It’s the end of an era, and not in a good way. The Late Show is coming to an end, and not just with Stephen Colbert as a host. The entire series is coming to an end, and now we know when it will be.
Stephen Colbert announced the date during the taping of Late Night with Seth Meyers, according to LateNighter. That episode is set to air tonight, Tuesday, Jan. 27, so we’ll get to see just who the news was shared there.
When will the last episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert air?
CBS has set the date for Thursday, May 21. This is around the time that the finales of most broadcast shows tend to air, but it still doesn’t make it any easier. We were hoping against hope that CBS would have a change of mind the closer it got to the end of the series.
As fans will remember, Colbert announced that his series was coming to an end in May 2026 in July of last year. This wasn’t just about Paramount not renewing his contract, but the company deciding to bring an end to the late night show as a whole.
While “budget cuts” was declared as the official reason, we all know that’s not what it is about. With Colbert continually speaking out against the current Administration and Paramount and Skydance going through their merger, there was more to this decision than meets the eye.
What will happen to late night TV on CBS?
What does this mean for late night TV? That’s debatable. We know that ABC is definitely sticking with the late night lineup, with Jimmy Kimmel’s contract renewed through to May 2027. There is also no doubt that NBC will keep things going with Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.
So, it looks like CBS is the network to get out of the late night game. All this does is push viewers onto the other networks, so CBS will want some sort of plan in place. It’s worth noting that while Jimmy Kimmel Live! tends to win in the demo, CBS’s The Late Show tends to win in the total audience numbers.
It is the end of an era, though. The Late Show began back in 1993 with David Letterman launching it. He signed off in 2015, with Colbert taking over, reshaping the program from the entertainment-focused program to a more politically engaging one. It worked for a while, but is it time to go back to what Letterman did? Maybe! All we know is that The Late Show will end on Thursday, May 21..
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs on weeknights at 11:35/10:35c on CBS.