Stephen Colbert announced last week that CBS decided to cancel The Late Show entirely when the host’s contract ends in May of 2026.
Originally dubbed just Late Show With David Letterman, the show premiered in August of 1993. In 2015, Letterman stepped away from the desk and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert premiered.
Now, after almost a decade at the helm, Colbert will go down with the ship over the next 10 months. There are bound to be many tributes and retrospectives during that time.
But it won't be all happiness and warm fuzzies if Monday's cold open was any indication.
According to the caption on the show's official YouTube channel:
"The Gloves Are Off. For the next ten months Stephen Colbert can finally speak unvarnished truth to power, including in response to the president's post celebrating The Late Show's cancellation, and about the creepy birthday letter Donald Trump sent to his good pal Jeffrey Epstein."
One topic covered in Monday's monologue was MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's reaction to the news. After hearing of the cancellation, the United States president took to his own social media platform, Truth Social, to hurl lies and insults.
He wrote:
"I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! [Fox News's Trump sycophant] Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron [Jimmy Fallon] on NBC who ruined the once great 'Tonight Show'."
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Trump recently received a big payout for a frivolous lawsuit from CBS parent company Paramount as they await FCC approval of their planned deal with Skydance.
Colbert's criticism of the bribe has been cited by many as contributing to the decision to kill his show. Others speculate it was part of Paramount's $16 million settlement with Trump.
Colbert addressed Trump's gloating post directly, which you can watch here:
Colbert showed Trump's Truth Social post on screen while he read it in the POTUS' distinctive, often mocked voice and speech pattern.
Cutting back to Colbert, the host said:
"How dare––how––how dare you, sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism?"
A golden frame marked "Eloquence Cam" was placed around a tight shot of Colbert's face as he looked into the camera and said:
"Go f**k yourself."
The studio audience cheered loudly for the straightforward, uncensored response that was bleeped for broadcast.
Colbert then showed a second very presidential, grammatically sound post by Trump, which said:
"The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone. These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television. It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!"
@@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Colbert responded:
"Nope. No, no, absolutely not. Kimmel, I am the martyr. Okay. Okay. There's only room for one on this cross. And I got to tell you, the view is fantastic from up here. I can see your house."
People appreciated Colbert's direct reply to Trump.
@nightmarescarz/Bluesky
@fishyonekenobi; @medusa9/Bluesky
@jdmodj/Bluesky
After his cold open, Colbert brought out Lin Manuel Miranda and Weird Al Yankovic to play a little music to cheer the audience up.
Expecting an original number from the Broadway composer and the King of Parody, Miranda responded to Colbert that they'd be doing a song from Coldplay instead. When asked if it would be a parody of Coldplay, Yankovic replied he couldn't think of anything funnier than Coldplay.
As the song began, Miranda asked for the cameras to pan the audience, since the song was for them.
You can watch the moment here:
The audience cam bits were pre-recorded, despite what some people may have thought.
This allowed other New York-based late night/comedy hosts—Seth Myers, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, and John Oliver—to show their support for Colbert by appearing in the sketch. Jimmy Kimmel, who tapes his show on the West Coast, was absent.
Those hosts were joined by CNN's Anderson Cooper with his longtime pal, Bravo's Andy Cohen, as well as the leads of Happy Gilmore—Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald and Robert Smigel, who brought his Triumph the Insult Comic Dog character.
But a last couple got caught getting cuddly on camera, before quickly scrambling for cover.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert/YouTube
Immediately after, Miranda and Yankovic's song got canceled for purely financial reasons.
According to a memo Colbert read, it was costing the network $40-$50 million dollars despite being a number one song.
Stephen Colbert off the leash for the next 10 months? Someone should have been careful what he wished for.
As Colbert said when he announced his cancellation:
"Y'all ready? Lock in."
@GavinNewsom/X
