Stephen Colbert officially said goodbye to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert after more than 10 years as its host.
The comedian, 62, used his trademark humor during the Thursday, May 21, series finale of the CBS late-night show such as including an amusing sketch about finding a worm hole backstage that was ready to suck him away.
“I didn’t think my show would end like this,” Colbert joked.
In 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 none of the others were being pulled into the worm hole, Kimmel referenced his own issues.
He quipped, “You know what? Actually, one of these holes opened at my show last year, but it went away after about three days.”
During the sketch, Colbert remarked, “Now it looks like it’s the end, and I wish it wasn’t, but that’s not for me to decide.”
His humor appeared in other parts of the final show as he joked about starting an OnlyFans as his next career move and getting the band to play expensive music that CBS will 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 among a handful of star cameos.
Colbert had opened his final show by reflecting the pop culture history of his show’s filming location, the Ed Sullivan Theater.
“There is so much history here in the Ed Sullivan Theater, and we’ve been honored to have been just a small part of it. Nichols and May played on the stage, The Beatles made their American debut here,” Colbert said in the opening monologue.
He then joked, “And this is true. This is true. Backstage, Elvis used the bathroom 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 final on-stage chat.
McCartney, 83, shared his memories of first stepping foot inside the theater in 1964 as part of The Beatles when they were “young kids” and “sort of full of ourselves.”
“Mr. Sullivan was really nice. He was a really cool guy,” McCartney recalled. “I mean, you know, we’d never been to America. We come here and people said, ‘This is like the biggest show,’ And we’re telling the truth, we’d never heard him, you know, in England. But yeah, so it was fantastic.”
During the interview, Colbert quoted lyrics from a poignant new McCartney song called “Days We Left Behind,” which read, “Nothing stays the same/ No one needs to cry.”
Colbert appeared to allude to the end of his show, noting, “I’ve been thinking about change lately.”
McCartney closed out the show by performing The Beatles 1960s 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 as the host of The Late Show in September 2015 after Letterman, 79, retired following his 22-season stint in 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. As the studio audience reacted with boos, he responded, “I share your feelings.”
“I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners,” he noted at the time. “And I’m grateful to the audience, you, who have joined us every night, in here, out there and all around the world.”
Colbert then thanked his crew. “We get to do this show for each other every day all day,” he said, adding that he wished “somebody else” could replace him after his exit.
CBS executives addressed the cancellation news at the time, claiming the decision was purely a “financial” one and not “related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” The move came after Paramount Global settled a lawsuit with President Donald Trump ahead of Skydance Media’s acquisition of the company, which Colbert criticized on the air.
“I do not dispute their rationale [that it was for financial reasons],” Colbert told The New 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. “Because 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 will be taking a step back from the news cycle — at least temporarily.
“I love what we do and I love the grind,” he told GQ in November 2025. “You can only do one of these shows, do the jokes every night, year after year for 20 years, if you give a damn at all about what you’re talking about. And I do. But there is a sense of relief that I might not have to put on the snorkel and get into the sewer every day.”
He added: “I know who I am without this. … I was married with all my children before I was Stephen Colbert, that anybody would know. And my identity is associated with 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.
