Stephen Colbert hosts “The Late Show” one last time tonight as franchise ends after 33 years

The iconic Ed Sullivan Theater marquee lights up and Stephen Colbert takes the stage one last time for the ultimate broadcast of “The Late Show” on CBS Thursday night time, earlier than the curtain comes down on greater than 30 years of late-night TV historical past.

In the times counting all the way down to the franchise finale, a stream of outstanding friends and fellow late-night hosts took their place within the seat beside Colbert to share tales, laughs and a few emotional moments.

Actor Tom Hanks gifted him a typewriter. “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart introduced one thing to assist him chill out: two therapeutic massage chairs and a shock serenade from Andra Day.

Colbert and David Letterman, the present’s host when it debuted in 1993, hurled furnishings from the set off the roof of the theater — a nod to one of Letterman’s traditional stunts, accompanied by some selection phrases for the company bosses.

“You folks wouldn’t be in the theater if it weren’t for me, and Stephen wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me, and we rebuilt this theater, and then Stephen came in and looked at this, it’s like the Bellagio,” Letterman mentioned on the present last week. “As we all understand, you can take a man’s show, you can’t take a man’s voice.”

David Byrne joined the present on Tuesday and he and Colbert, in matching blue fits, carried out the Talking Heads traditional “Burning Down the House.”

Bruce Springsteen, within the midst of his “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour, made a visitor look on Wednesday.

The friends for Thursday’s finale weren’t revealed upfront.

CBS announced again in July that it could finish “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and retire “The Late Show” franchise on the finish of this season. The firm mentioned it was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

That rationalization was met with skepticism from some viewers and media critics who suspected political motives, as Colbert has been an outspoken critic of President Trump.

“You have maintained such grace through this process,” Stewart mentioned on the present this week. Fellow late-night host Jimmy Fallon, of NBC’s “Tonight Show,” mentioned, “I think it’s odd the way it ended for you. And it’s a bummer because I wanted to do this longer with you.”

Last week, Colbert was joined by a lineup of Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver — a reunion of “Strike Force Five,” the podcast the 5 hosts created when their reveals went off the air throughout the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023.

“You guys have been wonderful friends and great models for me, and I’m so glad to know and love all of you,” Colbert informed them.

In recognition of Colbert’s last present, Kimmel and Fallon each deliberate to air reruns on Thursday.

Colbert, who’s 62, took over as host of “The Late Show” in September 2015 after Letterman retired from the position he’d held for 22 years.

Before “The Late Show,” Colbert spent 9 years internet hosting “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central and had been a fan-favorite correspondent on “The Daily Show” underneath Stewart.

Colbert developed his personal distinctive fashion behind the desk on the Ed Sullivan Theater, balancing humor, political satire and considerate interviews.

Back when the franchise first launched, Letterman told “CBS This Morning,” “It’s me in a suit with peculiar-looking hair, depending on the humidity, and we just try to do an amusing, silly, entertaining show.” After Colbert took over, “The Late Show” grew to become extra identified for its political bent and commentary on present occasions.

Along together with his celebrities and musical friends, the present gave viewers a extra private take a look at Colbert himself, who was additionally identified to weave his religious Catholic religion into his monologues and interviews, even saying he wished Pope Leo XIV to be a visitor on the present earlier than it ended.

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” had been the No. 1 program in late night time for 9 consecutive seasons, CBS mentioned last 12 months. In September, it won the Emmy for excellent discuss collection and obtained a standing ovation from the Emmys crowd.

“I want to thank CBS for giving us the privilege to be part of the late-night tradition, which I hope continues long after we’re no longer doing this show,” Colbert mentioned in accepting the award.

CBS introduced last month that Byron Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” will change Colbert’s present within the 11:35 pm ET time slot.

Allen informed “CBS Mornings” Wednesday that the cancellation of “The Late Show” was a “very unfortunate event” and mentioned he’ll attempt to maintain on to the late-night viewers.

“I love Stephen Colbert. I’m a big fan,” Allen mentioned.

When Colbert got here on stage and broke the news of the present’s cancellation to his viewers last summer season, he mentioned, “I’ve had the pleasure and the responsibility of sharing what we do every day with you in front of this camera for the last 10 years.”

“It is a fantastic job. I wish someone else was getting it,” he mentioned.

More just lately, Colbert informed people magazine in an interview that he tried to “never take for granted filming in the Ed Sullivan Broadway theater, having that tremendous audience or having the ability to work with the funniest people I know every day and make jokes about the things that make me most anxious.”

“You can’t do this forever. … Who knows, maybe CBS saved my life,” Colbert informed People. “Because it takes a lot of bone marrow to do the show every day, and now I’ll be stepping down with enough time, enough energy to do other things that I want to do.”

After the ultimate episode, the set the place he held forth for greater than a decade shall be donated to the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago.

Celebrity friends have been reflecting on what the present’s ending means to them, with Hanks saying, “I don’t know how the entertainment industrial complex is going to survive without you.”

“Thank you so much for holding the space for laughter,” Oprah Winfrey informed Colbert earlier than turning to the gang throughout an episode last month. “Has he not held the space for laughter for us in our lives and been there for us?”

Watch “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” at 11:35 pm ET/PT on CBS tv stations or stream on Paramount+.