The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is inching closer to its conclusion. The late-night program, which was canceled by CBS in 2025, will close out its 11-season run this coming May amid the 2026 TV schedule. Colbert himself has shared a plethora of thoughts on his show ending but, ultimately, the veteran host just wants to “land this plane” in a firm way. With the impending close of the series also comes a few ending milestones and, just this week, the program hit one of those benchmarks.
Over the course of Colbert’s run on The Late Show, the series has gone live on a number of rare occasions and, in many cases, those segments coincide with significant events. This past Tuesday marked the annual State of the Union address, which was delivered by U.S. President Donald Trump. As a result of that, Colbert was on hand to give a live opening monologue, with which he could discuss POTUS’ sentiments in real time. Colbert started his broadcast by delivering the following confirmation:
Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see from the official bug, we are live right there, following the State of the Union.
As noted in Colbert’s monologue, which is on YouTube, President Trump broke the record for the longest SOTU address in history. The Late Show producers couldn’t predict when the speech would end but, given the timing, they went live so Colbert could respond. Colbert hit a number of points related to Trump’s “incredibly long” speech, including the president honoring the gold medal-winning U.S. Men’s Hockey Team. Colbert also mentioned that the Women's team opted not to end, quipping that they said, “Puck no.”
The actual content of the monologue aside, there’s a very surreal aspect to all of this. Reports confirm that this will indeed be the final time Colbert’s show goes live before it ends in a few months. While Colbert’s live hits were few and far between, they marked a solid change of pace from the usual pre-recorded segments that aired on the show weekly. If anything, this final live monologue makes the inevitability of the talk show’s demise feel all the more real.
Paramount Skydance, the parent company of CBS, reportedly canceled The Late Show because it was no longer profitable, and reports at the time suggested that the Emmy-winning series had lost the network millions of dollars in recent years. Other arguments have since been made regarding the rationale behind the cancellation. Some analysts asserted that the series was axed due to Stephen Colbert openly criticizing the Eye Network’s decision to settle a $16 million lawsuit with President Trump.
Colbert addressed those politics-related claims and admitted that he could understand why commentators would think the cancellation was politically motivated. However, the media personality also stated that he had “no interest” in trying to add to the speculation, saying “people can have their theories” but his “side of the street is clean.”
It’s honestly going to be quite weird to have a TV landscape in which Late Show – which began in 1993 with David Letterman as host – isn’t on the air. Still, it seems like Colbert and co. are going about their business as usual during the final months of the show’s run. On that note, those who tuned in for the program’s final live monologue on Tuesday night can now say they took part in a bit of TV history.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET, and its final episode is set to air on Thursday, May 21.
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