Stephen Colbert’s final week marks the end of The Late Show
Stephen Colbert concluded, but questions remain about what will replace late night as a common cultural ritual in an age of media fragmentation.
The era of late-night television has come to an end.
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” aired its series finale on Thursday, May 21, ending Colbert’s nearly 11-year run on the show and ending the late-night show started by David Letterman in 1993. CBS announced its controversial decision to cancel “The Late Show” in July.
The comedian began working on “Late Show” in September 2015, taking over after Letterman left his desk earlier that year.
The end of “The Late Show,” which CBS described as a financial disaster, marks a major shift in late-night comedy and is a worrying sign for a format that has been a television staple for decades. All eyes were on what Colbert, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, would say as questions continued about whether the show’s cancellation was politically motivated.
But despite all the controversy, Colbert chose to go out in a fun and celebratory mood, with the help of Paul McCartney, who returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater for the first time in more than 60 years after performing with the Beatles.
Here’s everything that happened during Colbert’s “Late Show” series finale.
This is how Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ ended
In a long, pre-recorded video, Colbert investigates a green portal backstage, which was used as one big metaphor for the end of “The Late Show.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson explained that this is an interdimensional wormhole that threatens all of late-night television. “Your cancellation has created a rift in the comedy and variety talk continuity!” he said. Jon Stewart came in and read a statement from Paramount, saying that Paramount “strongly believes we can cover both sides” of the black hole.
As Colbert tried to figure out what to do, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver offered advice.
“Without you, where would Americans see middle-aged white men making jokes about the news?” Meyers joked, while Kimmel said a portal opened on last year’s show but “gone in like three days,” referring to the September suspension.
After Colbert quotes “The Lord of the Rings,” Elijah Wood is briefly shown, and Andy Cohen appears to be sucked into a wormhole. After the late-night host encouraged Colbert to end the show on his own terms, he returned to the stage and tried to get things back on track, but a wormhole opened a rift and sucked Colbert inside.
After a commercial break, Colbert found himself in a black void, where he sang with Jon Batiste, his original bandleader Louis Cato, and Elvis Costello.
In the final minutes of the show, Colbert returned to the theater stage for a fun performance of “Hello, Goodbye” with McCartney, Cato, Costello and Batiste. This moved into a pre-recorded moment backstage, where McCartney helped Colbert turn off the lights at the Ed Sullivan Theater. The wormhole then shrinks the theater, creating a snow globe, similar to the ending of “St. Elsewhere.” In the final shot of the show, the “Late Show” theme could be heard playing from the snow globe. And the scene.
Who will be Colbert’s final guest on the ‘Late Show’ finale?
The Pope may not have made it to the “Late Show” finale, but the Beatles were in attendance.
There was speculation that Colbert, a devout Catholic, had booked Pope Leo XIV for his final show, but Colbert toyed with that with a fake gag. After returning from commercial, Colbert acted as if he was trying to bring the Pope out for an interview, only to learn that the Pope was refused permission to come out of his dressing room because he “brought the wrong snacks.” Colbert has described the Pope in media interviews as a guest in “Moby Dick.”
“Who was the Pope? absolutely “Tonight’s guest has been canceled!” Colbert said. “Now, who will be our last guest?”
“Hey, Stephen, what about me?” Paul McCartney said as he took the stage to the applause. This musician turned out to be Colbert’s real “last guest.” The pair did a traditional “Late Show” interview, with McCartney reflecting on his appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” with the Beatles in 1964.
“It’s always great to come back here,” he said.
Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd and Ryan Reynolds make cameos on ‘Late Show’ finale
Many stars made cameos during the show as part of a joke, but they all assumed they would be Colbert’s last special guest.
Colbert explained in his monologue that he was considering a “huge special” finale, but felt it would be more appropriate to do a “regular episode.” As he began to cover the day’s news, Bryan Cranston, wearing a “Late Show” hat, interrupted from the audience and suggested that he might be Colbert’s final guest. “The truth is, we already have something pretty special in store,” Colbert explained, prompting Cranston to depart at short notice.
