Why Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' mattered

Published 7 June 2026 · world

As the final curtain falls on "The Late Show," a brief history of the evolution of the late-night tradition and Stephen Colbert's satire. "It's not

As the final curtain falls on "The Late Show," a brief history of the evolution of the late-night tradition and Stephen Colbert's satire. "It's not just the end of our show, it's the end of 'The Late Show' on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away," Stephen Colbert told viewers last July, as he announced that the long-running program would be canceled at the end of his contract. The final episode of the network's late-night talk show airs on May 21. According to CBS, the cancellation was "purely a financial decision." Even though Colbert recognizes that the economic collapse of traditional broadcast TV models may have contributed to the decision, "there are many people who believe there was another reason," the talk show host noted in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Indeed, the announcement came just days after CBS and Paramount agreed to pay $16 million (€13.6 million) to resolve a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump — a settlement Colbert had described in his show as "a big fat bribe." The settlement and the decision to cancel "The Late Show" also coincided with plans by Paramount — the owner of CBS — to take over movie studio Skydance. The multibillion-dollar merger required the US government's approval. Trumps say comedian Jimmy Kimmel should be fired To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Colbert, who has been hosting CBS' flagship late-night show for the past 11 years, is a renowned critic of Trump, and the US president openly celebrated the comedian's cancellation: "I absolutely love that Colbert got fired," the president wrote in a Truth Social post on July 18. "His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. He has even less talent than Colbert!" "The Late Show" was the most-watched late-night program, averaging more than 2.7 million viewers in 2026; another 10 million people are subscribed to the show's YouTube channel.

Late night's political turn Late-night television has a long tradition in the US, going back to the 1950s. As the iconic host of NBC's "The Tonight Show” from 1962 to 1992, Johnny Carson turned the format into a cultural institution. His witty opening monologues became one of the staples of modern talk shows. Colbert's predecessor on CBS, David Letterman, was another key figure in modernizing the format; he notably added irreverence to his show — and his sarcastic style went on to influence an entire generation of talk show hosts, including Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert. Veteran late-night star David Letterman (left) welcomed his eventual successor, Stephen Colbert, as a guest in 2011 Image: CBS/ZUMA/picture alliance After Trump's first election win in 2016, political commentary significantly increased on late-night shows. Colbert leaned into that trend more heavily than some others because it matched his established identity: "Colbert clearly brought his own signature style," political satire researcher Sophia A. McClennen, professor of international affairs and comparative literature at Pennsylvania State University, told DW. As the author of books including "Colbert's America: Satire and Democracy" and "America According to Colbert: Satire as Public Pedagogy," McClennen has been analyzing Colbert's work since long before he became the host of the "Late Show" in 2015. US President Barack Obama (seen here with Colbert in 2014) gave another long interview to the host in one of the final episodes of 'The Late Show' Image: Andrew Harrer/dpa/picture alliance Colbert anticipated the 'post-truth' era The comedian first gained national recognition as a correspondent on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" from 1997 to 2005. Colbert then started hosting for the same TV network his own news satire program, "The Colbert Report," from 2005 to 2014. In "The Colbert Report," the comedian played a satirical version of a conservative cable-news pundit. His show revolved around mocking political media, ideology and public hypocrisy.