After more than 30 years, The Late Show is coming to an end. The final episode of the long-running CBS late-night talk show, now hosted by Stephen Colbert, is scheduled for Thursday, May 21.
Details for the finale have yet to be revealed. Colbert’s guests this week include former President Barack Obama, Sally Field, John Krasinski and Evie McGee Colbert, his wife and the mother of their three children.
The Late Show made its debut on CBS in August 1993 with host David Letterman, the longtime anchor of NBC’s Late Night. Colbert, who had been the host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, took over for Letterman in September 2015.
“It’s not just the end of our show, it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS,” Colbert told viewers last year after the network announced it was canceling the franchise. “I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Letterman said he “would be surprised” if late-night television “lasts more than a year.”
“We still have Jimmy,” Letterman said in apparent reference to ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel. “We still have Seth [Meyers]. It’s not completely dead on arrival, but I would be surprised if it lasts more than a year or so. But it’s such an easy soothing format that it’s got to stay on.”
In 2025, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert earned its first Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Talk Series. It’s currently the most-watched late-night show, averaging more than 2.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings data.
What led to its cancellation?
The network announced its decision to end The Late Show last July after Colbert openly criticized its parent company, Paramount, for agreeing to pay a $16 million settlement over President Trump’s claims that 60 Minutes unfairly edited an interview with his opponent Kamala Harris during the 2024 campaign. Colbert called the settlement a “big fat bribe.”
At the time, Paramount was seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media. The deal was approved by the FCC a few weeks later.
CBS said in a statement that canceling the show was “purely a financial decision” and “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Stephen Colbert and David Letterman during a taping of “The Late Show” in 2012.
(John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images)
In the Times interview, Letterman said he doesn’t buy the network’s explanation.
The former Late Show host described the decision to cancel the show as “a botched holdup.”
“I’m just going to go on record as saying: They’re lying,” Letterman said. “They’re lying weasels.”
Letterman, who now hosts his own Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, also questioned the “humanity” of the network’s decision to deprive millions of people who love Colbert and still enjoy the late-night “respite.”
Colbert’s late-night rivals rally around him
Jimmy Kimmel appears as a guest on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Sept. 30, 2025.
(Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
Other late-night hosts rallied around Colbert, joining the studio audience inside the Ed Sullivan Theater in solidarity at the first show after the cancellation was announced.
Jon Stewart, Colbert’s longtime friend and former boss at The Daily Show, criticized Paramount for capitulating to Trump.
“If you’re trying to figure out why Stephen’s show is ending, I don’t think the answer can be found in some smoking gun email or phone call from Trump to CBS executives or in CBS QuickBooks spreadsheets on the financial health of late-night,” Stewart said. “I think the answer is in the fear and pre-compliance that is gripping all of America’s institutions at this very moment, institutions that have chosen not to fight the vengeful and vindictive actions of our pubic hair-doodling commander in chief.”
What was Trump’s reaction?
Donald Trump with Colbert in September 2015.
(Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS via Getty Images)
Trump, for his part, celebrated the news of Colbert’s cancellation in a Truth Social post.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” the president wrote. “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. He has even less talent than Colbert!”
Colbert responded to Trump upon his first show back.
“How dare you, sir,” Colbert said during his monologue. “Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go f*** yourself.”
What is replacing ‘The Late Show’?
CBS announced last month that it will air Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen in the 11:35 p.m. ET/PT time slot beginning May 22. Allen’s comedy game show, Funny You Should Ask, will air directly after it.
Allen’s company, the Allen Media Group, is buying time from CBS to air the shows and selling advertising during the two-hour window.
What’s next for Colbert?
Colbert on the set of The Late Show.
(Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
Colbert recently announced that he will be working on a Lord of the Rings movie alongside his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, after The Late Show concludes.
“I knew I couldn’t do that and do this show at the same time, but it turns out I’m going to be free starting this summer,” Colbert said in March. “So if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to finish a television show, and I’ve got to write a movie script, but I will see you all in the Shire.”