Stephen Colbert is sharing his thoughts as the end of The Late Show revealed the date of the last show.
The CBS late-night talk show is ending its run on Thursday, May 21, and while visiting Seth Meyers on Late Night, he weighed in on his sentiments over the show’s finale.
“It feels real now,” Colbert told the former Saturday Night Live star. “It did not feel… I know it was real, but now, there’s four months left.”
Colbert said that he loved making his show, but what he really enjoyed about The Late Show was his co-workers.
“What I really love is the people I do it with,” he said. “There are people I’ve been working with… My shoemaker, Tom Purcell, I’ve known since 1988. And so, we’ve all been together forever.”
He continued, “You can do comedy a lot of different places. There’s no place like the Ed Sullivan Theater, but it’s really the people. That’s really what I care about. That’s really what I’ll miss more than anything, and we’ll do something else together, but it feels real now. I’m not thrilled with it.”
In July 2025, CBS confirmed it was ending the Late Show franchise.
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season,” CBS said in a statement. “We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire The Late Show franchise at that time. We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.”
The cancellation of the late-night show occurred amid Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount and after Colbert called the CBS parent company, settling a lawsuit with Donald Trump, a “big fat bribe.” The merger between Skydance and Paramount Global would close a month after it was confirmed the show was ending.
Watch Colbert on Late Night in the video below.
