Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” closed Thursday night after 11 seasons, with Paul McCartney joining him for the final performance of “Hello, Goodbye.” The farewell blended celebrity chaos, technical glitches, and barbs at CBS’s business calculus as the netwo
When Stephen Colbert walked onstage for the final “Late Show” on Thursday night, it didn’t feel like an ending. It felt like a storm that had learned how to do comedy.
At the top of his last broadcast. Colbert leaned into the moment—thanking the audience for the “joy” of building more than 1. 800 episodes across 11 years. “The energy that you’ve given us. we sincerely need that to have done the best possible show we could have for you for the last 11 years. ” he said. “You’ve given it to us. We’ve given it all right back to you.”.
Then came the first surreal bit: Colbert claimed Pope Leo XIV, described as the first U.S.-born pope, would be his final guest. The “pope” refused to come out of his dressing room because he hadn’t been supplied the correct kind of snacks—especially hot dogs.
Paul McCartney stepped in next, striding across the stage as the audience screamed. Colbert told him. “I think you’d be a perfect last guest.” McCartney said he happened to be in the area. doing errands. and offered a framed photo of the Beatles at the Ed Sullivan Theater. the final home for “The Late Show.” The two chatted about when the Beatles first came to America in 1964. creativity. McCartney’s new album and McCartney’s childhood.
Colbert’s monologue didn’t last long before the show’s “last night” energy turned into full-speed cameo mayhem. It was interrupted by Bryan Cranston. Paul Rudd and Tim Meadows. who all pretended to be irked they weren’t the host’s final guest. Meadows fumed, “You know what?. You got what you deserved.” Tig Notaro and Ryan Reynolds also had funny turns during Colbert’s final “Meanwhile” segment.
Later, Colbert joined Elvis Costello, former bandleader Jon Batiste and current bandleader Louis Cato for a relaxed performance of Costello’s “Jump Up.” They all joined the house band and McCartney for the final song of the night, a performance of “Hello, Goodbye.”
As the countdown to closure reached its climax. staffers and audience members—including Colbert’s wife. Evie McGee Colbert—swarmed the stage. Colbert then gave the honor to McCartney to turn off the building’s power. The theater reportedly “gets sucked into a vortex and turns into a snow globe. ” turning the farewell into something closer to stagecraft magic than a traditional send-off.
Guests and jokes threaded through the final week, even as the show kept insisting it wasn’t done. In that stretch, guests included Michael Keaton, Jon Stewart, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Steven Spielberg, David Byrne and Bruce Springsteen. Earlier, there was also a wacky version of “It’s Raining Men” remade into “It’s Raining Fish.”.
On Wednesday night, Colbert hosted “The Colbert Questionnaire,” with questioners including Mark Hamill, Martha Stewart, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. The questions ranged from which sandwich is best to whether apples are better than oranges.
Back when “The Late Show” debuted in 1993, David Letterman was the host. On Thursday, Letterman joined Colbert on the roof of the theater to hurl furniture from the set—a nod to one of Letterman’s classic stunts.
But the comedy kept circling a real-life deadline. CBS announced last summer that Colbert’s show would end, citing economic reasons after 11 seasons. Even with that explanation on the record. Colbert and many others expressed skepticism that President Donald Trump’s repeated criticism of the show was a factor. Trump’s name never came up during Thursday’s broadcast.
The business thread behind the scenes ran through Paramount’s legal and deal timeline. The decision to shutter the show followed parent company Paramount’s $16 million settlement of Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview as Paramount awaited approval from the Trump administration for a pending sale to Skydance Media. Colbert had called the situation a “big fat bribe.”.
On Thursday. he showed a clip of a sympathetic dolphin clicking with the subtitle: “It was a financial decision.” During the “Meanwhile” segment. Colbert also mentioned that the owner of some music used in the “Peanuts” animated specials had grown litigious. Just then. the band started playing “Peanuts” music. and Colbert said. “Oh. no. I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money.”.
The finale carried its own friction, too. The final show seemed marred by technical snafus, with stray sounds and glitches. Later. Colbert encountered the reason in a pretaped bit—an interdimensional wormhole that astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson helpfully explained was opened because a top-rated show could also been canceled. Jon Stewart appeared to explain the wormhole was a metaphor. and Colbert reunited with fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel. Jimmy Fallon. John Oliver and Seth Meyers. Elijah Woods was present for a “The Lord of the Rings” joke.
Even on the airwaves, the shift was immediate. Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon ran reruns on Thursday. Kimmel urged viewers to tune into Colbert’s goodbye and then stop watching CBS.
CBS said it will fill “The Late Show” slot with “Comics Unleashed,” in which comedians share stories. Host Byron Allen has vowed to avoid politics.
Colbert’s goodbye ran about 17 minutes over, and it landed as an ambitious finale compared with other late-night departures. Johnny Carson wrapped his “Tonight Show” stint in 1992 without any celebrity guests, offering classic clips. Jay Leno’s 2014 final goodbye included Billy Crystal and Garth Brooks. In David Letterman’s 2015 finale. celebrities like Steve Martin. Chris Rock and Tina Fey participated in his last Top 10 list. which also included Foo Fighters playing “Everlong.”.
Colbert’s 11 seasons bridged major political and global turns: the rise of Trump and his return to the White House. the pandemic. the fall of Joe Biden. the Russian invasion of Ukraine. the United States Capitol under attack in 2021. and the rise of Artificial Intelligence. In a video tribute. former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said: “At a time when algorithms are shaping so much of what people see. hear and even believe. Stephen has been a touchstone shared by millions. His satiric voice. backed by what is clearly a deep moral core and a love of this country. has had a way of cutting through the noise and helping show us who we are as a country.”.
By the time the lights were shut down and the stage transformed into a snow globe. the message was clear without anyone saying it directly: even a show built on endurance can be ended. and even a farewell that looks like pure chaos still carries the weight of a business decision made behind the scenes—one CBS framed as economic. Colbert mocked as something else. and a late-night audience lived through in real time.
Stephen Colbert The Late Show CBS Paul McCartney Hello Goodbye Comics Unleashed Paramount Skydance Media Jimmy Kimmel Jimmy Fallon Neil deGrasse Tyson