May 20, 2026

Stephen Colbert’s Final Late Show: Cancellation Questions, CBS-Paramount Politics, and What’s Next

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac covers the final episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” revisiting Colbert’s July announcement that the season would be the last and questioning CBS’s claim that the cancellation was purely financial amid Paramount’s merger with Skydance and its $16 million settlement with Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview. It cites reports the show loses $40 million annually and argues CBS could have tried budget changes instead of cancellation. Using excerpts from an April Hollywood Reporter interview, Colbert recounts how he learned the news, discusses the $40 million figure, the collapsing broadcast model, and the possibility of mixed motives, and says he focused on finishing the show with jokes rather than anger. The host also speculates about a Taylor Tomlinson timeline, notes Colbert has been approached about future work, includes an Obama exchange about Colbert running for president, and mentions Kimmel and Fallon airing reruns in solidarity while The Washington Post reflects on late night’s polarization in the Trump era.

00:24 Why CBS Canceled
01:20 Colbert Learns News
02:29 Money Model Debate
03:12 Two Things True
03:42 Tomlinson Timeline Theory
05:57 Life After Late Night
07:12 Ending On His Terms
08:10 Colbert For President
09:15 Late Night Solidarity
09:33 Big Tent Era Ends
10:13 Trump Changed Late Night
10:53 Letterman Comparison
11:45 Closing Thoughts

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This is the animal sanctuary mentioned in the February 10 episode.

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Calarugashock Media. Well, we are at the end. It is

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the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight.

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It was last July when Steven Colbert looked straight into

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the camera and announced that this season of The Late

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Show would be the last. Tonight the final episode. You

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may recall CBS, whose parent company, Paramount, was in the

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midst of closing a multi billion dollar merger with David

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Ellison's Sky Dance Company that required the Trump administration to

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approve it. CBS insisted it was purely a financial decision.

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The choice to cancel the number one show in late

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night raised more than a few eyebrows. The Colbert decision

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came just two weeks after Paramount had agreed to pay

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Trump sixteen million dollars to settle a lawsuit over a

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sixty minutes interview. In the time between, it has been

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suggested that The Colbert Show loses forty million dollars a year.

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As I've said on this program before, I find it

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curious that they went straight to cancelation and not any

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sort of budget adjustments. Do you need the Ed Sullivan Theater?

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Do you need a live band? Can we tape two

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on Monday. Do you need ex writers? Can you do

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it with fewer writers? Could you take the summers off?

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Can we do guest hosts on Monday? There's all kinds

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of things they could have looked at, and they chose

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to go straight to cancelation. The Hollywood Reporter spoke to

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Stephen Colbert back in April, and I have held on

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to that for today. They asked Stephen, what will tomorrow

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look like. Stephen Colbert said, my brother's getting married, so

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my whole family's going to be here tonight and then

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we're all going to get on the train and go

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to DC for the wedding. So immediately after the show's over,

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there's something much more important going on. He told the

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story of getting the news. His manager, James Dixon never

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visits in person, and people were like, James wants to

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talk to you, and Colbert said, I'm like, he's here

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in person. What's going on? James says, this is going

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to be the last season? So I sat up and said, really, huh,

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well this comes as a surprise, and he goes, I

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can imagine. So they said it's not making any money.

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I'm like, okay, I mean it's their business. I'm a

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company man. I understand that people here to make the

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green stuff. We're not here to do free form polyrhythmic

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jazz poetry. We're here to sell some breathewright strips. And

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I have no qualms about that, and they've been great partners.

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But I went, I don't understand. It hasn't been two

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years since I signed my last contract, and they were

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feverish to lock me down. It was the best negotiation

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we'd ever had. I only do one hundred and sixty

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shows now, only all that kind of stuff, Dixon said.

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They said they could show me the numbers if we want,

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But I'm not going to ask them to open the books.

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I'm not here to talk anybody to me. The Hollywood

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Reporter asked Colbert, does the forty million dollar figure sound accurate?

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Steven said, came as a surprise. Look, there's no denying

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that the broadcast models in a huge trouble. But our

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model Late Night, within that overall model has been very

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profitable for like seventy years, starting with Steve Allen. But

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maybe we were the first show to be a detriment.

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Maybe we were the first one to flip in the

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other direction. I don't wish to litigate it. It's their

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shop and they could do whatever they want. I'm grateful

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for the time I've spent here. As I've said to

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Dixon eighteen months ago, they could not nail me to

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this building hard enough. But maybe everything changed after the strike.

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And if that's the case, I accept that entirely. There

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are many people who believe there was another reason. And

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as I said in the most measured tones I could muster,

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there's a reason why people believe that the network clearly

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had already done it once by cutting that sixteen million

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dollar check. I like this one. He said. Causality is

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not the same thing as correlation. And I understand that

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not just because I learned from the RJ. Reynolds Tobacco company,

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which reminded us that, yes, you smoked and you got cancer.

