There was no wistful farewell during the last moments of “The Late Show.”
Stephen Colbert concluded his 11-season run as host of the late night talk show Thursday night on a zany, joyful note.
In the final beat of the 33-year franchise, Stephen Colbert nods to Paul McCartney to pull the lever that ends “The Late Show.” The Ed Sullivan Theater goes dark. A massive green wormhole — the second of the night — opens up and consumes the building. In the final image, the New York City theater is shrunken down and sealed inside a snow globe.
Colbert announced in mid-July that CBS had decided to end “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” after its 11th season, bringing “The Late Show” to a close.
In the concluding episodes of “The Late Show,” the comedian hosted a series of high-profile guest, many of which served as a reminder that the CBS weeknight staple was nearing a premature end.
Thursday night’s series finale featured several of Colbert’s celebrity friends, including Paul Rudd, Bryan Cranston, Tim Meadows, Elijah Wood, Ryan Reynolds, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Andy Cohen and “The Strike Force Five” — a nickname for late night hosts Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and John Oliver.
Facing the first green wormhole of the night, Colbert received advice from his friend and mentor Jon Stewart, host of “The Daily Show.”
“I didn’t think my show would end like this,” Colbert said to him. “But still, grateful.”
“The only choice you have is how to walk through it,” Stewart told him as they faced the green wormhole, agreeing to approach it as a metaphor. “You can go in kicking and screaming. Or you can do what you’ve done for the past 30 years when faced with something dark: you stare it down and you can laugh.”
Colbert took over as host of “The Late Show” in 2015 following David Letterman’s exit after 22 years behind the desk.
After three decades on air, CBS called the move to end the series, “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”
Late-night shows have been hemorrhaging viewers across the last decade, with “The Late Show,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” each seeing declines of 70% to 80% since 2015, according to LateNighter.
Still, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” remains the most-watched program in its time slot, averaging 2.70 million viewers across 40 first-run episodes, per LateNighter.
Colbert said he found the cancellation surprising, in part because he was encouraged by CBS in 2023 to sign a longer contract — up to five years — but ultimately signed a three-year deal, per The New York Times.
He added while CBS has said the show was canceled amid a struggling broadcast industry, he understands why the timing and circumstances have led some people suspect other factors influenced the decision.
“I’ve really liked working with CBS. They’ve been great partners. And I’d like to end it that way. Eleven years is a long time to work here,” he told the outlet. “And almost 10 years before that, almost 21 years altogether, in late night. I feel so much better to be ‘grateful for’ than to be ‘mad about.’”
Colbert’s final monologue
In his opening monologue, a wave of boos went through the crowd as Colbert reminded the audience it would be the show’s final broadcast.
“No, no,” the comedian responded to the audience disapproval. “We were lucky enough to be here for the last 11 years. You can’t take this for granted. ... There is so much history here in The Ed Sullivan Theater, and we have been honored just to be a part of it.”
“We’ve had so much fun in this theater, so many great segments.”
Colbert then launched into a typical “Late Show” monologue — with friendly interruptions from Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd and Tim Meadows.
No pope, but he got a Beatle
Colbert couldn’t get the pope to appear on his final episode — but he did get a Beatle.
“The pope, who was definitely my guest tonight, has canceled!" Colbert said. “Who’s going to be my last guest now?”
“Hey, Stephen, what about me?” said Paul McCartney responded, walking on stage to cheers from the audience.
In a delightful full-circle moment, McCartney reflected on performing on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964, in The Beatles’ groundbreaking American television debut.
Sucked up by a wormhole
In a pre-recorded segment, Colbert was visited by Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and John Oliver outside the green wormhole.
“At some point, this may come for all of our shows. But, Stephen, what’s important to remember is tonight it is going to eat you,” John Oliver told Colbert.
Colbert was then sucked into the wormhole and dropped into a jam session of one of his favorite songs, Elvis Costello’s “Jump Up.”
‘Hello, Goodbye’
The episode closed with two performances. First, Colbert, Elvis Costello and the former “Late Show” bandleader Jon Batiste performed Costello’s “Jump Up.”
Then, McCartney, Costello, Colbert, Batiste performed The Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye.”
What’s next for Stephen Colbert?
Colbert is uncertain what comes next “because the show takes like 95% of my brain,” he told The New York Times.
The television host is already working on a script for Warner Bros. for a new “Lord of the Rings” movie, alongside his son, Peter McGee, and original trilogy director Peter Jackson.
Beyond that, Colbert won’t decide what move to make next until the show officially concludes, though he is looking forward to taking a step away from the news cycle.
“Now I can be as interested as I want to be on a daily basis, as opposed to as interested as I need to be to do a show that is about what our national conversation was about,” he told the Times.
“I’m an American. I still care about my country. I’m still going to care, but I can do that recreationally, you know, or privately.”