Stephen Colbert addresses impending end of talk show: “I’m not thrilled with it”
Stephen Colbert has addressed the fact that his talk show will be taken off the air on May 21st, a decision formerly revealed in 2025.
Colbert discussed the impending end of The Late Show while visiting Seth Meyers on his show, Late Night.
“It feels real now,” Colbert shared with Meyers, before adding, “It did not feel… I know it was real, but now, there’s four months left.”
Colbert reflected, “What I really love is the people I do it with. 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 told the former Saturday Night Live star, “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.”
CBS confirmed that the Late Show franchise will end in a statement that shared: “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.”
News of the cancellation came amid Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount. At that time, Colbert called CBS’ legal settlement with Donald Trump “a big fat bribe.”
Colbert has formerly said that the speculation that the show is being cancelled due to the political optics is “reasonable,” though he stopped short of explicitly making the claim himself.
Seemingly adding to this narrative, the President of the United States appeared to be overjoyed at the news. On Truth Social, he wrote, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”
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