If you’ve been following the timeline of the final year Stephen Colbert spent on the air at CBS, you may remember the day he announced the show was being canceled. You may remember moments like the bittersweet time he and Emma Stone realized it was their last interview or the time Colbert’s wife shared the note he’d kept on his desk for years. Amidst all of this touching stuff, CBS was painting a financial portrait of The Late Show and how the money allegedly just didn’t work. But I didn’t realize the Eye Network had offered to let Colbert see the books.
That’s apparently what happened, however. Colbert had a meeting with James “Babydoll” Dixon, the talent manager behind himself and Jimmy Kimmel, among others. He said he should have known something was up because Dixon never, ever came into his office.
James never visits in person, and they’re like, ‘James wants to talk to you.’ I’m like, ‘He’s here? In person? What’s going on?’ And he says, ‘This is going to be the last season.’ So, I sat up and said, ‘Really? Huh? Well, this comes as a surprise.’ And he goes, ‘I can imagine so. They said it’s not making any money.
Dixon said there was an offer on the table from CBS to let the two men go over the financials, but Colbert declined. That was CBS’ business; his business was show business. Here’s what he told THR about passing on the opportunity before he was officially let go.
I’m a company man, and I understand that people are here to make the green stuff. We’re not here to do freeform polyrhythmic jazz poetry. We’re here to sell some Breathe Right strips, and I have no qualms about that. And they’ve been great partners. But I went, ‘I don’t understand. It hasn’t been two years since I signed my last contract, and they were feverish to lock me down. It was the best negotiation we’ve ever had. I only do 160 shows now, all that kind of stuff.’ Baby said, ‘They say they could show me the numbers if we want,’ but I’m not going to ask them to open books. I’m not here to talk anybody into me.
We’ve learned tidbits about how Stephen Colbert found out about The Late Show ending before. The late night host said he was having a bit of a break just before taping when the news came down the pipeline. Other reports have indicated Colbert was told the news on July 16th, 2025. The announcement was made on TV one day later on July 17th. His show ended 10 months later on May 21st, 2026.
CBS has stated the decision was “purely financial” and telling Colbert he could look at the books would seemingly square with that, though others have been skeptical. Jimmy Kimmel outright stated he feels “these are made up numbers.” It feels reasonably probably that if Jimmy Kimmel Live! were to be canceled, the man is going to want to look at the books.
