Late night talk show hosts have rallied around Stephen Colbert after The Late Show was canceled by CBS.
Colbert, 61, announced the news during the Thursday, July 17, episode taping of his late night show, saying, “Before we start the show I want to let you know something that I found out just last night. Next year will be our last season, the network [CBS] will be ending The Late Show in May.”
As the audience booed, he continued: “I share your feelings. It’s not just the end of our show but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away. I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners … And I’m grateful to the audience, you, who have joined us every night, in here, out there, and all around the world.”
CBS executives released a statement addressing their decision that same day, revealing a “financial” choice led to the cancellation and it was not “related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
CBS’ decision to end Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show is the latest in a trend of several networks mass canceling shows due to finances. On Thursday, July 17, CBS executives released a statement about The Late Show’s fate. “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end […]
Colbert peers’ Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and more late night hosts have since spoken out in support of Colbert:
Jimmy Kimmel
Kimmel, 57, who hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, reposted a clip of Colbert’s announcement via his Instagram Story with the caption, “Love you Stephen. F*** you and all your Sheldons CBS.”
Andy Cohen
The Watch What Happens Live host told Deadline: “I think it’s a sad day for late night television. I think it’s a sad day for CBS. I think Stephen Colbert is a singular talent. He’s going to have an incredible next chapter.”
“I can’t believe CBS is turning off the lights at 11:30 after the local news. I’m stunned,” he added. “He’s one of three late-night shows deemed worthy enough for an Emmy nomination. He produces a brilliant show.”
Cohen further discussed the cancellation on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live.
“They say that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert is losing $40 million a year,” Cohen said, referring to CBS. “I think it is possible that it’s losing money and typically what would happen if a show is losing money that is also super important to the network, which that show, and the late night time slot has been important to CBS for the last 25 years.”
Cohen wondered whether there were conversations behind the scenes different from how the cancellation was portrayed — or Colbert’s account was correct.
“Instead they’re turning the lights out completely at 11:30, which says to me, it’s like CBS is just cooked,” Cohen said. “I mean, it is cooked. They are saying, ‘We are done.’”
Jimmy Fallon
“I’m just as shocked as everyone,” Fallon, 50 who hosts The Tonight Show, wrote via an Instagram story. “Stephen is one of the sharpest, funniest hosts to ever do it. I really thought I’d ride this out with him for years to come. I’m sad that my family and friends will need a new show to watch every night at 11:30. But honestly, he’s really been a gentleman and a true friend over the years, going back to The Colbert Report, and I’m sure whatever he does next will be just as brilliant.”
Seth Meyers
The Late Night With Seth Meyers host publicly supported his colleague.
“For as great a comedian and host he is, Stephen Colbert is an even better person,” Meyers, 51, wrote via Instagram. “I’m going to miss having him on TV every night but I’m excited he can no longer use the excuse that he’s ‘too busy to hang out’ with me.”
John Oliver
John Oliver Paula Lobo/HBO
“Obviously, I love Stephen, I love his staff, I love that show — it’s incredibly sad. I’m partly excited to see what they’re gonna do for the next 10 months,” the Last Week Tonight host told reporters. “It’s terrible, terrible news for the world of comedy.”
Oliver said, “Late-night shows mean a lot to me, not just because I work in them, because even growing up in England, I would watch Letterman’s show, which of course was Stephen’s show, and think about what a glamorous world that was”
He added, “So to have got to have been on Letterman’s show and Stephen’s show was always one of the most fun things. So it’s very, very, very sad news. I look forward to seeing what [Colbert is] gonna do next because that man will not stop.”
Jon Stewart
The Daily Show host and Colbert’s longtime friend blasted CBS and parent company Paramount for canceling The Late Show during a monologue on the Monday, July 21, episode of his Comedy Central show.
Stewart questioned whether the cancellation was due to “purely financial reasons,” as CBS claimed, or whether it was to do with Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media, which is seeking approval from President Donald Trump‘s administration. Colbert has often criticized Trump on his talk show.
“I understand the corporate fear. I understand the fear that you and your advertisers have with $8 billion at stake,” the comedian said. “But understand this: the shows that you now seek to cancel, censor and control … a not insignificant portion of that $8 billion value came from those f**king shows. That’s what made you that money. Shows that say something. Shows that take a stand.”
Stewart continued, “If you’re trying to figure out why Stephen’s show is ending, I don’t think the answer can be found in some smoking-gun email or phone call from Trump to CBS executives, or in CBS’ QuickBooks spreadsheets on the financial health of late night. I think the answer is in the fear and pre-compliance that is gripping all of America’s institutions at this very moment.”
He concluded by telling businesses that capitulate to supposed political pressure to “go f**k yourself.”