Later, Paul Rudd and Tim Meadows made cameos in quick succession from the audience, both of whom believed they were special guests Colbert was teasing. “I have a very long poem that I would like to read, and I don’t want to run out of time,” Rudd said, announcing that she had brought Colbert six bananas as a “traditional retirement gift.”
After the first commercial break, Tig Notaro appeared in the audience and pretended not to know about the big night. “Is this your last show? I’ve lived a very full life, Stephen,” she said. Ryan Reynolds was also seated in the audience, but Colbert explained that he was not a special guest either.
Colbert opens ‘Late Show’ finale with emotional message
Colbert opened the show with an emotional and introspective message before the theme song. Outside in the cold, he talked about how “fun” it was to work on The Late Show, saying, “I can’t express enough what the people who work here have done for each other and how much we value each other.” He also emphasized to viewers “how important you are to what we’ve done.”
“We love doing this show for you, but what we really, really love is doing this show with you,” he said.
After the “Late Show” theme played one last time, Colbert took the stage for his official monologue, beginning with the joke, “If you’re just tuning in to ‘Late Show,’ you’re missing out on a lot!”
He talked about the history of the Ed Sullivan Theater, where the show was taped, and said he was “honored” to be a part of it. The audience booed Colbert’s statement that this was his last show, but he discouraged that reaction. “No, no, we’ve been lucky to be here for the past 11 years,” he said.
Fans leaving the Ed Sullivan Theater after the final episode
Outside New York City’s famous theater, fans finished taping the finale and revealed the emotional episode they just witnessed.
“It was a very emotional show,” Ray Lingenfelter of Eugene, Oregon, told USA TODAY. “There were a lot of cameos. A lot of people showed up.”
“Only 20% of the show looked normal,” Lingenfelter added. “They were having a celebration. Everyone was so excited to be here and be able to do it for so long. But you can tell some of their jokes about it being canceled stung a little bit because they didn’t want to go.”
The show continues at Ben and Jerry’s
Despite the end of Late Night, Ben & Jerry’s confirmed on social media that Americane Dream, the ice cream flavor that gave Colbert its name, is not going away.
“Can’t cancel great taste. While we’ll miss @colbertlateshow, Americane Dream stays calm and continues with the sweet new look coming soon to our freezers!” the ice cream brand wrote on May 21, “and as always, proceeds will support philanthropy through the Stephen Colbert Americane Dream Foundation.”
Since the fund was established in 2007, Colbert has raised more than $7.5 million.
When was Colbert’s last show on CBS?
The final episode will air on CBS at 11:35pm ET. According to CBS’ schedule, the show is scheduled to end at 12:54 a.m., making it 17 minutes longer than usual.
Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, who air the show opposite Colbert, will honor Colbert’s last show with a rebroadcast on May 21. Starting May 22, CBS will replace “The Late Show” with Byron Allen’s comedy panel show “Comics Unleashed.”
Colbert’s final guests include performances from Obama, Jon Stewart and Bruce Springsteen.
In his final weeks on “The Late Show,” Colbert interviewed former President Barack Obama, reunited with his former “Daily Show” boss Jon Stewart and brought Letterman back to his old home base. The former “Late Show” host joined Colbert in a gleeful throwing segment from the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater, making a bit of a comeback from his Letterman run.
On May 20, Colbert’s penultimate show included a performance by Bruce Springsteen, who the comedian said was “the first man in America to lose a show to a president who can’t take jokes.”
CBS cancels Stephen Colbert’s show
CBS announced in July that it was canceling “The Late Show,” but parent company Paramount Global said it was a “purely financial decision given the difficult circumstances of late night.” But critics question whether politics played a role in the move.
Colbert has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, and the cancellation comes as Paramount is in the process of merging with Skydance Media, which requires approval from the Trump administration.
The cancellation of Colbert’s show sparked widespread outcry in the entertainment industry and led to a debate about whether late-night television would remain a viable genre for years to come, or whether the format could be on its way.
In a speech last year, former “Conan” host Conan O’Brien predicted that “late-night television as we have known it since about 1950 will disappear.”
