Stephen Colbert's long goodbye is coming to an end, leaving a void
[May 21, 2026]
By MARK KENNEDY
NEW YORK (AP) — On his very first time hosting “The Late Show” back in
2015, Stephen Colbert ripped into Donald Trump while gorging on Oreos,
likening his inability to resist the cookies to his inability to resist
going after the then-presidential candidate.
“Look, you don't own me. I don't need to play tape of you to have a
successful TV show,” he warned an image of Trump. “Someone on television
should have a modicum of dignity and it could be me.”
Over the next 11 years, Colbert couldn't curb his appetite for making
Trump barbs, often turning his show into a full-throated rebuke of MAGA
policies. Trump would call him a “dead man walking.”
The on-air feud between the two men seemingly ends Thursday as Colbert's
top-rated late-night TV program goes off the air for the final time,
effectively silencing a high-profile White House critic.
“The legacy of this show needs to be that we remember it as the show
that was canceled because a presidential administration wanted it off
the air,” says Heather Hendershot, a professor of communication studies
and journalism at Northwestern University. “We haven’t connected every
single dot on that, but it’s very clear that this was a political
decision. And I think 20, 30, 40 years later, that is going to be
strongly remembered about this show — that this was a moment of
authoritarian triumph.”
When comedy and politics collide
When CBS announced last summer that Colbert’s show would end in May, the
network said it was for economic reasons but others — including Colbert
— have expressed skepticism that Trump’s repeated criticism of the show
had nothing to do with it.
The cancellation came after CBS parent company Paramount agreed to pay
$16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview, as
Paramount's sale to Skydance Media awaited the Trump administration’s
approval. Colbert had called the settlement a “big fat bribe.”
Trump rejoiced over the cancellation in a Truth Social post, writing “I
absolutely love” that the host “got fired.” He followed it with: “I hear
Jimmy Kimmel is next.” Just two months later, ABC, buckling to pressure
from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chair and affiliate
networks, temporarily suspended Kimmel — the host of its own late-night
show — following his remarks about the assassination of conservative
activist Charlie Kirk.
TV experts said there are not many other examples of a hit show being
shuttered due to political pressure. In 1969, CBS abruptly canceled “The
Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” which had aired comedy bits in
opposition of the Vietnam War and in support of civil rights.
Colbert, a “Daily Show” alum, spent nine years playing a buffoonish,
conservative commentator on Comedy Central's “The Colbert Report.” He
was not universally welcomed to “The Late Show” by those he had
lampooned, with Rush Limbaugh saying “CBS has just declared war on the
heartland of America.”
Through Democratic and Republican administrations, Colbert and other
late-night comedians have offered their take on the day's events that
offered something different from traditional news media.
“In given moments, like when something big happened, you really do want
that perspective that says, ‘Here’s another way to look at it,’” says
Dustin Kidd, a professor of sociology at Temple University. “Or when it
feels really overwhelming, you want that reminder that there’s still
some way to laugh at it. And so the more you lose those ways to laugh at
it, the more we all decline.”
Colbert put his own spin on late night
“The Late Show” had celebrities, musical guests and jokes about Arby’s
and Spirit Airlines, like other late-night shows. But Colbert put his
own spin on things, like wearing his Catholic faith and his adoration of
his wife and frequent guest, Evie McGee Colbert, on his sleeve.
After the monologue, he had oddball segments like “Meanwhile,” a look at
global affairs in “What’s Going On Over There?,” technology with
“Cyborgasm” and youth slang in “Stephen Colbert Presents: That’s Yeet.
Dabbing on Fleek, Fam!”
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This image released by CBS shows host Stephen Colbert, right, with
guests, from left, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, and Seth
Meyers on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in New York on May
11, 2026. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via AP)
 “The Late Show,” which began in 1993
with host David Letterman, won two Emmys under Colbert, as well as a
Peabody Award. Come Friday, the 11:35 p.m. time slot goes to “Comics
Unleashed,” a talk show that host Byron Allen has vowed will eschew
politics.
“There’s just going to be a huge void,” says Lisa Rogak, the author
of the 2011 biography “And Nothing But the Truthiness: The Rise (and
Further Rise) of Stephen Colbert.” “And I don’t think anybody’s
going to really want to step up and fill it.”
Among those sorry to see Colbert go is astrophysicist Neil deGrasse
Tyson, a frequent guest. Johnny Carson used to book scientists, but
Tyson notes wryly that not many TV hosts do these days. Colbert even
had a segment highlighting new discoveries called “The Sound of
Science.”
“Science doesn’t have many opportunities to access centerline pop
culture,” says Tyson.
In a departure from the infighting of decades ago, other late-night
hosts have rallied around Colbert. Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver
and Seth Meyers — who hosted the “Strike Force Five” podcast with
Colbert during the Hollywood strikes — visited “The Late Show”
recently.
NBC's “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and ABC's “Jimmy
Kimmel Live!,” which typically air against “The Late Show,” will
instead broadcast reruns on Thursday.
Catholics and Tolkien fans mourn, too
Catholics will also mourn the loss of a late-night host who could
quote Psalms by heart and who brought up issues of faith with guests
and even what happens when we die with “The Colbert Questionert.”
“We’re losing a very well-known Catholic and someone who shares his
religious ideas freely and intellectually, too,” says Stephanie
Brehm, author of “America’s Most Famous Catholic (According to
Himself): Stephen Colbert and American Religion in the Twenty-First
Century.”
She pointed to poignant moments like Colbert's chat with then-Vice
President Joe Biden about the death of his son, his discussion of
grief with Anderson Cooper and his exploration of the relationship
between faith and comedy with Dua Lipa.
Brehm saw Colbert make himself into a sort of moral authority and
lean into the social justice camp of progressive Catholics: “He is
playing up that moral quality by standing up for American moral
values like freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and he’s doing
it with a Catholic jargon, with Catholic language.”
Then there are devotees of author J.R.R. Tolkien. Colbert is a
superfan of “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings” and championed
Tolkien in skits, references and competitions, memorably smoking
James Franco in a few throwdowns.
“I think if you step back and reflect on his career, everything he’s
done is for the betterment of the community,” says Duane Cronkite,
head of live programming for the Fellowship of Fans forum and news
site.
Timothy Lenz, part of the leadership committee of The Mythopoeic
Society, a group dedicated to the study and appreciation of Tolkien,
says Colbert inspired new readers.
“Stephen Colbert is easily the most enthusiastic celebrity fan of
Tolkien’s works,” he says. “That sort of public, unapologetic
enthusiasm for stories that in Colbert’s youth would have been
considered like nerdy and uncool, that really helps to encourage
fans of all ages to let their geek flag fly.”
Tolkien, fittingly, offers a next step for Colbert after his show
goes dark. He's co-writing a new “Lord of the Rings” movie.
“He’s living the fan dream right now,” says Lenz.
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