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But you know, correlation is not causality. So maybe my

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cancelation was just a naturally occurring tumor that just had

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to be cut out of the corporation. I mean, that's

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entirely possible. I would also say, and this is what

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feels most true to me, that two things can be true.

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It can be that the broadcast models collapsing. And while

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we're at it, as long as we're collapsing here, what

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if we shove this one out a window first. I

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mean this, Lamb's got a very cutable throat. Let me

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chime in there. I've talked about this several times on

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the show, but I think today's a good day to

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repeat myself. This is my Tailor Tomlinson conspiracy theory, and

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anytime I go into this, I cannot scream loudly enough.

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I'm not blaming Taylor Tomlinson for anything, but let me

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just remind everybody of a timeline and my theory. Taylor

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Tomlinson's twelve thirty show had been picked up, it had

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been renewed, and then Taylor decided she didn't want to

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continue hosting it, and then CBS went, eh, maybe we

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shouldn't even have a twelve thirty show, and they sold

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the time to Byron Allen. Now I'm wondering, did that

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start a conversation where somebody in a room somewhere went,

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you know, if we don't have twelve thirty, what if

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we didn't have eleven thirty? And I imagine the first

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time somebody said that out loud, that was crazy talk,

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but maybe perhaps possibly As they started a look at that,

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they went, yeah, what if we didn't have eleven thirty?

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And again, so let me ask you this question. Had

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Taylor Tomlinson said yes and signed some sort of contract,

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would they have a twelve thirty show and no eleven

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thirty show or would we be looking at starting next

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week Taylor Tomlinson hosting the eleven thirty slot, which would

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have been differently interesting if, among other things, a woman

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hosting the eleven thirty show on a major broadcast network

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would have been news in itself. So maybe you'd have

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Taylor at eleven thirty and Byron Allen at twelve thirty.

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That would probably discussed people a little less than what's

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going on right now. The Holland reporter said to Stephen Colbert,

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your boss paramounts George Cheeks delivered the news not to

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you but to your manager, which didn't sit well with you.

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Did you ultimately have a conversation on your own? No.

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Here's Colbert's very short answer. He called me eventually. The

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Hollywood reporter followed up, what did that call look like, Stephen?

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I don't think George would mind if I characterized our conversation.

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It was later in the summer and he called to

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express that he wished it had gone down a different way,

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and I said me too. I'm not over here grinding

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a knife, but we're going to make jokes about how

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this one down and about the forty million dollars and

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about CBS the parent check cutting spree. To the president,

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that's the show I want to do for ten more

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months because I like working for CBS and I'm not

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going to change that relationship between now and the end

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if you'll allow that to happen. And he said, I

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promise you that's what will happen. So that was it.

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What's the use of being mad? All I want to

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do is go have fun for an audience that appreciates it.

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And that's what my goal has been for ten months.

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When this is all over, I'll probably have a different

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or rather fuller perspective on all this. But I really

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don't have time to be mad about anything right now.

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THHR has the Brandanny outreach from David Ellison since the

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Paramounts Guidince merger closed in August twenty twenty five. Steven's

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answer no again. This interview was in April. I don't

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know if they've spoken in the meantime. Thchh R. You've

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said a few times you've been about to re enter

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show business. Have you been approached with scripts? Steven, Yes,

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immediately and listen, people have been patient because I've had

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to say, like, I'm sorry. When I no longer have

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to think about this show all the time, I'll have

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a better idea of what I want to do. But

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it's been very nice. He was asked if he's talked

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with people like Conan or John Stewart about what life

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after Late Night looks like. Stephen apparently started laughing. THHR

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was curious why. Steven said, because I've been having those

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conversations with them for a long time. John Stewart's like,

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you like ice skating, but you know how great it

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feels when you take the ice skates off. It kind

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of feels like that. And for years, Conan's like, I'm

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been telling you there's so much other fun to have,

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to the point where I've been like, do you not

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like my show? THCHR. Conan has built his own empire podcast,

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travel show, some acting. John went back to the Daily Show.

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Those are two very different paths. Steven, Yeah, and I

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don't think I'll do either one of those. So he

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seems to like podcasts, but has said a couple of

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times he doesn't want to host a podcasts. I've said

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on this program, I am highly confident, knowing how serious

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ExM works, that they've either reached out to him previously.

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We'll reach out tonight in the wee hours at twelve

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thirty seven AM, when Steven's a free agent, or however

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his contract works. All right, Stephen Colbert, if you had

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gone out on your own terms, what would have looked like?

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Stephen said, I mean a lot like this, just be

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a little older, and it would have been my choice,

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and I probably would have known what the final show

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was going to be a little earlier. I'm a Colbert rapport.

