{"id":461387,"date":"2026-05-22T07:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/461387\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T07:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:39:08","slug":"we-were-lucky-stephen-colberts-marks-end-of-the-late-show-with-emotional-finale-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/461387\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We were lucky\u2019: Stephen Colbert\u2019s marks end of The Late Show with emotional finale \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Colbert<\/a> opened the final episode of his long-running reign on The Late Show with a tribute to viewers, calling the programme a \u201cjoy machine\u201d after 11 years on air.<\/p>\n

In a star-studded farewell from the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York City, the 62-year-old was joined by the likes of Paul McCartney<\/a>, who closed out the show with a rendition of The Beatles\u2019 song Hello, Goodbye.<\/p>\n

Colbert said his role on the CBS talkshow was not only to recap the news, but to \u201cfeel the news\u201d alongside them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call [the show] the joy machine, because to do this many shows, it has to be a machine. But the thing is, if you choose to do it with joy, it doesn\u2019t hurt as much when your fingers get caught in the gears,\u201d Colbert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot adequately explain to you what the people who work here have done for each other and how much we mean to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening tribute gave way to the show\u2019s regular format, including his nightly monologue full of jokes about hantavirus, dancing robots and self-deprecating jokes about the next phase of his career.<\/p>\n

The opening set featured cameos from Rudd, Breaking Bad\u2019s Bryan Cranston and Mean Girls actor Tim Meadows, who each jokingly \u201cstormed out\u201d when they found out they were not the show\u2019s final guests.<\/p>\n

Colbert quipped: \u201cA lot of people have been asking me what I plan to do after tonight, and the answer is drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added after fans booed the mention of the cancellation: \u201cNo, no, we were lucky enough to be here for the last 11 years. You can\u2019t take this for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

His final guest, McCartney, gave Colbert a framed photo of The Beatles as a parting gift before reflecting on the band\u2019s famous 1964 appearances at the theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica was just the land of the free, the greatest democracy. Yes, that was what it was,\u201d the famed singer said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThat\u2019s what it still is, hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCartney was later joined by Colbert, former bandleader Jon Batiste and the entire crew as they danced through the final number.<\/p>\n

CBS and Paramount announced in July 2025 that The Late Show would end, describing the decision as \u201cpurely financial\u201d and citing losses of up to 50 million dollars (\u20ac43 million).<\/p>\n

The cancellation sparked immediate backlash, with critics questioning whether the timing of the move was linked to Paramount seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for a merger with Skydance.<\/p>\n

The announcement came just days after Colbert \u2013 who has been a frequent critic of US president Donald Trump<\/a> \u2013 criticised parent company Paramount for its 16 million dollar settlement with Trump over claims the news programme 60 Minutes deceptively edited a 2024 Kamala Harris interview.<\/p>\n

A company statement added: \u201cIt is not related in any way to the show\u2019s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other finale guests included fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, John Oliver and Jimmy Fallon, who co-hosted a podcast called Strike Force Five during the 2023 Hollywood writers\u2019 strike.<\/p>\n

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Jon Stewart also made appearances.<\/p>\n

Colbert took over The Late Show in 2015 following the retirement of long-time host David Letterman.<\/p>\n

He rose to fame alongside Stewart on The Daily Show before hosting his long-running satirical politics show, The Colbert Report.<\/p>\n

Stewart, who appeared on its show in the final week, paid tribute to Colbert\u2019s \u201cepic tenure\u201d with an Instagram throwback of the pair.<\/p>\n

Colbert\u2019s Late Show run saw the programme lean heavily into US politics.<\/p>\n

Alongside a regular rotation of celebrities, politicians were regularly featured, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden and a 2015 appearance from Trump while running for president. \u2013 PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen Colbert opened the final episode of his long-running reign on The Late Show with a tribute to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,5876,1138,282],"class_list":["post-461387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-paul-mccartney","tag-stephen-colbert","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}