'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' airs its final episode on May 21
Credit: Scott Kowalchyk/CBS
NEED TO KNOW
- Stephen Colbert welcomed Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and John Oliver as some of his final Late Show guests on Monday, May 11
- The hosts said they later planned to record an “emergency” episode of their Strike Force Five podcast, which will be available on Wednesday, May 13
- Colbert’s final episode at the Ed Sullivan Theater airs on May 21
Stephen Colbert is getting the band back together ahead of his final show.
On Monday, May 11, Colbert welcomed guests Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and John Oliver for a joint interview as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert approaches its final episodes.
The crew, which previously made up the Strike Force Five for a limited podcast amid the 2023 WGA strike, helped celebrate Colbert's final weeks at the Ed Sullivan Theater before its final air date on May 21. The group said they could record an "emergency" episode of Strike Force Five to support Colbert after the show. The episode will be released on Wednesday, May 13.
Colbert later asked the group of hosts to make a case for late night television shows to continue to exist, which resulted in introspective responses on the importance of their shows. Kimmel suggested that the combined numbers of everyone who watches their shows on TV and online would surpass the audience Johnny Carson had.
"Why should you have to defend late night? I mean, why should that question even be asked?" Kimmel said. "You don't hear like Ryan Seacrest get asked that question about the Wheel of Fortune."
"I would actually like to hear Ryan Seacrest defend Wheel of Fortune," Oliver quipped.
Later, Colbert pointed out that his show is ending before everyone else's, even though his started after theirs.
"It's like when your young wife dies," Kimmel jumped in.
The hosts also invited Colbert to stop by their shows at anytime after his is over.
Credit: Scott Kowalchyk/CBS
Colbert, 61, has a few other familiar faces joining him as he closes out his late-night chapter. Former Late Show host David Letterman, who Colbert took over for in 2015, will also be a guest during the show's Thursday, May 14 episode.
After his first episode on Sept. 8, 2015, Colbert hosted for 11 seasons. During the July 17, 2025, episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he announced that the talk show was coming to an end after over 30 years on air.
At the time, CBS called it "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night."
Days earlier, 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, a move that eventually required approval from the Trump administration.
Credit: Scott Kowalchyk/CBS
While Colbert's Late Show is wrapping things up, its host revealed his next big project in March. At the time, he shared via the Warner Bros. social media accounts that he will be writing a new Lord of the Rings film that he and his son, Peter Colbert, pitched.
"All you can do as — I’ll use a loaded term here — an artist is follow your heart and the craft that you have learned to try to turn this into something that is not fandom but drama," he recently told The Hollywood Reporter. "And luckily, I don’t have to do this alone. I have a great Sherpa in [co-writer and LOTR veteran] Philippa Boyens, who cares about it in the same way I do. And I will just say that every moment has been a joy so far."
Credit: Scott Kowalchyk/CBS
The final episode of Colbert's show is scheduled for Thursday, May 21. Until then, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weekdays on CBS at 11:35 p.m. ET.
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