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I picked that Dad. I didn't tell anybody, but I

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knew two years ahead of time. Well, we didn't pick

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this day, but maybe they gave me a gift because

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I had a lot of jokes I could make about

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the end of the show, and if I decided in

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the show, then I'm the bad guy. Hard to make

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jokes about that. Dhr Lenell left late night and added

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more dates to the road. Trevor Noah did the same.

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Does that hold any appeal, Steven, I didn't come up

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as a stand up. Improv is collaborative in its nature,

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and all the shows I've done have been collaborative. It

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doesn't mean that I wouldn't do a live show at

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some point, but it's not like I'm going to go

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out somewhere night and do a tight tened zenies. Is

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it better or worse being replaced by Byron Allen than

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another traditional late night comedy show? Stephen said, none of

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my business. Stephen. How are worried to you about the

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future of late night? Stephen said, I don't know what's

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going to be and I don't know what I can

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do to help other than what he did last eleven years.

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But one night I'll turn on the TV and probably

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no one will be there. Stephen Colbert recently discussed with

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President Obama the idea of Colbert running for president, which

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I don't think is the craziest idea. He's well spoken,

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he doesn't seem like the sort of person who pops

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off emotionally, not the worst looking guy, looks good into suits.

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I mean, there's a lot there to consider. What does

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Stephen Colbert run for president.

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I'm looking for a new gig soon, and a lot

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of people tell me I should run for president or

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you certainly have the look, thank you, you have the hook.

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Well, for the.

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Record, I think it's a stupid idea. How dumb. How

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dumb do you think it is for people to say

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that I should run for president? Well, you know, the

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bar has changed, that is true at times subterraneous, So

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I don't have to limbo so low this way.

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I think that you could perform significantly better than some

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folks that we've seen. All right, Yeah, I have great

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confidence in that, Thank you very much. Yeah.

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Is that an endorsement? It was not.

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If Colbert is not your thing, Well, Jimmy Kimmel will

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air a rerun tonight. Kimmel is doing so out of

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deference to Colbert's send off. Kimmel did the same thing

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in May of twenty fifteen for David Letterman's final show.

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Jimmy Fallon also will air a rerun in a sign

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of late night solidarity. The Washington Post wrote, this isn't

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how things were supposed to turn out when Colbert was

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hired to take over for Letterman. You could tell from

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the last episode of The Colbert Report, which aired December eighteenth,

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twenty fourteen, that Colbert wanted to unite, not divide. In

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the final segment, he began to sing We'll Meet Again

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as a comically absurd number of celebrities from every corner

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of entertainment and politics joined him on stage, from Kareem

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Abdul Jabbar to Mike huckabat a cookie Monster. To watch

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that segment today is to be beamed into a different universe.

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Can you imagine a world where Michael Stipe is singing

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and dancing alongside Henry Kissinger and four star General Raymond Odierno,

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David Remnick with Mike Tabe, George Saunders with Toby Keith.

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That's the world Colbert wanted to live in. It is

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his misfortune, then, that the one he found himself in

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was the world of Trump, where everything, and especially late

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night television, would become instantly polarized. When a joke about

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the president went from being satirical to immediately personal and globalized.

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Colbert recognized the change quickly. It's why his show got

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more political after struggling in the ratings his first year.

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But to use his own jacket metaphor, never quite fit

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him right. The skating improv comic and the smiling talk

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show host didn't mesh. The Late Show was a perfectly

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fine talk show, but it was never transcendent in the

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way the Colbert Report was. It was just another show

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in which an older white guy told safe jokes from

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behind a desk. Wash Pro writes the thing about late

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night TV today, it really aren't any big tens anymore.

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Everyone's in the culture war, whether they like it or not.

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It makes me grateful that David Letterman retired when he did.

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His late night career came before Trump's political one, before

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the entire world was required to engage in political discourse.

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Letterman had his political beliefs, but he didn't have to

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be ruled by them the way everybody in the culture

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arena now seems to be a de illustrate Washington Post

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point here. And when Dave does speak, he's very political.

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Now when he goes on things like the Barber Gain Show,

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I don't know about very political, but somewhat political. I

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think Dave's made it clear he's not a fan of

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the current administration. Back to wash Poe, Dave was just

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able to do a show he wanted to do the

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big tent show that somehow never felt either compromised or defanged.

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Letterman himself seems to recognize this. He once joked that

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if he were still hosting The Late Show, he'd talk

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about trumpettil people have to come and take me off

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the stage. Colbert wanted a Late Show in the era

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of Trump that could no longer exist. The show he

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replaced it with was a rating success, but it never

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approached the creative heights of the Colbert rapport. And that's

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it single topic today. Stephen Colbert of The Late Show,

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congratulations sir, and best of luck to whatever happens next.

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And boy, what a shame that that franchise dies tonight.

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I'll see you guys tomorrow.