbert, ever the gentleman, reacted to the news of his replacement in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter by saying: “God bless him.”
What’s next for Stephen Colbert?
Earlier this year, Colbert – who is a huge J.R.R. Tolkien fan - announced that he will write a new Lord of the Rings movie with his screenwriter son Peter McGee and Philippa Boyens.
As Deadline reported in March, Colbert will co-write the tentatively titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, which will be directed by Peter Jackson.
The next film in the series is Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, directed by Andy Serkis. It is due out on 17 December 2027.
Beyond scriptwriting, many are hoping that Colbert will run for office.
In a recent sit-down interview with Barack Obama, Colbert shared that “a lot of people tell me I should run for president.”
“Well, you certainly have the look,” Obama replied. “You have the hair.”
“For the record, I think it’s a stupid idea,” Colbert continued. “How dumb do you think it is for people to say I should run for president?”
“The bar has changed,” Obama said. He continued, without mentioning Trump’s name: “Put it this way: I think you could perform significantly better than some folks that we’ve seen. I have great confidence in that.”
President Colbert? Well, he has never caved to Trump, so he's got backbone. And he does have the hair. Stranger things have happened.
The Late Show concludes its run on Thursday 21 May at 11:35 pm US ET – 5:35 am CET. Farewell, and thank you, Stephen. Good luck to Seth, John and the two Jimmys.
