Anyone expecting Stephen Colbert to go out all guns blazing will have been left disappointed by the last ever episode of The Late Show. There were no broadsides at the network that canceled him, or at the president who cheered on his downfall. After 33 years on air, 11 with Colbert at the helm, America’s most popular late night show took its final bow on CBS without a single utterance of the name “Trump”. In the end, Colbert chose to bow out with a joyful song on his lips, and a message of gratitude.
The 62-year-old made sure to lower expectations for any sort of epic finale early in the slightly extended show. “At first, when we knew this was gonna be our last night, we were planning on doing a huge special this evening,” he told his audience. “But the thing is, we like to think every episode of The Late Show is kind of special.”
What followed was what he called a “regular episode” so yes, there were a handful of brief celebrity cameos from the likes of Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows, Tig Notaro and Ryan Reynolds, but there were also run-of-the-mill gags about sink holes in New York and dancing robots falling over. Rumors that the deeply Catholic host might have managed to land the final guest he recently called his “white whale”, Pope Leo XIV, were made light of with a playful skit about the Pope refusing to leave his dressing room because of the inadequate hot dogs on his rider.
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