Stephen Colbert bids farewell to NBC’s late-night program.
Stephen Colbert cancelled his 11‑season run on CBS’ “The Late Show” with a final broadcast on Thursday night. The episode, held at the Ed Sullivan Theater, opened with a monologue that thanked the network and audience for 1,800 episodes. Colbert then invited Paul McCartney, who was in the area on errands, to the stage. McCartney joined the host in a performance of “Hello – Goodbye,” accompanied by Elvis Costello, Jon Batiste, Louis Cato and the house band.
During the show, Colbert and the crew staged several staged interruptions by actors such as Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows, Tig Notaro and Ryan Reynolds, all of whom played mock‑sulked “final‑guest” roles. The evening concluded with a music segment that included a brief, scripted “interdimensional wormhole” explanation from Neil de Grasse Tyson.
CBS replaced the canceled program with “Comics Unleashed” hosted by Byron Allen. The decision to end “The Late Show” followed a $16 million settlement of a Trump lawsuit and was announced as an economic measure.