HH. As Stephen Colbert’s Late Show Faces Its Final Curtain, Famous Friends and Allies Drop In for Emotional Cameos
Adam Sandler, Anderson Cooper, Jon Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, John Oliver and Andy Cohen were among those who made surprise appearances on Monday’s episode after CBS announced that the late night show would be ending in May 2026.
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Stephen Colbert was feeling all the love and support from some of his late night allies and famous friends on Monday night after it was announced that The Late Show had been canceled.
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“Some people see this show going away as a sign of something truly dire, and while I am a big fan of me, I don’t necessarily agree with that statement because we here at The Late Show never saw our job as changing anything other than how you felt at the end of the day, which I think is a worthy goal,” Colbert told his live studio audience during Monday’s show, before quipping, “Or rather, changing how you felt the next morning when you watched on your phone, which is why broadcast TV is dying. You’re part of the problem. Look in the mirror, OK?”
The host continued, “Point is I don’t want this show to be associated with making you sad or anxious, but since I’m the guy who’s going away next year, I’m thinking maybe I’m not the guy to cheer you up. So I thought music, OK, that makes people happy, right?”
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That’s when Lin-Manuel Miranda and “Weird Al” Yankovic came out to cheer up the crowd in the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York by singing Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” (the song seemed timely, huh?). The camera then panned to the audience for a Coldplay kiss cam parody, except it featured several more famous faces showing their solidarity with Colbert, including Andy Cohen, Anderson Cooper, Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald, Last Week Tonight‘s John Oliver, The Tonight Show‘s Jimmy Fallon, Late Night‘s Seth Meyers and The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart. [Stewart also railed against the cancellation on The Daily Show; while Fallon decried the decision.]
Last week, Colbert and CBS announced that The Late Show would conclude at the end of the 2025-26 season in May next year. The network cited a “financial decision” amid a declining linear TV landscape for the cancellation.
At the taping of Thursday’s show last week, the host told the live audience that he was informed of the decision to end The Late Show the night before, drawing boos from the audience.
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Earlier on Monday night, during his monologue, Colbert also addressed people who “have been speculating about the timing of this decision from Paramount.
“They’re pointing out that last Monday, just two days before my cancellation, I delivered a blistering monologue in which I showed the courage to have a mustache,” he joked (as he actually slammed Paramount in the monologue in question over its 16 million settlement with President Donald Trump). “I mean, obviously, CBS saw my upper lip and boom, canceled. Coincidence? Oh, I think not. This is worse than fascism. This is stache-ism.”
The show’s cancellation announcement comes as David Ellison’s Skydance Media is currently in the process of acquiring Paramount Global, which is the parent company of CBS. However, the deal is still pending FCC approval, more than a year after the proposed merger was announced. Earlier this month, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit from Trump, who sued over former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview. Sources previously told The Hollywood Reporter that Paramount believes the lawsuit posed a threat to Skydance’s deal to acquire the company, as it seeks approval by the FCC under the Trump administration.
While Colbert has previously criticized the settlement on The Late Show, CBS said in a statement that it wasn’t a factor in the decision to end the show.
“Over the weekend, somebody at CBS followed up their gracious press release with a gracious anonymous leak saying they pulled the plug on our show because of losses pegged between $40 million and $50 million a year,” Colbert later said during his monologue. “Forty million is a big number. I could see us losing $24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million? Oh yeah.”
Following the news last week, Trump also took to his Truth Social platform to positively gloat about the series being canceled, writing, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! [Fox News late night host] Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”
On Monday’s show, Colbert clapped back at Trump, saying, “How dare you, sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go fuck yourself,” drawing cheers from his live audience. They also broke out in a chant, yelling, “Stephen! Stephen! Stephen!”
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As for Trump’s claim that Colbert’s ABC counterpart “is next,” Colbert said, “Nope, absolutely not, Kimmel. I am the martyr. There’s only room for one on this cross, and I’ve gotta tell you, the view is fantastic from up here. I can see your house!”
Trump went after Colbert and the late night brethren again on Tuesday morning, posting to Truth Social, “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.”
Kimmel was quick to fire back at the president on Instagram, captioning an image of Trump’s Truth Social post with, “I’m hearing you’re next. Or maybe it’s just another wonderful secret.”
The “wonderful secret” comment references last week’s Wall Street Journal article about a “bawdy” letter, including the “wonderful secret” quote, bearing Trump’s name that was part of an album of tributes for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Trump has since filed a $10 billion lawsuit against Wall Street Journal owner News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch over the article.
Colbert has hosted The Late Show since 2015, after taking it over from David Letterman, who launched The Late Show in 1993.
July 22, 10:03 a.m. This story has been updated with Trump’s Tuesday morning Truth Social post.
July 23, 7:39 a.m. This story has been updated with Kimmel’s response to Trump’s Tuesday post.
