‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ to end May 2026
FILE – The Late Show with Stephen Colbert during Mondays June 13, 2022 show. (Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
The Brief
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will retire in May 2026.
After more than three decades, the show will end entirely – no new host, nothing.
“The Late Show” shared video of Colbert announcing the show’s retirement on Thursday.
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is set to end in May 2026, the show’s host shared on Thursday.
After over three decades, CBS is retiring the show altogether, Colbert said.
What they’re saying:
“It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS. I’m not being replaced, this is all just going away,” Colbert continued. The announcement was met by boos from the audience. “Yeah, I share your feelings,” Colbert added.
“‘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 Thursday. “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.”
Why is the show ending?
Dig deeper:
The long-running late-night talk show is ending due to purely “financial” reasons, according to a Reuters report.
“It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” executives said in a statement to Reuters.
The announcement also came three days after Colbert spoke out against Paramount Global, parent company of CBS, settling with President Donald Trump over a “60 Minutes” story.
In his monologue on Monday night, Colbert said he was “offended” by the $16 million settlement reached by Paramount, whose pending sale to Skydance Media needs the Trump administration’s approval.
“I don’t know if anything — anything — will repair my trust in this company,” Colbert said. “But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”
He said the technical name in legal circles for the deal was “big fat bribe.”
The backstory:
“The Late Show,” which Colbert took over in 2015, leaned into liberal politics in the Trump era and had became a major platform for Democratic politicians.
There had been speculation about the future of the Paramount-owned late-night programs, which also include “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, as its planned corporate merger with Skydance Media is expected to take place later this year.
