This is the final sign-off.
Stephen Colbert went out on a high by hosting the final episode of “The Late Show” Thursday night after CBS canceled the show last year.
The host brought in multiple surprise guests, including Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows, Tig Notaro, Ryan Reynolds, and more, all of whom thought they would be Colbert’s final guest.
During his final monologue, Colbert, 62, bid farewell to the audience at the show inside New York City’s Ed Sullivan Theater and to fans watching at home.
“This show has been a joy for us to do for you,” Colbert began, adding that the show is called “The Joy Machine.”
“I can’t say enough about what the people who work here have done for each other and how much we value each other,” Colbert added.
“We love playing shows for you, but what we really love is playing shows with you.”
He then played a montage of other late night shows making fun of Colbert and the show before the show’s iconic intro at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.
“We had so much fun in this theater,” Colbert added, before showing a “first draft” of a farewell card and asking, “How do you start OnlyFans?”
Colbert added that he was scheduled to do a big “special” but decided to do a regular episode instead, but was interrupted by Bryan Cranston.
Colbert joked that celebrity cameos were “kind of forced,” but Cranston suggested he might be the last guest, but Colbert threw in his hat and stormed out, saying he already had a pretty special guest scheduled.
He continued with a few more monologues before Paul Rudd interrupted again and said he had a poem he wanted to read, but Colbert told him that he would not be the last guest.
Tim Meadows tells Paul to accept the fact that he will not be the last guest, assuming he is, since he had returned to the Second City years ago when Meadows charged in and took Rudd’s banana.
After the monologue, he delivered a final episode of “In the meantime” detailing additional news stories about home distilling and lawsuits involving Peanuts’ music.
His band, Louis Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine, then began playing some of the music, and Colbert joked, “I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money.”
Tig Notaro was spotted in the audience and said he loves being there during historic events, but he never expected to be the last guest.
Ryan Reynolds then interjected and said he believed he would be the final guest, but Colbert said that was not the case, and Colbert revealed that a “very special final guest” would be unveiled after a commercial break.
The final guest was supposed to be none other than Pope Leo XIV, but due to a misunderstanding about the “rider” he canceled his appearance.
Then Paul McCartney bravely arrived, volunteering to be the last guest and bringing something for him, saying he had “something to do”.
Colbert then pulled out a framed, autographed photo of the Beatles performing in their historic 1964 performance at the Ed Sullivan Theater.
“I’m really happy to be back here. I’ll always remember the girls on the balcony. Ms. Sullivan was really sweet and a really nice person,” he said.
“People were saying this was the biggest show, but to tell you the truth, we’d never heard of it,” he said, adding that the makeup girl gave him a “bright orange look.”
When asked if he was satisfied with the result, McCartney replied: “It’s live, it sounds great.”
“We were a little nervous, but we were still kids and full of ourselves. You know, we were very excited,” he admitted.
It was their first visit to the United States, adding, “America is the birthplace of all the music we’ve loved, and that’s what we thought of America as the free and largest democracy, and we hope that’s always the case.”
Before he could continue his interview with McCartney, a strange technical glitch occurred, causing strange graphics to appear on the digital background behind him.
McCarthy spoke about his next album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, set for release on May 29th, which was inspired by his upbringing in the neighborhood.
“One day, boys, some big guys in laces decided to rob me. I was small and skinny, but they were big and ugly and they were after my watch. But I called the police and got my watch back,” McCartney said.
Colbert added that there are a lot of superstitions before a show, and McCartney added that he always eats a “cheese and pickle sandwich” after a show “with a margarita.”
McCartney admitted that fans often misunderstand his songs, adding, “At the beginning of ‘Strawberry Fields,’ he says, “Life is easier when you close your eyes,” but some people think “Life is easier when you’re wearing nice clothes.”
Colbert attempted to continue the interview when another glitch occurred, pretending to take another commercial break while Colbert went to investigate the problem.
Neil deGrasse Tyson arrives and states that it is an interdimensional wormhole as he goes backstage and finds a giant green portal that is starting to suck objects into it, including the Apple Watch.
He says Colbert’s cancellation caused a rift that could have led to the end of Midnight forever, but Colbert ended up pushing Tyson down a wormhole.
Colbert asked if a mentor figure was nearby, and Jon Stewart arrived and read a statement from Paramount.
Stewart denied that he was canceled and wondered if he ended up spitting on Colbert.
Colbert then said he loved Stewart and spat in Stewart’s face, but when the remaining late-night hosts, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, arrived, they had words of wisdom to help Colbert process the end of his favorite late-night talk show.
After Colbert returns and tells more jokes, the green wormhole arrives again and sucks everything in the theater, which Colbert plays into a commercial before disappearing.
Colbert was spotted in a desolate, echo-like space, where he began singing Elvis Costello’s “Jump Up,” joined by bandleaders Louis Gateau, Jon Batiste, and Costello himself.
They returned to the studio and McCartney, Costello, Batiste and Colbert sang the Beatles classic “Hello Goodbye” with the Full House band.
Colbert’s family, along with the entire staff, took to the stage and clapped along to the song, filling the upper balcony and the entire stage.
Colbert then secretly pulled the studio breaker and gave the honor to McCartney instead. Then, the green wormhole returns and sucks the entire Ed Sullivan Theater into it, creating a small snow globe with the theater inside, as the final episode draws to a close.
Colbert took over “The Late Show” in 2015 from David Letterman, who retired after more than 20 years on the show. Colbert’s first guest was George Clooney.
Mr. Letterman, 79, returned to the show last week and announced the cancellation of the series on CBS. He and Colbert also teamed up in a corner where furniture was thrown off the roof of a Manhattan theater.
In addition to Letterman, Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg, Bruce Springsteen, Barack Obama and Christopher Nolan stopped by Colbert’s final “Late Show.”
Colbert announced the end of his late-night show after nearly 33 years in July 2025, telling viewers he learned of the decision the night before.
“I’m not going to be replaced, everything will just be gone,” he told the audience.
At the time, CBS claimed that canceling the series was a “purely financial decision” and had “nothing to do with the show’s performance, content, or any other issues going on at Paramount.”
Prior to news of the cancellation, Colbert criticized CBS’ parent company Paramount over its $16 million settlement with Donald Trump over his controversial “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, ahead of the Skydance Media-Paramount merger.
In one of his July 2025 monologues, Colbert said: “As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am angry. I don’t know if anything can repair my faith in this company.”
“But I think $16 million might help if you give it a shot,” he added jokingly.
Before hosting his final show, Colbert admitted to People that he thinks the cancellation “saved[his]life.”
“It takes a lot of bone marrow to put on a show every day. I’m going to step down now and have plenty of time and energy to do other things I want to do,” he said.
Colbert also said he and his wife, Evelyn McGee Colbert, have grown children Madeleine, 31, Peter, 28, and John, 24, and are looking forward to being an empty nester.
As for his next project, Colbert will be co-writing the new Lord of the Rings movie with his son Peter, but he told People that he is still in the process of planning his future.
“So I don’t have a better answer than most college seniors, and that’s that I have to get this done first, because it’s going to take almost my entire brain to do this show,” he said.
“Now, let’s land this plane and check out the view from there.”
