SHOCK: CBS Will Cancel Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show In May 2026.
He was the epitome of the downfall of late night comedy into what could be called late night clapter, where the applauding of conservative misfortunes replaced wit or cleverness. Under Colbert, The Late Show became an avenue for liberals to vent their frustration at conservatives through cathartic booing.
Colbert was the most likely of all the permanent late night hosts to bring on liberal guests. His show would have been a must-visit place for 2028 Democratic hopefuls. Even on this Thursday, Colbert is scheduled to have Sen. Adam Schiff on.
The future of light night is bleak. ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel has mused about retiring next year and is pessimistic about the state of the industry, a sentiment shared by NBC’s Seth Meyers. The death of late night was caused by many things, including increased competition that comes from streaming platforms and YouTube, but Colbert-like liberals also played a role. You can’t just write off half the country and expect a 30+ year-old institution to survive forever.
Of course not, but maybe focusing so hard on an audience of homogeneous leftists kept the late night shows on the air for at least a decade after their freshness dates had expired.
Related: Colbert, who made his bones playing a parody of Bill O’Reilly, had the chance to do real journalism in 2018 and decided he’d better quickly change the subject instead:
Sad @colbertlateshow is cancelled. I'll miss moments like this, where Claire Danes is talking about "the intelligence community allying itself with journalists" & Colbert abruptly changes the subject! pic.twitter.com/yVWoHMFFyu
— Nathan Livingstone (MilkBarTV) (@TheMilkBarTV) July 18, 2025