Stephen Colbert officially said goodbye to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert after greater than 10 years as its host.
The comedian, 62, used his trademark humor through the Thursday, May 21, series finale of the CBS late-night show akin to including an amusing sketch about finding a worm hole backstage that was able to suck him away.
“I didn’t think my show would end like this,” Colbert joked.
Within the segment, Colbert was approached by fellow talk show hosts, John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon for a final farewell.
When Colbert questioned why not one of the others were being pulled into the worm hole, Kimmel referenced his own issues.
He quipped, “You already know what? Actually, one among these holes opened at my show last 12 months, nevertheless it went away after about three days.”
In the course of the sketch, Colbert remarked, “Now it looks prefer it’s the tip, and I wish it wasn’t, but that’s not for me to make your mind up.”
His humor appeared in other parts of the ultimate show as he joked about starting an OnlyFans as his next profession move and getting the band to play expensive music that CBS could have to fork out for.
Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon. (Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
The comedian went full circle as he ended the show, enlisting Paul McCartney as his final celebrity interview amongst a handful of star cameos.
Colbert had opened his final show by reflecting the popular culture history of his show’s filming location, the Ed Sullivan Theater.
“There may be a lot history here within the Ed Sullivan Theater, and we’ve been honored to have been only a small a part of it. Nichols and May played on the stage, The Beatles made their American debut here,” Colbert said within the opening monologue.
He then joked, “And that is true. That is true. Backstage, Elvis used the lavatory and didn’t die.”
Paul McCartney and Stephen Colbert. (Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
The episode featured a string of star cameos including Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows, Tig Notaro, Ryan Reynolds, Elijah Wood and Andy Cohen with McCartney as the ultimate on-stage chat.
McCartney, 83, shared his memories of first stepping foot contained in the theater in 1964 as a part of The Beatles after they were “young kids” and “type of stuffed with ourselves.”
“Mr. Sullivan was very nice. He was a extremely cool guy,” McCartney recalled. “I mean, you recognize, we’d never been to America. We come here and folks said, ‘That is like the most important show,’ And we’re telling the reality, we’d never heard him, you recognize, in England. But yeah, so it was incredible.”
In the course of the interview, Colbert quoted lyrics from a poignant latest McCartney song called “Days We Left Behind,” which read, “Nothing stays the identical/ Nobody must cry.”
Colbert appeared to allude to the tip of his show, noting, “I’ve been eager about change recently.”
McCartney closed out the show by performing The Beatles Nineteen Sixties classic, “Hello, Goodbye.”
Throughout his final month at The Late Show, Colbert welcomed a slew of A-list guests, including his Late Show predecessor, David Letterman, and President Barack Obama. Earlier this week, Colbert was joined by Jon Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Spielberg and David Byrne as he prepared to conclude the series.
Colbert took over because the host of The Late Show in September 2015 after Letterman, 79, retired following his 22-season stint within the role from August 1993 to May 2015. Colbert then helmed the Emmy-winning series for 11 seasons.
Colbert announced The Late Show’s cancellation in July 2025. Because the studio audience reacted with boos, he responded, “I share your feelings.”
“I do need to say that the parents at CBS have been great partners,” he noted on the time. “And I’m grateful to the audience, you, who’ve joined us every night, in here, on the market and all all over the world.”
Colbert then thanked his crew. “We get to do that show for one another on daily basis all day,” he said, adding that he wished “any person else” could replace him after his exit.
CBS executives addressed the cancellation news on the time, claiming the choice was purely a “financial” one and never “related in any solution to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” The move got here after Paramount Global settled a lawsuit with President Donald Trump ahead of Skydance Media’s acquisition of the corporate, which Colbert criticized on the air.
“I don’t dispute their rationale [that it was for financial reasons],” Colbert told The Latest York Times in an April interview. “I do make jokes about it.”
“But I also completely understand why people would say (A) that doesn’t make sense to me and (B) that seems fishy to me,” he continued. “Since the network did it to themselves by bending the knee to the Trump administration over a $20 billion, settled for $16 million, completely frivolous lawsuit.”
Colbert has yet to publicly share his plans for what’s next for him after The Late Show ends, but he shall be taking a step back from the news cycle — not less than temporarily.
“I like what we do and I like the grind,” he told GQ in November 2025. “You may only do one among these shows, do the jokes every night, 12 months after 12 months for 20 years, when you give a rattling in any respect about what you’re talking about. And I do. But there may be a way of relief that I won’t must placed on the snorkel and get into the sewer on daily basis.”
He added: “I do know who I’m without this. … I used to be married with all my children before I used to be Stephen Colbert, that anybody would know. And my identity is related to that. And the family I grew up with and my faith.”
In The Late Show’s absence, Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen will take over its time slot on CBS.