Stephen Colbert opened up about wrapping his tenure on The Late Show.
Key Points
-
-
The host wishes he could have decided when he ended his run on the show.
-
However, the late-night host added that he doesn't see the point of being mad about CBS canceling it.
Stephen Colbertthinks the end ofThe Late Showwould look a lot different if he'd been the one who decided to end his run on it.
Last summer, CBS made theshocking decisionto cancel the iconic late-night series, revealing that it and Colbert would sign off for good in May 2026. Now, as his final show on May 21 approaches, Colbert has revealed what his preferred swan song would have been.
"I mean, a lot like this — I'd just be a little older,"he toldThe Hollywood Reporterin its new cover story. "And it would have been my choice, and I probably would have known what the final show was going to be a little bit earlier. OnThe Colbert Report, I picked that day — I didn't tell anybody, but I knew two years ahead of time. Well, we didn't pick this day. We know what it'll be now, but it took a few months."
"But maybe they gave me a gift," he added, "because I had a lot of jokes I could make about the end of the show, and if I'd decided to end the show, then I'm the bad guy — hard to make jokes about that."
In its July 2025 statement announcing the end of the show's historic 33-year run, CBS said, "We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retireThe Late Showfranchise at that time. We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late-night television."
Advertisement
CBS added that the surprising move was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night." Reports have suggested that the network was losing upwards of $40 million a year on the production. Many skeptics, however, have pointed to Skydance Media acquiring Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, as a cause, saying the new leadership wanted to stay out of the crossfire of President Donald Trump.
FormerLate ShowhostDavid Letterman recently claimedthat Colbert was "dumped" so that he didn't make any more "trouble" for the network. "I'm just going to go on record as saying: They're lying," Letterman declared in aNew York Timesinterview on Tuesday. "Let me just add one other thing... They're lying weasels."
For his part, Colbert doesn't see the upside of being angry with CBS' decision at this point. "All I want to do is go have fun for an audience that appreciates it, and that's what my goal has been for 10 months," he toldThe Hollywood Reporter. "When this is all over, I will probably have a different — or rather a fuller — perspective on all of this, but I don't really have time to be mad about anything right now."
The final episode ofThe Late Showairs May 21 on CBS.
Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
Stephen Colbert opened up about wrapping his tenure on The Late Show . Key Points The host wishes he could have de...
