Stephen Colbert had a heart-to-heart about it PEOPLE magazine about the cancellation of The late show prior to the series finale on May 21, 2026.
On July 17, 2025, CBS announced the cancellation of the Emmy Award-winning show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbertafter eleven seasons due to a challenging advertising landscape for late-night television, even though the show leads the ratings.
For those who don’t know, Colbert then broke into the mainstream The Daily Show hired him as a correspondent in 1997 and then got the chance to play a right-wing pundit on The Colbert Report from 2005 to 2014.
Given the 62-year-old American comedian and writer’s deep involvement in American politics, the newspaper asked him if he would miss that part of his job, to which he replied: “I will never stop caring for my country.”
“I’m a fine fan of mine, but I don’t believe that if my voice is missing from the national conversation, the republic will be in disarray,” he noted.
Colbert further clarified that he is not “afraid” of the current administration, despite many believing his political commentary played a key role in the cancellation of his show.
He joked, “I mean, how silly would it be? Besides the ending of the show, which people can speculate about all they want, and I can’t argue with their speculation, but we’re clowns. How much does it diminish the job of the presidency to even notice what we say?”
“[Trump] must know how to pick his battles, metaphorically and literally,” said the Strangers with candy Star said, revealing that what he will miss is “the camaraderie of feeling better about our day.”
“I make my living laughing. I will miss that as much as the audience,” Stephen Colbert admitted.
