Stephen Colbert appeared to fight back tears as he ended his late-night show with an emotional message.
Colbert made a number of slight references to the controversial cancellation of The Late Show franchise by CBS News, which Colbert had been hosting for the past 11 years.
The announcement that the show was ending arrived soon after Colbert suggested a $16 million payout CBS settled with Donald Trump over an easily winnable lawsuit was “a big fat bribe,” as Paramount’s owners needed the Trump administration to approve the sale of CBS to Skydance.
In an emotional monologue to viewers at the start of his final show, Colbert got choked up while describing how proud he is of the show and the team behind what he affectionately called “The Joy Machine.”
“We call it the Joy Machine, because to do this many shows, it has to be a machine. But the thing is, if you choose to do it with joy, it doesn’t hurt as much when your fingers get caught in the gears, and I cannot adequately explain to you what the people who work here have done for each other and how much we mean to each other,” he added.
“Now, on night one of the Colbert Report, back in the day, I said, ‘Anyone can read the news to you. I promised to feel the news at you’, and I realized pretty soon in this job that our job over here was different. We were here to feel the news with you, and I don’t know about you, but I sure have felt it.”
Colbert told the audience and the viewers at home that while he loves doing the show with the team, what they “really, really love is doing the show with you.”
“Now I’ll say to you what I’ve said to every audience for the last 11 years, and I’ve meant it every time. Have a good show. Thanks for being here. And let’s do it, y’all.”
His finale wraps up an 11-season run at The Late Show. Including his time at The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, Colbert has been a late-night host for over 20 years.
CBS described its decision to cancel The Late Show as purely financial, but critics have noted that if money was the only concern, CBS likely could’ve found another option. In 2024, Late Night with Seth Meyers was also struggling financially, but NBC chose to cut the show’s band to save money rather than jump straight to cancellation.
Colbert also made direct digs at CBS during his final monologue; he waited until his “Meanwhile...” segment, where the 62-year-old host shared a news story about a copyright lawsuit involving the use of music from Charlie Brown and other Peanuts TV specials.
“Now, Peanuts is a powerful brand and corporation in and of itself,” Colbert said. “Anyone illegally using that music is going to have to pay through the nose...”
Suddenly, the show’s band, Louis Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine, started playing theme music from Peanuts.
“Louis?” Colbert said in mock surprise. He asked his band leader if he was really “playing the same Peanuts music that I just said people were being sued for using without permission?“
Colbert added, with a knowing smirk at the camera, “Oh no, I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money.”
Colbert’s finale was attended by musician Sir Paul McCartney, as well as a string of A-list appearances from frequent Late Show guests Paul Rudd, Bryan Cranston, and Ryan Reynolds.
The final moments of the episode featured more digs at those responsible for axing Colbert, including a sketch where Colbert discovered a mysterious intergalactic wormhole backstage of the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Astrophysicist (and frequent Late Show guest) Neil deGrasse Tyson showed up to explain why the wormhole was there:
“The fabric of the universe is underpinned by an immutable set of physical laws. Two contradictory realities cannot coexist without rupturing the space-time continuum,” Tyson explained. “For instance, if a show is number one on late night and it also gets canceled.”
Jon Stewart, whose late-night series The Daily Show is owned by CBS’s parent company Paramount, also spoke to Colbert about the wormhole.
“[Paramount] wanted me to read this statement,” Stewart said. He read flatly, “Paramount strongly believes in covering both sides of any black hole that is swallowing everything we know and love, and a coverage must also include the positive aspects of the insatiable emptiness.”
Stewart was soon joined by late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, who all said their farewells to Colbert.
Oliver comforted Colbert about the black hole, “At some point this may come for all of our shows, but Stephen, what’s important to remember is: tonight, it is gonna eat you.”
While he was in the black hole, some more special guests arrived, including former band leader Jon Batiste, for a performance of Elvis Costello’s “Jump Up.”
During the emotional finale, the show cut back to the studio, where the staff of The Late Show danced and threw shapes around the stage while McCartney performed a rendition of The Beatles’ 1967 classic “Hello, Goodbye” alongside Costello, with Colbert as backing singer.
The bit ended with Colbert and McCartney pulling on a lever that sucked up the Ed Sullivan Theater and transported it into a small snowglobe.
President Donald Trump, who has been openly hostile toward late-night comedians throughout his second term, celebrated Colbert’s cancellation when it was announced.
“Everybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account.
The post continued, “That is not true! The reason he was fired was a pure lack of TALENT, and the fact that this deficiency was costing CBS $50 Million Dollars a year in losses — And it was only going to get WORSE!”
