CBS has announced that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will end next year.
The network described the host as “irreplaceable” and said it will retire the long-running franchise, citing a “financial decision.”
In a joint statement to CBS News, George Cheeks, the Co-CEO of Paramount Global; Amy Reisenbach, the President of CBS Entertainment and David Stapf, the President of CBS Studios said: “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season. We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire The Late Show franchise at that time.
“We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.”
The statement continued: “This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Colbert broke the news to the audience during the taping of Thursday night’s show, saying: “I want to let you know something I found out just last night. Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending The Late Show in May.”
The comedian and TV personality added, “It’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”
In May, Colbert used the show to heavily criticize his network’s corporate bosses over concerns that they could be breaking anti-bribery laws by seeking to settle a meritless lawsuit with President Donald Trump to get his administration’s approval for a merger.
The host did a spit-take after pointing out that Paramount was considering paying the president what he called a $50 million “bribe” as the company sought to complete a multi-billion-dollar deal with Skydance Media.
Colbert followed “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart’s attack of the deal one week earlier. Stewart works for Comedy Central, also owned by Paramount, making the two comics the most visible internal critics of the $16 million settlement that was announced on July 1.
In a post on X late Thursday, Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiff said, “Just finished taping with Stephen Colbert who announced his show was cancelled. If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote, “CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery. America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”
Warren also shared a link of Colbert criticizing the Paramount deal on his show.
The Late Show was previously hosted by David Letterman from 1993 to 2015. Colbert has hosted since September 2015. The show is recorded at the Ed Sullivan Theater in Manhattan, New York City.
The most recent ratings from Nielsen show Colbert as winning his time slot, with about 2.417 million viewers across 41 new episodes. It also said his late night show was the only one to gain viewers so far this year.
The Independent has approached CBS for further comment.
Colbert made his name on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show on Comedy Central.
In a recent episode of The Daily Show, Stewart joked of Trump: “So the implication is you don’t get your $8 billion merger… unless you give me a tremendous amount of money…. I’m obviously not a lawyer, but I did watch Goodfellas—that sounds illegal.”
The Late Show is well-known for producing memorable celebrity interviews. Last night, Joaquin Phoenix apologized and offered an explanation for his infamous appearance on David Letterman’s version of the talk show in 2009.