Stephen Colbert drops a bombshell announcement during a taping of NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers” that the final episode of “The Late Show” will air on Thursday, May 21. This marks the end of a long-standing CBS franchise that has been a staple in late-night television for over three decades.
The iconic late-night show, which first aired in 1993 following David Letterman’s move from NBC to CBS, will be bidding farewell after the 2025-26 broadcast season. Letterman’s 22-year reign transformed the program into a cultural phenomenon before passing the torch to Colbert in 2015.
CBS attributes the show’s cancellation to financial reasons amidst a challenging landscape in late-night television, emphasizing that it is not related to the show’s content or the impending merger of CBS’ parent company, Paramount, with Skydance. The decision came shortly after Colbert criticized Paramount Global’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump as a “big fat bribe.”
Colbert expressed the finality of CBS’ decision to his audience when he first announced the cancellation last summer, clarifying that he will not be replaced and that “The Late Show” will be going off the air for good.
The cancellation reflects the financial struggles faced by late-night shows as streaming platforms continue to draw viewers away from traditional broadcasts. Younger audiences now prefer watching clips online rather than tuning in at 11:35 p.m., impacting the advertising revenue that has traditionally sustained these shows.
Despite the impending end of “The Late Show,” Colbert has continued to deliver his signature political commentary. The show recently won the Emmy for best talk series and Colbert is set to receive the Writers Guild of America East’s Walter Bernstein Award in the upcoming month.
As the curtain falls on “The Late Show,” fans will bid a bittersweet farewell to a late-night institution that has left an indelible mark on television history.
