All articles tagged with #late show
Stephen Colbert’s former Late Show writers are helping craft this year’s Emmy Awards under host Mariska Hargitay, with Deadline noting they’re in the early planning stages and throwing out ideas; Colbert had jokingly urged CBS to hire his team after The Late Show ended, and the ceremony is set for September 14, while Colbert’s show earned nine Emmy nominations this year.
Stephen Colbert’s writing staff is plotting a comeback for Emmy season after CBS pulled The Late Show, with Mariska Hargitay set to host the Emmys in September. In a Deadline interview, Hargitay said she’s collaborating with Colbert’s team to brainstorm ideas and even helped push a playful #FYC campaign the writers released after CBS’s decision, which Paramount/CBS described as purely financial. The Late Show earned nine Emmy nominations this year, underscoring the ongoing buzz around the franchise despite its cancellation.
In a Variety interview, Jimmy Kimmel says he offered to host The Late Show during Stephen Colbert’s absence after CBS pulled the plug on Colbert, but Colbert declined. Kimmel noted his ratings jumped during the shake-up and lightly thanked CBS for their “wisdom” with a backhanded compliment. CBS has said Colbert was canceled for a projected $40 million annual loss, a figure many doubted, with some speculating the move was tied to politics or the Paramount merger. Kimmel urged viewers to watch Colbert’s finale and then not watch again.
In its final season, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert earned nine Emmy nominations—the most in Colbert’s 11-year tenure—across categories including variety series, writing, directing, and technical crafts, as CBS wraps the franchise after 33 years amid industry shifts and consolidation.
Byron Allen pushes back on the Daily Beast’s rating-dip story about Comics Unleashed after replacing Stephen Colbert, arguing the decline is being overstated and highlighting CBS’s cost-cutting time-buy deal that shifts the slot toward profit. Nielsen data still shows The Late Show outperforming rivals in the same timeslot, while Allen touts wins in select markets and frames the arrangement as a strategic financial move rather than a failure.
Jimmy Kimmel says he feels a little bit defeated by Stephen Colbert’s Late Show ending, questions CBS’s stated financial reasons for the cancellation, notes he has only a one-year extension with Disney through 2027, and acknowledges he doesn’t yet know what comes next for his own long-running late-night program.
Stephen Colbert quietly started a new YouTube channel within a week of ending The Late Show, debuting with a Monroe Community Media appearance that has drawn tens of thousands of subscribers; the move unfolds amid controversy over Paramount’s merger with Skydance, including backlash over copyright actions and political commentary about the deal.
CBS allegedly froze out Stephen Colbert after he mocked Tony Dokoupil and CBS News; Colbert's finale of The Late Show roasted President Trump and drew about 6.74 million viewers, with appearances by Paul McCartney, Bryan Cranston and others. CBS described the exit as a financial decision, coming after Colbert had criticized CBS's Trump settlement, and Trump responded with a Truth Social tirade after the finale.
Readers share personal memories of Stephen Colbert and The Late Show, praising his wit, empathy, and fearless political commentary—from the Covid era to the January 6 coverage—and describing how the show served as a nightly sanity check and left a lasting impact after its finale.
Byron Allen says he isn’t trying to replace Stephen Colbert as Comics Unleashed takes over the 11:35 p.m. slot with a politics-free, joke-focused format; CBS and Paramount have not issued restrictions, and Allen emphasizes the show has its own audience built over 20 years. He praises Colbert as an American treasure and notes there’s no plan to target Colbert’s audience, stressing the goal of uniting viewers through comedy after Colbert’s final episode on May 21. Comics Unleashed airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET.
Stephen Colbert’s Late Show finale drew about 6.7 million viewers on Thursday, the largest weeknight audience of his 11-year run, aided by a longer episode and a Paul McCartney appearance; CBS notes caveats, including comparisons to Letterman-era highs and a 2016 post-Super Bowl spike. In Q1 2026 the show averaged roughly 2.7 million viewers per night, while rivals aired repeats on finale night; CBS is replacing The Late Show with Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen and a second time-buy show, signaling ongoing shifts in the late-night landscape.
Stephen Colbert was briefly booted from CBS and returned to television the next day on a Michigan community-access channel, signaling a quick pivot to local airwaves after the CBS incident.
Stephen Colbert surprised viewers by returning to late-night TV unannounced on Friday, just a day after CBS taped the final Late Show episode, headlining a segment on his old Monroe, Michigan public-access program 'Only in Monroe' with a local monologue and an Eminem cameo. CBS had announced the end of The Late Show amid a merger-driven shift, and Colbert is moving on to new projects, including writing the next Lord of the Rings film.
Trump spent the night celebrating Stephen Colbert’s final Late Show on Truth Social, calling Colbert untalented and predicting the “Beginning of the End” for late-night hosts; Colbert’s farewell episode aired the next morning as a somber tribute to late-night TV.
Stephen Colbert’s Late Show finale drew a record 6.74 million viewers, the show’s most-watched weeknight episode, according to Nielsen. The Ed Sullivan Theater send-off featured Paul McCartney as the final guest, with cameos from Jon Stewart, Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows and more, plus a Beatles-style performance of 'Hello, Goodbye' with McCartney, Elvis Costello, and Jon Batiste. The finale followed CBS’s decision to end the show for financial reasons amid a Paramount–Skydance merger, with industry chatter surrounding the move.