Stephen Colbert’s Final Late Show Officially Confirms End Date

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The show will be ending soon. It was unexpectedly canceled in July 2025, much to the surprise of its viewers.

Stephen Colbert announced that his final episode of The Late Show will air on May 21st. He revealed the date while appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers, with that episode scheduled to broadcast on January 27th.

The unexpected cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in July followed closely on the heels of CBS ending After Midnight, hosted by Taylor Tomlinson. After Midnight had only run for two seasons before being cancelled as well.

The cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show sparked criticism, especially since Colbert had recently described a settlement between Paramount Global (his parent company) and Donald Trump as a “big fat bribe.” This news came just a month before David Ellison’s Skydance completed its merger with Paramount. CBS officially stated the cancellation of The Late Show was due to financial reasons.

The Late Show began in 1993 with David Letterman as the host. He hosted the show until 2015, when Stephen Colbert took over.

According to Skydance’s head of television media, speaking a few weeks after the show was canceled, the main problem with late-night television is a major, ongoing drop in advertising revenue.

We’re big fans of Stephen Colbert and really enjoy his show, but it became financially difficult for us to continue. I understand Skydance will be investing, and they’ll be doing so carefully and strategically. For me, a key priority is to strengthen our primetime and sports programming.

Stephen Colbert Won His First Emmy Following the Cancellation

Since The Late Show‘s cancellation, Colbert has received several awards and even took his .

Colbert was met with enthusiastic applause at the ceremony. He expressed his gratitude to CBS for allowing him and the show to be a part of the late-night television landscape, and hoped it would continue for many years to come.

He will be honored with the Walter Bernstein Award by the Writers Guild of America East in February, and the show is also a contender for an Emmy Award in September.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert officially ends on May 21.

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2026-01-27 22:38