The final week of airing on “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert will feature some heavy hitters.
CBS’ late-night show has announced its lineup for the week of May 18th. Monday is “the worst ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,'” but the network has made it clear it’s not a clip show. Tuesday will feature special performances by Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg, and David Byrne and Colbert. And on Wednesday, Colbert’s penultimate show will feature the host himself participating in his famous segment, “The Colbert Questionnato,” as well as a performance by Bruce Springsteen.
Guests for the series finale on Thursday, May 21st have not yet been announced.
The Late Show has been on a farewell tour since CBS announced it would be canceled after 11 seasons. The network called the cancellation “purely a financial decision,” but some Democratic leaders and media experts saw it as Paramount throwing Donald Trump a bone while waiting for approval to merge with Skydance.
During its penultimate week on the air, Colbert hosted an extended interview on “The Late Show” with Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, John Oliver and Jimmy Fallon (the late-night talk show hosts are collectively known as Strike Force Five, named after the podcast they started during the 2023 Hollywood labor dispute).
Other fun things about the second half of the season include the appearance of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer. The 11-time Emmy winner arrived with a list of quips written by a former “Veep” reporter, slamming Colbert as a fictional vice president.
Colbert’s final show will air on CBS on May 21st. Kimmel and Fallon announced that their show would go dark that night to honor Colbert. That means ABC and NBC will air reruns of the show instead of new episodes.
