On Monday night, CBS “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert returned to TV for the first time since the stunning news last week that the network has decided to pull the plug on the historic franchise. The final episode will air in May 2026.
“Folks, I’m going to go ahead and say it,” he said, kicking off his monologue. “Cancel culture has gone too far.”
Colbert thanked everyone who reached out over the weekend and offered support, and he launched in to a bit about how he can now go scorched-earth over the next 10 months. “The gloves are off! I can finally speak unvarnished truth to power and say what I really think about Donald Trump. Starting now,” he said, looking right at the camera. He paused. “I don’t care for him.”
The news about the end of the “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” — after nine consecutive seasons as the No. 1 show in late-night — shocked comedians, celebrities, politicians, viewers and beyond. The show was canceled a few days after Colbert, one of TV’s most vocal critics of President Donald Trump, slammed CBS parent company Paramount for paying a $16 million settlement over Trump’s claims of an unfairly edited “60 Minutes” interview from last year. (“A big fat bribe,” Colbert said.) Many have questioned the timing, especially because Paramount is seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission, led by Trump-picked chairman Brendan Carr, for a pending $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.
CBS sent out a news release that called the cancellation an “agonizing decision,” and said Colbert and his show “will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.” The network emphasized that this was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Colbert thanked CBS for its support through the years — and then zeroed in on the latter portion of its statement. “But how could it purely be a financial decision if ‘The Late Show’ is number one in ratings? It’s confusing,” he said as his audience cheered. “A lot of folks are asking that question, mainly my staff’s parents and spouses.” He dryly noted that CBS “followed up their gracious press release with a gracious anonymous leak,” and showed screenshots of “sources” informing the New York Post that the show loses between $40 million and $50 million a year amid falling ratings and advertising for late-night TV shows.
“$40 million’s a big number,” Colbert said. “I could see us losing $24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million?” He pretended to look shocked. “Oh yeah …”
He then compared “The Late Show” to Red Lobster’s bankruptcy. “I told them we should stop offering the audience unlimited shrimp!” he said, as the camera cut to audience members holding red plastic food baskets. “With those numbers, I got to say, it makes sense we’d be canceled. I get it, guys. And thanks again, okay? Thanks to the network.”
End of carousel
Colbert said he knows some people are truly upset that “The Late Show” is ending, and he doesn’t want the show to be associated with sadness, so he decided to bring out some musical guests to cheer everyone up. So “Weird Al” Yankovic and Lin-Manuel Miranda strolled out and blended together the other viral news story of last week: the clip of the apparently married CEO cuddling with his human resources chief at a Coldplay concert that inadvertently wound up on the Jumbotron.
As Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” played in the background, the camera “caught” various duos in the audience, fellow TV hosts, late-night comedians and celebrities who showed up in solidarity with their friend: CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Bravo’s Andy Cohen; NBC’s Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers; HBO’s John Oliver and Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart; and Adam Sandler and Christopher McDonald (okay, they may also have been there to promote “Happy Gilmore 2”), alongside Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
Then the producers panned to a cartoon of Trump hugging the Paramount logo and quickly ducking at the sight of the camera. Someone handed Colbert a piece of paper, and he cut in: “Stop playing! I’m sorry. I just got this note from corporate: Your song has been canceled. It says here this is a purely financial decision,” Colbert said. “It says here that since you started playing that song, the network has lost — and I don’t know how this is possible — $40 to $50 million.”
“That’s impossible, that song was a No. 1 song!” Miranda said. “Tell me this has nothing to with who we just put a spotlight on.”
Colbert glanced at the paper. “There’s nothing here that mentions that.”
Later, guest Sandra Oh started her interview by saying she was saddened and outraged by the show’s cancellation. “Not only for yourself and for this entire family who are here, but for what it means, what it is, where we are in our culture and what that means for free speech,” she said, and grasped Colbert’s hand. “To CBS and Paramount: A plague on both of your houses.”
Colbert smiled and laughed, looking at the camera: “I’m very grateful! I think you’ve been great partners,” he said. But Oh wasn’t finished: “And also, a pox on all those who they serve.”
Meanwhile, Stewart had plenty to say on “The Daily Show” on Monday night, reminding the audience of his long history with Colbert from their early Comedy Central days. So he’s not exactly objective, and he conceded that the finances of late-night TV are rough: “We are all basically operating a Blockbuster kiosk inside of a Tower Records.” But growing increasingly heated, Stewart asked whether CBS really had to end the entire No. 1, three-decade-spanning franchise: “My God! When CDs stopped selling, they didn’t just go: ‘Oh well! Music, it’s been a good run.’”
Stewart questioned whether this was “the path of least resistance” to an $8 billion merger, to kill a show that “rankled a fragile and vengeful president.” (Last week, Trump posted his delight on social media: “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.” On Tuesday morning, he followed up with another post: “The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone. These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television. It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”)
“I understand the fear that you and your advertisers have with $8 billion at stake,” Stewart said. “But understand this, truly: The shows that you now seek to cancel, censor and control? A not insignificant portion of that $8 billion value came from those f—ing shows. That’s what made you that money. Shows that say something. Shows that take a stand. Shows that are unafraid. If you believe as corporations or as networks you can make yourselves so innocuous that you can serve a gruel so flavorless that you will never again be on the boy king’s radar, a.) Why would anyone watch you? And you are f—ing wrong.
“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’s QuickBooks spreadsheets on the financial health of late-night,” he added. “I think the answer is in the fear and pre-compliance that is gripping all of America’s institutions at this very moment.”
