Photo: CBS screenshot
Now nearly two months out from its series finale, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is offering a piece of rather-attainable memorabilia.
During Wednesday’s episode of CBS’ terminal late-night talker, Colbert announced that this season’s recurring “Late Show Home Shopping” segments—which have promoted a “clearance sale”/charity auction that benefits chef José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen—have to date raised $406,433.53.
Colbert also shared that it was a “Ron from Texas” who had the winning bid to run through the Late Show prop closet and grab as many items as he could in 60 seconds. Ron reportedly came away with a life-size cardboard cutout of Colbert; a stuffed donkey; and a barrel full of (fake) severed limbs.
“And yes, I believe he has been put on a watch list,” the host quipped.
Colbert announced a few new items now up for bidding, including the “Air Lithgow” sneakers the show had made for a fake commercial (and which he had signed by actor John Lithgow himself); throw pillows from the recurring “Covetton House” sketch; and the tuxedo he wore to “perfectly pleasant”-ly host the Emmys in 2017, also autographed.
For those who “don’t want in on the auction but want in on the action,” Colbert revealed a commemorative T-shirt that can simply be purchased at ColbertLateShow.com/EBay (though at press time it didn’t seem to be up yet).
The front features a variation of the Late Show logo, rejiggered to say “The Last Show with Stephen Colbert.” The back reads: “Thanks for Watching! (Unless you watched on YouTube, the network couldn’t monetize that.)”
Chef José Andrés, a guest on Wednesday’s show, then jogged on-stage to help Colbert fire a few shirts into the audience via T-shirt cannons.
Colbert debuted the charity auction in December, netting over $175,000 in bids across the first 13 items. That round—which saw his COVID-era desk go for $14,800, and two VIP tickets to the Late Show finale sell for $111,100—resulted in a total payout of $169,727.99 to World Central Kitchen.
A second leg of the auction brought in close to $40,000 more.
A third set of items Colbert announced in late January on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers—a stolen rug from Capitol Hill, and several Late Night cue cards—fetched nearly $14,500.
The most recent lot brought in nearly $90,000 worth of bids, with several (including the guest chair, and the aforementioned Late Show prop closet raid) fetching five-figure price tags.