Stephen Colbert Finally Has A Reason To Celebrate The Late Show's Cancellation Thanks To Revived FCC Mandate: 'Good Luck, Jimmy!'

With Stephen Colbert set to visit Seth Meyers’ Late Night for the first time in over a decade, we’re as far away as can be from the talk show was of yesteryear. Only now, instead of infighting amongst hosts, it’s the U.S. government stoking ire via the FCC and chairman Brendan Carr. The agency once again took aim at the talk show circuit with a recent announcement, giving Colbert a rare moment to actually celebrate the fact that CBS already canceled The Late Show, and that he only has four months left to go.

The FCC announced its intention to begin reinforcing the 98-year-old Communications Act, which was first crafted to address the rise of television programming. In modern times, the core part of the regulations that remains arguably relevant is the section speaking to non-news programming allowing equal opportunity for political partisans to appear. So if a Democratic candidate gets an invite, a similar invite needs to be given to someone equally qualified on the opposite side of the aisle.

The rule went under the radar for years due to a “bona fide” exception granted to programs qualified as “news,” and only now is Brendan Carr making a fuss to declare that late night and daytime TV talk shows (such as The View) do not factor in as news fare. This could totally change the way late night shows play out across the 2026 TV schedule, but Stephen Colbert was only too happy to point out that he won’t be around for that long haul, saying in a Late Show segment:

Obviously, Stephen Colbert isn't sincerely enthused about losing his job in four months, and his dismay over it never seems to be far from the surface. But considering just how many politically charged issues have sprouted up for CBS and Paramount over the past year, I imagine he might have found fewer and fewer reasons to enjoy going in to work each day. Jimmy Kimmel can speak to some of that, having faced a temporary suspenion in 2025 over comments made in relation to Charlie Kirk's shooter.

Colbert's late night bromance with Jimmy Kimmel has grown quite a bit over the years, and 2025 was something of a banner year between the latter's suspension and the former's cancellation. So it definitely makes sense that Colbert would call his ABC buddy out, knowing Kimmel would still be suffering the revived Communications Act until the rest of his own contract runs out.

Speaking to the idea that the FCC is re-imposing this rule to stop late night or daytime TV from providing an optimal political advantage, Colbert pointed to that argument's logical fallacy, saying:

Whatever ends up happening with the FCC's new push for equal opps for political rivals for TV chats, I can only hope that the Late Show's joke about the long-dormant talk show Cthulhu Tonight gets turned into reality in one way or another. Honestly, I just want to see how the Great Old One drinks from that mug.

With around four months left to go, barring any last-minute changes from CBS' brass, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET, and streams the next day via Paramount+ subscription.