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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: CBS via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen Stephen Colbert stepped behind the desk of CBS\u2019 \u201cThe Late Show\u201d on Sept. 8, 2015, viewers didn\u2019t entirely know what to expect. <\/p>\n
\n\tColbert had spent the previous 10 years playing a bombastic Bill O\u2019Reilly-type commentator on Comedy Central\u2019s \u201cThe Colbert Report.\u201d With the move to CBS, Colbert let loose with his own personality. <\/p>\n
\n\tEleven seasons and more than 1,800 episodes later, CBS is pulling the plug, and Colbert will vacate the Ed Sullivan Theater after his final show on May 21. From the rise of Trump (twice) to the pandemic to the Jan. 6 riot, Colbert helped everyday Americans process this most disruptive period of culture and politics. Here are six \u201cLate Show\u201d moments when Colbert more than rose to the occasion.<\/p>\n
\tJoe Biden interview<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: CBS via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tSept. 10, 2015<\/p>\n
\n\tThen-VP Joe Biden appeared on the third episode, barely two months after the death of his son Beau Biden from cancer. Colbert gently asked him to tell a story about Beau, and shared his debilitating grief at the loss of his father and two older brothers in a plane crash when Colbert was 10. This emotional episode demonstrated Colbert\u2019s emerging skill as an interviewer. And it set a tone that this \u201cLate Show\u201d could make room for serious stuff.<\/p>\n
\tJohn Lewis interview<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of CBS\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tAug. 31, 2016 <\/p>\n
\n\tOn one of Season 1\u2019s final episodes, Rep. John Lewis visited \u201cThe Late Show\u201d to talk up his push for tougher gun control regulation in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. The civil rights leader urged viewers to get into \u201cgood trouble\u201d through demonstrations and nonviolent protest. The segment ended with Lewis and Colbert walking over to the studio audience, where Lewis took a leap of faith and crowd-surfed through the theater.<\/p>\n
\tShowtime election night specials<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring the Democratic and Republican national conventions in 2016 and 2024, Colbert delivered live shows from each host city. These episodes captured Colbert\u2019s improv roots and taste for going out on a limb without a net. Nothing, however, was more bizarre than the election night special that Colbert hosted for Showtime on Nov. 8, 2016, when Trump\u2019s victory shocked the world. Variety\u2019s review described the mood as \u201cthe late-night equivalent of a wake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tCOVID KO\u2019s the studio audience<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: CBS via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tMarch 12, 2020-June 14, 2021<\/p>\n
\n\tColbert was never tested more than during the 15 months when he worked without a studio audience because of the pandemic. He first broadcast out of his South Carolina home, and then relocated to his office at the Ed Sullivan Theater. Colbert was in peak form when he let his anger show in a live episode that came after the extraordinary events of Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters staged a riot in the Capitol.<\/p>\n
\tEvie McGee Colbert appearances<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: CBS via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tColbert\u2019s wife of more than 30 years has become a semi-regular on \u201cThe Late Show\u201d in recent seasons. The two had a fun recurring bit called \u201cFirst Drafts\u201d in which they riff on the rejected first drafts of greeting cards for various occasions. Evie\u2019s delight in being on camera is only matched by her husband\u2019s evident love for his life partner. Colbert has also credited his wife for helping him do the show during the worst of the pandemic period.<\/p>\n
\tWanton destruction With David Letterman<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Scott Kowalchyk \/CBS\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tMay 14, 2026<\/p>\n
\n\tThe previous guy to have his name on \u201cThe Late Show\u201d door, David Letterman, loved to throw items off the roof and watch them go splat on the ground. Letterman revived his old shtick with Colbert, but this time they pointedly busted up some CBS furniture on the way out. It was a cathartic bit of silliness for fans who still don\u2019t understand why CBS is bringing the curtain down on the No. 1 show in late night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Stephen Colbert stepped behind the desk of CBS\u2019 \u201cThe Late Show\u201d on Sept. 8, 2015, viewers didn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,3668,18745,348],"class_list":["post-683508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-stephen-colbert","tag-the-late-show","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}