Stephen Colbert Reveals ‘The Late Show’ Final Date

With four months left to go until the final installment of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the host reflected on his long-running tenure on the show and revealed its last day on air.

When appearing on Late Night With Seth Meyers for Tuesday’s episode, Colbert said, “It feels real now. I mean, I know it was real, but now there’s four months left.”

“The shows are fun to do, but what I really love is the people,” he elaborated, pointing out how he’s known his shoemaker, Tom Purcell, since 1988. “We’ve all been together forever. So, listen, you can do comedy in a lot of different places. There’s no place like the Ed Sullivan Theater,” Colbert continued before addressing the Late Night audience at 30 Rock and teasing: “No offense, there’s no place like the Sullivan Theater.”

“But it’s really the people — that’s really what I care about, and that’s really what I’m gonna miss more than anything, and we’ll do something else together, but it feels real now. I’m not thrilled with it,” he said.

During the interview, Colbert also revealed that after more than a decade hosting, May 21 will be the final day of The Late Show, according to both The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.

In July, CBS announced the The Late Show would end in May 2026, calling it a “purely a financial decision,” and adding, “It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

Colbert began hosting The Late Show, taking the baton from David Letterman, in 2015, after hosting the news satire show The Colbert Report on Comedy Central.