Read What Colbert Said In His Emotional Final Episode Message To The Audience
Colbert signed off with a star-studded farewell and a wormhole stunt after CBS canceled the top-rated late night show.
- On Friday, satirist Stephen Colbert concluded his nearly 11-year run on CBS's The Late Show with a whimsical finale featuring an interdimensional wormhole that consumed the Ed Sullivan Theater.
- CBS canceled the top-rated program last July, citing 'purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night' as parent company Paramount Global sought Federal Communications Commission approval for an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.
- During the finale, friend and mentor Jon Stewart joined Colbert to address the 'pretend wormhole,' telling him, 'You can stare it down and you can laugh.' Musical legends Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello also performed.
- The broadcast marked the final installment of The Late Show franchise, which aired from New York's Ed Sullivan Theater for close to 33 years, ending as Colbert and McCartney switched off the theater lights.
- Fellow hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, and John Oliver—the 'Strike Force Five'—arrived to support Colbert, and McCartney's performance of the 1967 Beatles classic 'Hello, Goodbye' hinted Colbert may only be taking a short career break.
48 Articles
48 Articles
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Stephen Colbert didn't just sign off Thursday night — he went out swinging, with nearly 7 million people watching.The final episode of "The Late Show" drew an estimated 6.74 million viewers, making it the most-watched weeknight episode in the show's history, according to preliminary Nielsen data obt...
4 CBS shows ending in 2026 — and how they said goodbye
"Watson" and "DMV" were canceled alongside "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert."Stephen Colbert on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'; Cedric the Entertainer on 'The Neighborhood'Credit: CBS(2)The CBS primetime lineup is evolving as we head into the summer months.So far in 2026, the network has said goodbye to a handful of its scripted series while also wrapping up The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, whose cancellation shocked fans when it was…
The end of an era, not just of a program.After more than 1,800 deliveries over eleven years, Stephen Colbert's Late Show came to an end at CBS on Thursday night, cancelled by his dissent against the absolutist power of thin-skinned President Donald Trump.Continue reading...
Colbert's Long Farewell Was a Funeral for the Collective Culture of Late Night
“Are you good with change?” Stephen Colbert asked Paul McCartney on Thursday. The response from the man whose performance with the Beatles, 62 years earlier, on the very stage where they were sitting, caused a tectonic shift in global pop culture: “No.” It didn’t matter. Change was coming anyway, as it always does. After 11 years and some 1800 episodes, this was the final episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. McCartney was his last gues…
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