The final episode of 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' aired on Thursday, May 21
Credit: cbs
NEED TO KNOW
- Stephen Colbert’s final Late Show episode has aired
- The beloved late-night host had kept the details of the last episode under wraps
- The episode was jam-packed with surprise celebrity guests
Stephen Colbert ended The Late Show with a little help from his celebrity friends.
On Thursday, May 21, Colbert hosted the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with his typical funny commentary on the headlines of the day. As he read through the news, Bryan Cranston interrupted the opening monologue.
Cranston was disappointed when Colbert told him the guest list was too packed for him to come to the stage. The actor then stormed out of the theater and threw his Late Show hat into the crowd.
Credit: cbs
Later, Paul Rudd chimed in, saying he was prepared to give Colbert the ceremonial gift for retirement, six bananas. Tim Meadows sat near Rudd, also hoping for a chance to be on the show.
Credit: cbs
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Comedian Tig Notaro was also in the audience, but she joked that she didn't want to be on the show. She just enjoys attending "historic events." Then, Ryan Reynolds popped up to give bananas to the keyboard player in Colbert's band.
Credit: cbs
The host teased that Pope Leo XIV (who he said he wanted as guest), canceled because the hot dogs were bad.
Instead, Paul McCartney saved the day and became Colbert's final guest. He presented Colbert with a framed color photo of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, which was filmed at the very same theater.
Credit: cbs
Colbert, who took over the show from David Letterman in 2015, announced on July 17, 2025 that the Late Show was cancelled by CBS after 30 years on air. The network called the move "purely a financial decision" at the time.
"I am extraordinarily, deeply grateful to the 200 people who work here. We get to do this show. We get to do this show for each other every day, all day, and I've had the pleasure and the responsibility of sharing what we do every day with you in front of this camera for the last 10 years," Colbert said when he revealed the news during the show.
CBS' decision to axe the late-night program arrived days after Colbert criticized the network's parent company, Paramount, during his July 14 episode for its $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump, who alleged that CBS News' 60 Minutes deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Paramount was also in the middle of a merger with the entertainment company Skydance at the time.
Colbert's final week of shows also included appearances from former Daily Show colleague Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg, Bruce Springsteen and David Byrne.
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Speaking with PEOPLE ahead of his final Late Show, Colbert teased his signoff as "something simple."
"I hope they laughed. I hope they felt better at the end of the day," he said of fans. "I mean, that's it. We're there. We're the last thing you see. A lot of things happen in a day, but we bat last, and so we get the last take that people hear before they go to bed, and I hope it made their day better."
As for what's next, he explained he was focused on his final shows. “The show's like a flaming toboggan ride every day and the trick is to not hit any trees on your way down the mountain before 12:30. There's so much to think about to do the show," he said. "So I don’t have much better of an answer than most college seniors do, which is I’ve got to finish this first, because it takes almost the entirety of my brain to do this show. So we’ll land this plane and we’ll check out the view from there.”
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