Comedian Stephen Colbert and his late-night TV show, ‘The Late Show’, said goodbye Thursday in the U.S. after 11 years, amid references to his controversial cancellation by CBS after his sharp criticism of President Donald Trump.
The final episode of ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’, with singer Paul McCartney as guest, ran until almost 1 a.m. on Friday and was the undisputed center of attention, as his main rivals, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, aired old shows to avoid competition.
‘The Late Show’ franchise also ‘retired’ this Thursday after 33 years at CBS. Colbert was hired to replace the legendary David Letterman in 2015 and became one of the top-rated hosts in his time slot, a popularity fueled by his darts at Trump.
Colbert, 62, starred in a light-hearted program marked by uncertainty about who his final guest would be, as there was speculation about Pope Leo XIV, as well as a narrative around a black hole as a metaphor for his announced end, which ends up absorbing everything and turns him into a mere memory.
Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson made a cameo to explain that the black hole had been born as a result of a contradiction: that the ‘Late show’ was “number one” and in turn was canceled, so he warned that the rest of the satirical programs were under threat of “being destroyed”.
Colbert has been tucked in his final days by dozens of celebrities who have made cameos, including Bruce Springsteen, who described him as “the first guy in America to lose his show because we have a president who can’t take a joke.”
It was a bittersweet night at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theater, whose marquee full of flickering light bulbs illuminates a stretch of Broadway Avenue, and whose audiences were rocked and decked out in program T-shirts and hats.
McCartney presented Colbert with a photo of the Beatles in that same theater in the 1960s, compared the state of democracy with that of that time and closed the show by singing ‘Hello, goodbye’ with the band and the audience, after which he was in charge of “shutting down” the program with a crowbar.
Colbert suggested that he will now enjoy his time off after a successful career that included ‘The Colbert Report’ (2005-2014), a ‘spin-off’ derived from his participation in the news parody ‘The Daily Show’ (1997-2005), both from Comedy Central, in which he played a conservative alter ego.
Did Trump have anything to do with Stephen Colbert’s cancellation or was it CBS’s financial decision?
CBS announced the cancellation in July 2025 and described it as “purely financial, taking into account the complicated context of late night” television, and assuring that it had nothing to do “with the show’s results, its content or other matters of Paramount,” its parent company.
However, several important factors converged at the time and have given rise to speculation that the media company caved in to pressure from the president, of whom Colbert is highly critical.
The announcement came amid merger talks between Paramount and Skydance, a conglomerate now led by David Ellison, son of tycoon Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder who is close to Trump.
Paramount, which was subject to regulatory approval for the deal, had agreed to pay $16 million to Trump to settle his lawsuit against CBS over an interview with Kamala Harris, his Democratic presidential rival, that he alleged was doctored.
And that agreement, precisely, was criticized by Colbert, who called it a “big, fat bribe”.
Trump denied any responsibility for Colbert’s dismissal, which he attributed to “his absolute lack of talent” and the show’s million-dollar cost to CBS, but took the opportunity to warn that the next to fall would be two other ‘late night’ kings, Kimmel (ABC) and Fallon (NBC).
Colbert invited Kimmel and Fallon, as well as Seth Meyers and John Oliver, the kings of late night television, on his show Thursday, as he did last week, and they jokingly commented that they may be next, but so far the black hole has only swallowed one.
Kimmel, who had his show temporarily suspended for his satirical comments about the U.S. government, denounced Colbert’s “expulsion” and encouraged the public to “never watch” CBS again, in a boycott similar to the one he enacted against Disney, his host, reported Agencia EFE.
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