Stephen Colbert revealed that the curtain will fall on “The Late Show” on Thursday, May 21, bringing an end to a CBS franchise that has defined late-night television for more than three decades.
The host made the announcement during a Monday taping of NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers” set to air Tuesday, Jan. 27, putting a firm date on a farewell hanging over the show since CBS announced its cancellation last July.
“The Late Show,” which launched in 1993 when David Letterman departed NBC for CBS, will conclude after the 2025-26 broadcast season. Letterman’s 22-year tenure built the program into a cultural institution before Colbert assumed the desk in 2015.
CBS characterized the cancellation as “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” emphasizing it was unrelated to the show’s content — or the pending merger of the network’s parent company, Paramount, with Skydance. The announcement came days after Colbert criticized Paramount Global’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump, calling it a “big fat bribe.”
When Colbert told his studio audience about the cancellation last summer, he stressed the finality of CBS’ choice. “It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS,” he said. “I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”
CBS’ decision reflects the financial crisis late night faces as streaming services siphon viewers from traditional broadcasts. Younger audiences now watch clips online instead of tuning in at 11:35 p.m., undercutting the advertising revenue that once made these shows profitable.
Colbert has maintained his sharp political commentary since learning of the cancellation. The show won the Emmy for best talk series in September, and Colbert will receive the Writers Guild of America East’s Walter Bernstein Award next month.
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From Variety US