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The Late Show Finale: Stephen Colbert Offers Geeky, Heartfelt Goodbye

Stephen Colbert ended The Late Show on his terms, offering a geeky, heartfelt, and heartbreaking goodbye. Here's a look at what went down...

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Article Summary

  • Stephen Colbert ends The Late Show on his own terms with a geeky, heartfelt finale capped by an interdimensional wormhole twist.
  • Colbert’s opening goodbye honors his staff and viewers, calling the show a reciprocal emotional relationship built over 11 years.
  • The Late Show finale delivers standout music as Colbert joins Louis Cato, Jon Batiste, Elvis Costello, and Paul McCartney.
  • Colbert’s final night also features surprise comedy bits, famous late-night faces, and a memorable last interview with McCartney.

Late-night icon Stephen Colbert and CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ended their respective runs on Thursday night – and Colbert did it his way, from opening message to the audience and viewers, to the St. Elsewhere-honoring final shot. We've included a recap of what went down earlier in the show below, but the finale took a wonderfully geeky turn when we learned that the green lights we had been seeing were signs of an interdimensional wormhole opening up inside the Ed Sullivan Theater. It's actually a funny, heartfelt, and heartbreaking segment with a whole lot of famous faces on hand to help Colbert move on with whatever is next for him. But before the inevitable, viewers were treated to two amazing musical performances. Colbert joined Louis Cato, Jon Batiste, and Elvis Costello for a performance of Costello's 1977 track, "Jump Up." From there, they were joined by Paul McCartney and The Great Big Joy Machine for a rendition of The Beatles' "Hello Goodbye," which saw the show's staff taking to the stage for one last hurrah.

The Late Show Finale: How Colbert Kicked Off the Festivities

"I cannot adequately explain to you what the people who work here have done for each other and how much we mean to each other," Colbert shared during his opening remarks to the audience and others watching to kick off the show. Later, he turns his attention to the viewers.

"On night one of 'The Colbert Report,' I said, 'Anyone can read the news to you. I promise to feel the news at you.' And I realized pretty soon in this job that our job over here was different. We were here to feel the news with you. And I don't know about you, but I sure have felt it. And I just want to let all y'all know in here and out there how important you've been to what we have done. The energy that you've given us. We sincerely need that to have done the best possible show we could have for you for the last 11 years. You've given it to us. We've given it all right back to you. What would you call that, Lewis?" Colbert shared, with Lewis defining it as a reciprocal emotional relationship.

"That's exactly right," Colbert continued. "Because we love doing this show for you, but what we really, really love is doing this show with you. Now, I'll say to you what I've said to every audience for the last 11 years, and I have meant it every time. Have a good show. Thanks for being here, and let's do it, y'all."

In addition, Colbert's team put together a fun introduction to the late-night talk show's final run that included a whole lot of famous faces from late-night history – including Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Jimmy Fallon, Samantha Bee, Arsenio Hall, Johnny Carson, Chelsea Handler, Andy Cohen, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, Dick Cavett, Trevor Noah, Jay Leno, Joan Rivers, Robin Thede, Conan O'Brien, Jack Benny, Steve Allen, and Jack Parr.

If Colbert thought he was going to wrap up his run without some famous faces showing up in his last monologue, he was sadly mistaken. It seems a lot of folks think that they should've been the final guests – in this case, Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, and Tim Meadows each making their respective cases to have the coveted spot. Unfortunately, each of them has their hearts broken – and they do not take it well. Especially when they learn that it won't be a "special" final show…

The "final guest" pitching continued into "Meanwhile" with Tig Notaro and Ryan Reynolds – though in Notaro's defense, they were there just to check out what was going down. As for Reynolds? Yeah, he took it a little hard…

At last, Colbert's final guest was revealed: McCartney, who presented the late-night host with a jaw-dropping gift before spending some great one-on-one time for Colbert's final interview:

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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