{"id":69807,"date":"2026-05-21T00:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/colberts-final-late-show-airs-tonight-ending-11-season-run\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T00:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:39:16","slug":"colberts-final-late-show-airs-tonight-ending-11-season-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/colberts-final-late-show-airs-tonight-ending-11-season-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Colbert’s Final ‘Late Show’ Airs Tonight, Ending 11-Season Run"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Thursday night marks the end of an era as Stephen Colbert takes his place at the CBS desk one last time to conclude his run hosting ‘The Late Show.’<\/p>

The network has kept details about the farewell episode under wraps, though the production team has had several months to plan for the conclusion of CBS’s three-decade-plus late-night programming tradition.<\/p>

The show’s final week featured an impressive roster of celebrity visitors including Michael Keaton, Jon Stewart, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Steven Spielberg, David Byrne and Bruce Springsteen, along with a comedic musical number transforming ‘It’s Raining Men’ into ‘It’s Raining Fish.’<\/p>

Last summer, CBS revealed plans to end Colbert’s program after 11 seasons, pointing to financial considerations despite the show’s position as the top performer in late-night television ratings. Colbert himself, along with numerous observers, have questioned whether President Donald Trump’s ongoing attacks on the program influenced the network’s decision.<\/p>

The cancellation announcement followed parent company Paramount’s $16 million settlement of Trump’s legal action regarding a ’60 Minutes’ segment, as the company sought the incoming administration’s green light for its proposed acquisition by Skydance Media. Colbert had previously characterized the settlement as a ‘big fat bribe.’<\/p>

Dustin Kidd, a professor of sociology at Temple University, points out that Colbert’s departure comes while he maintains his dominant position in late-night ratings, making purely economic explanations insufficient.<\/p>

‘I would argue that it’s answerable, frankly, through politics,’ Kidd said. ‘There’s been a lot of political pressure levied against this show and a lot of political pressure at work within CBS more generally. And I think that has a lot more to offer in terms of explaining why this show, at this time.’<\/p>

Competing networks ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ and NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’ have scheduled repeat episodes during Colbert’s farewell broadcast Thursday evening.<\/p>

CBS plans to replace ‘The Late Show’ with ‘Comics Unleashed,’ a program featuring comedians telling personal anecdotes. The show’s host Byron Allen has pledged to steer clear of political content.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Colbert will host his final episode of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS Thursday night after 11 seasons. The network canceled the top-rated late-night program last summer, citing economic reasons, though many question if political pressure played a role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":69806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[831],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/news-1779338355824.jpg?fit=1000%2C714&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbtNqq-i9V","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70441,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/beatles-legend-paul-mccartney-joins-stephen-colbert-for-late-show-farewell\/","url_meta":{"origin":69807,"position":0},"title":"Beatles Legend Paul McCartney Joins Stephen Colbert for Late Show Farewell","author":"Admin","date":"May 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Stephen Colbert concluded his 11-season run hosting \"The Late Show\" on Thursday night with an unexpected appearance by Beatles icon Paul McCartney. The show's cancellation by CBS sparked controversy among critics who viewed it as an attempt to silence political commentary.","rel":"","context":"In "U.S. News"","block_context":{"text":"U.S. News","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/category\/us-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/news-1779434687678.jpg?fit=450%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":69377,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/colberts-late-show-ends-tonight-amid-political-pressure-claims\/","url_meta":{"origin":69807,"position":1},"title":"Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Ends Tonight Amid Political Pressure Claims","author":"Admin","date":"May 20, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Stephen Colbert's final episode of 'The Late Show' airs Thursday night, concluding an 11-year run marked by frequent criticism of Donald Trump. Experts and Colbert himself question whether the cancellation was truly for economic reasons, as CBS claimed, or due to political pressure from the Trump administration.","rel":"","context":"In "U.S. News"","block_context":{"text":"U.S. News","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/category\/us-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/news-1779278895297.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/news-1779278895297.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/news-1779278895297.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/news-1779278895297.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":70658,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/trump-predicts-more-late-night-host-departures-following-colberts-exit\/","url_meta":{"origin":69807,"position":2},"title":"Trump Predicts More Late-Night Host Departures Following Colbert’s Exit","author":"Admin","date":"May 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"President Donald Trump announced Friday that additional late-night television hosts will leave their shows after praising CBS's decision to end Stephen Colbert's program. The president has previously pressured networks to remove hosts and the FCC has launched investigations into several shows.","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/news-1779467181098.jpg?fit=450%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":71744,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/cbs-drops-copyright-fight-after-colberts-michigan-cable-show-goes-viral\/","url_meta":{"origin":69807,"position":3},"title":"CBS Drops Copyright Fight After Colbert’s Michigan Cable Show Goes Viral","author":"Admin","date":"May 25, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"CBS and Paramount have withdrawn copyright challenges against Stephen Colbert's guest appearance on a Michigan cable access program. The entertainment giant's decision comes after Colbert concluded his tenure hosting \"The Late Show\" on Friday.","rel":"","context":"In "U.S. News"","block_context":{"text":"U.S. News","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/category\/us-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48003,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/byron-allen-takes-over-cbs-late-night-as-stephen-colberts-show-concludes\/","url_meta":{"origin":69807,"position":4},"title":"Byron Allen Takes Over CBS Late Night as Stephen Colbert’s Show Concludes","author":"Admin","date":"April 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"CBS announced it will sell its late-night programming slot to Byron Allen after Stephen Colbert's show ends in May. 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The decision stems from new FCC rules requiring equal airtime for opposing political candidates on talk shows.","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/news-1771352343995.jpg?fit=450%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}