May 27, 2026

On July 16, 2025, Steve Colbert was informed that his beloved “Late Show” on CBS was to be canceled.  This was only days after he had used the phrase “big fat bribe” in describing the settlement the parent company Paramount had reached with the Trump Administration over a “60 Minutes” segment the president deemed had been unfairly edited to the benefit of Kamala Harris.  And less than one week after Colbert’s on-air announcement of his firing, in an amazing bit of easily-foreseen coincidence, there was federal regulatory approval of Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media.

This ridiculous quid-pro-quo maneuvering was on display for all of us to see in real time, but there was nothing anyone could do.  Perhaps the most surprising thing was how the powers-that-be granted him an extra ten months; ABC’s failed plot to instantly fire Jimmy Kimmel a few weeks later perhaps justified this leniency.  Colbert, to his extreme credit, used the extra time to continue mocking both CBS and the current administration.  And in a bright note that hopefully breeds hope for the future, his late-night competitors from the other major networks offered heartfelt support right to the very end.

Unfortunately, that very end finally arrived…

And how would Steve Colbert and his team meet the host of challenges a long-awaited finale presents?…

I’ll maybe save the sociological implications of having an important voice silenced for another day.  For now, allow me to focus on my reactions to the actual show.

The world of television has always had a problematic relationship with final episodes of long-running shows.  My own memory can only point to a few successes.  “M*A*S*H” worked, if I remember correctly.  The ending of “Breaking Bad” was a tremendous success.  Not so much with “Succession”, however…  The final “Seinfeld” disappointed most - although this was compensated somewhat by the superb finale of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.  The ending to “The Sopranos” was fiercely debated, with me being on the thumbs-down side of the argument.

I honestly can’t remember the goodbye show from Johnny Carson - or Jay Leno’s offering, either.  But David Letterman - my longtime favorite - was just OK.  These things are hard to pull off.

(Wait - Bette Midler was great on the finale JC show… That memory just popped in from out of nowhere…)

And I’ll admit - through the years I was not a regular viewer of Steve Colbert’s “Late Show”, although I’d always been a fan since his “Daily Show” days.  But I actually witnessed a live show here in NYC only two months ago and tuned in these last couple of weeks.  And I watched the final episode live last Thursday night, May 21st.

There were three parts to it, really…

The first was well-done, if perhaps somewhat conventional.  Surprising celebrity appearances kept popping up, with everyone expressing the hope and expectation that they might be his final guest.  And when Paul McCartney appeared out of nowhere, we all knew the actual final guest at the Ed Sullivan Theater, home of the Beatles’ first US performance, had arrived.  The following three-segment interview felt like the end.

But then Colbert and his writers detoured into a tangent I wasn’t sure was working in real time.  He went backstage to check out the “glitches” that kept interrupting the show up to that point and with his old friend Jon Stewart discovered a black hole of sorts, swallowing up everything nearby.  I’ve already forgotten some of the twists, but at some point Colbert himself gets sucked in and emerges in some kind of after-world calmness, where he is singing a gentle song with Elvis Costello and the two former “Late Show” band leaders Jon Batiste and Louis Cato.

Ah, I thought.  He’s trying to suggest that we all calm down, that better and gentler times await.  And at some point he looks directly into the camera and wishes us all a  good night.  The show begins to fade to black.

And is this it, I asked myself?  He’s going to be brave enough to sign off with some obscure left-hand-turn no one saw coming?  He’s ending an 11-year run with a pre-taped segment of questionable value that has little to do with the actual show??

And suddenly, the screen roared back to life.  A fully-engaged Paul McCartney launches into a surprise performance of the seldom-heard classic “Hello, Goodbye” in the middle of a packed, beautifully-lit stage.

Steve Colbert is right there, singing along.

The effect was, dare I say - joyful!!

This wasn’t a moment for tears or self-serving monologues or show-business farewells.    This was simply a bunch of seasoned professionals rising to the occasion.

Color me impressed…

The “Late Show” finale pulled in a record 6.74 million viewers.  CBS’s ratings have otherwise plummeted in all different areas.

Paul McCartney helped pull the plug and I hear Colbert already has a new YouTube channel.

Some endings lead to new beginnings.  Hopefully this country will have more to cheer about someday soon.

We’ll see.