Stephen Colbert isn’t shying away from making jokes about CBS‘ recent cancellation of “The Late Show” — in fact, he’s looking for offers from other networks on air.
On Thursday, during his final “Late Show” taping before a summer hiatus, Colbert referenced a Daily Beast story about vice president JD Vance ordering that an Ohio river’s water level be raised for a boat trip he took for his birthday recently.
“This is such an insane, spoiled-baby emperor move that I have no choice but to break out my new character: Wittle Pwince Vance,” Colbert said, using a baby voice and taking out a mask of Vance’s face wearing a crown. “Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye! I want my wiver waised for my birthday! Also, I don’t like how bwue the sky is — paint it wed! Now, give me juice box.” When a staffer handed Colbert a juice box, he whined, “Not fwuit juice — apple! Kill him! Kill him!”
Then, Colbert took off the mask and said, “Netflix, call me. I’m available in June” — because “The Late Show” will air its final episodes in May 2026. After continuing to discuss the Vance story and pulling out the mask again, he added, “I will also entertain offers from Amazon.”
Earlier in his monologue, Colbert took on Donald Trump’s recent criticisms of him and his fellow late night hosts. News of the “Late Show” cancellation came shortly after Paramount, CBS’ paramount company, agreed to a $16 million settlement with the president following a legal dispute about “60 Minutes.” Though Paramount has said that the end of Colbert’s show was a financial decision unrelated to Colbert’s criticisms of Trump and the settlement, many have voiced concern that the cancellation could have been political in nature, leading to weeks of fiery comments from journalists, Hollywood labor unions and Trump himself.
On Thursday, Colbert showed a clip of Trump in the Oval Office saying, “Colbert has no talent. [Jimmy] Fallon has no talent. [Jimmy] Kimmel has no talent. They’re next. They’re gonna be going. I hear they’re going to be going. I don’t know, but I would imagine, because Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon, you know that?”
“I knew that, yeah, I knew that,” Colbert said as the live audience began to cheer his name. “But to be fair, I think we’re all equally untalented. Anyway, I just want to say thank you for watching, sir, and thank you for agreeing to be in our new promo.” He then rolled a clip of a fake “Late Show” ad that said, “Colbert is No. 1 in late night. Just ask our elderly viewers,” before returning to the Trump clip about ratings. The ad ended with a graphic of the show covered in a “Still Canceled!” stamp.
