On the evening of May 21, the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert aired on CBS. It is one of the most popular late-night programs on American television. Colbert has been the face of the show since 2015, when he took over host duties from David Letterman. The channel announced plans to close The Late Show in July 2025, citing financial reasons. However, many saw it as a capitulation to US President Donald Trump, whose jokes have become an integral part of the programme. We tell you what happened in the last episode of The Late Show and how the audience reacted to it.
CBS argued that this was “a purely financial decision amid a difficult late-night situation.” However, he was immediately associated with politics. Stephen Colbert has been constantly joking about Trump on his show.
Shortly before the show’s cancellation was announced, Colbert criticized Paramount (owner of CBS) for agreeing to pay Trump $16 million. Thus, the company decided to settle the lawsuit filed by Trump over Kamala Harris’ interview with “60 Minutes” on CBS. Trump said journalists tried to portray Harris in a more positive light than was already the case before the 2024 presidential election in which she was running.
“If you just turned on The Late Show, you missed a lot,” Stephen Colbert joked at the beginning of the latest episode. He began with words of thanks, noting that the program with his participation was fortunate to remain on the air for 11 years, and “this cannot be taken for granted.” Colbert said The Late Show originally planned to make the finale “big and special,” but they realized that “every episode is special.”
“The best way to celebrate is to do a regular show and discuss issues that are relevant to the entire country,” Colbert said and began the traditional news monologue. As he spoke, actors Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd and Tim Meadows interrupted him in the studio and made a joke about competing to be the star of the evening.
The main star – the special guest for the final episode of the show – was Sir Paul McCartney. He and Colbert recalled the Beatles’ performances at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York (the final episode of The Late Show was filmed there) and the group’s U.S. tour.
At the end of the program, an “interdimensional wormhole” opened in the theater, threatening to swallow all evening performances in the United States. Along with his on-air colleagues — Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver — Colbert joked and pondered the future of late-night programming. Although his colleagues tried to help Colbert overcome the wormhole, in the end it swallowed not only him, but the entire group.
At the end of the program, Colbert and McCartney performed “Hello, Goodbye,” after which everyone who worked on The Late Show came on stage to say goodbye to the audience.
Press reaction to the latest episode of The Late Show was mixed. The Hollywood Reporter notes there are a large number “Easter eggs” In the final episode, The Guardian – Many Guest stars. Reviewed by Miscellaneous Issue His name “Disappointing” and the show itself is “outdated,” although they noted that Colbert’s firing was unfair.
Viewers noticed (1,2) The latest episode contains surprisingly little politics for a show known for its biting jokes about political figures, including US President Donald Trump. Furthermore, Trump himself was not mentioned even once in the latest episode.
Trump, in turn, was unable to resist comments Regarding the show’s cancellation: “Colbert has finally been removed from CBS. It’s amazing he’s lasted so long! No talent, no ratings, no life. He looked like a dead man. You could take anyone off the street and they’d be better than this complete idiot. Thank God he’s finally gone!”
CBS said The Late Show collection will be donated to the Museum of Broadcasting and Television in Chicago. Starting May 22, Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed will take over the show’s broadcast period.
Stephen Colbert said in an interview that he has not yet had time to think about what he would like to do after The Late Show. It is known that he has already done so Invited Co-creating the script for a new film based on The Lord of the Rings.