Donald Trump has unsurprisingly promised to chime in later about longtime foe Stephen Colbert‘s late-night departure Thursday night. But two of the ex-Apprentice host’s political rivals, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, have already had their say on the Late Show finale.
“There aren’t many who can make people think and laugh at the same time,” Biden said today online as fans, guests (we still don’t know who) and press gathered in and around New York City’s Ed Sullivan Theater for Colbert’s 1,800th and final show.
“For years, Stephen brought wit, heart, and honesty to late night television. America could always count on a laugh — and sometimes a needed reality check,” added Biden, who beat Trump like a drum (Biden’s words, not mine, but still true) in 2020.
While Biden never showed up on the Late Show during his time as President from 2021-2025, he did appear on the CBS series on six occasions in total since the launch of the Colbert-led show.
The fist time was during the inaugural week of Colbert’s late-night reign in September 2015. That appearance saw the then-VP sit for what quickly became a moving meditation on the May 2015 death of Biden’s son and ex-Delaware AG Beau Biden. Although Colbert hosted a big-bucks Radio City fundraiser in 2024 for Biden, joined by with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, the last time Biden was on the Late Show was as President-elect on December 17, 2020 with future First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
Today, Biden praised Colbert in the most straightforward of ways: “Congrats on an incredible run, my friend.”
Meanwhile, three-time Late Show guest Hillary Clinton didn’t hold back her appreciation of her fellow Trump basher today.
“Alongside his great wit, Stephen brought deep thoughtfulness, empathy, and humility to the late-night stage,” wrote the 2016 Presidential candidate, ex-Secretary of State, New York senator and First Lady, who appeared on the show in 2015, 2017 and 2024.
“Here’s to a next chapter as brilliant as the last,” she added.
Obama, who posted his own praise of Colbert earlier this month, was on the Late Show six times. The 44th POTUS first showed up in the Sullivan Theater in 2016, and most recently last week for a cameo in the Late Show’s The Colbert Questionert segment. To make it clear how tight the two have become, the two chatted on-air in Chicago earlier this month ahead of the opening of the Obama Presidential Center.
Trump appeared on the Late Show only once, on September 22, 2015. Colbert’s constant barbs and critiques of the MAGA overlord is widely seen as the real reason the pre-David Ellison-run Paramount pink-slipped the host — though the company said it was to save money.
Taping has already started tonight on the final Late Night show, but it would have been fun to see Colbert extend an invite over and over to Trump — as a certain loudmouth advocated today.
