The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is an American late-night news talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. The show is the second and final iteration of CBS' Late Show franchise. It is taped at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City in the same studio as its predecessor Late Show with David Letterman. It airs new episodes live to tape in most American markets Mondays to Thursdays at 11:35p.m. ET/PT/10:35 p.m. CT, as with its competitors Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Colbert was announced as the new host in April 2014, after existing host David Letterman announced his intention to retire earlier in the month; Colbert had previously hosted Comedy Central's news satire The Colbert Report, a program where Colbert portrayed a character named Stephen Colbert as a parody of conservative pundits. As such, the series has carried a stronger focus on discussing and satirizing current events, especially within American politics. Some of Colbert's staff moved to The Late Show, along with Jon Stewartwho previously hosted The Colbert Reports parent series The Daily Showserving as an executive producer.
The Late Show has remained the highest-rated American late-night talk show for nine consecutive seasons as of 2025, marking the longest winning streak in franchise history over its competitors; since 2019, it exceeded The Tonight Show in key demographic viewership. On July 17, 2025, CBS announced that it would be ending The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, would be retiring The Late Show franchise altogether in May 2026 after 33 years and its timeslot will be given back to affiliates, describing the move as "purely a financial decision". The announcement has drawn controversy due to the show's relative popularity among late-night television, its relation to the merger of Skydance and Paramount, and perceived political motive due to criticisms of the Trump administration by Colbert. The series finale is scheduled for May 21, 2026.
Background
Prior to Colbert's assumption of hosting duties, David Letterman had been host of Late Show for 22 years, dating to his arrival at CBS in 1993. CBS had not had a regular late-night talk show for most of its existence before that point, with only one attempt between 1972 and Letterman's arrival. Letterman, who joined CBS from NBC after ending his eleven-year run as host of Late Night and losing out on being Johnny Carson's successor on The Tonight Show to Jay Leno, was initially competitive with his show's bitter rival, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; Letterman's Late Show slowly experienced a decline in ratings over the course of the 1990s and 2000s, dating back to an affiliation agreement between New World Communications and Fox that resulted in all nine CBS-affiliated stations it owned or recently acquired switching to Fox between September and December 1994, relegating the network to lower-rated former Fox affiliates and independent stations in many major cities.File:Stephen Colbert December 2017.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Stephen Colbert hosted his satirical news show, The Colbert Report, which won seven Primetime Emmy Awards on Comedy Central, from October 2005 to December 2014.
According to TV by the Numbers, in February 2013, the live-plus-seven-day ratings for Letterman's Late Show averaged about 3.1 million per show for the 2012–2013 season to date. A year later, average viewership was down to 2.8 million. Late Show also had the oldest audience among the various late-night talk shows, which may have led to CBS' decision to pick a younger replacement for Letterman to compete with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In addition, Colbert's previous program did well among college students and young men 18–34, which are prime target audiences for late-night comedy programming.
On April 3, 2014, Letterman announced his retirement, with his final episode as host of Late Show scheduled for May 20, 2015. On April 10, 2014, CBS announced Stephen Colbert as Letterman's successor, signing him to a five-year agreement. In contrast with Colbert's previous program The Colbert Report, in which he played a fictionalized version of himself, Colbert hosts the show as himself. Colbert's version retains the Late Show name under license from Letterman's Worldwide Pants, which holds the registered trademark. On April 23, 2014, the character version of Stephen Colbert appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to announce that he had clearly "won television" and would be closing down The Colbert Report because he had met his goal. This came after the announcement the character would not be used after the end of The Colbert Report. The final episode of Report aired on December 18, 2014.
There were efforts to lure a new version of The Late Show from its long-time home at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, with California lawmakers offering tax incentives to bring production to Los Angeles. On July 23, 2014, CBS CEO Les Moonves announced that the program would remain in New York City; CBS would be eligible for $11 million in tax credits over five years to produce the program there, and would also receive grants to fund renovations to the theater. Jon Batiste was announced as the bandleader on June 4, 2015, with his Stay Human band succeeding the CBS Orchestra as the house band.
Promotion
In anticipation of the program's premiere, a new online presence was launched for The Late Show in June 2015, including new social media accounts, a podcast, mobile app, and a monologue-styled video focusing on the beard Colbert had grown since leaving The Colbert Report. Throughout the remainder of the summer, videos would continue to be released through the show's official YouTube channel and mobile app. On July 1, 2015, Colbert hosted a special edition of a public access program in Monroe, Michigan, interviewing Eminem.Production
Colbert has been given near-full control of the show, with little interference from CBS management in regard to format. Colbert brought most of his staff from The Colbert Report with him to The Late Show, as well as outsiders such as Brian Stack, who is best known for his work on Conan O'Brien's programs, and Jon Stewart, former host of Colbert's previous sister program The Daily Show, who is credited as executive producer. Colbert no longer uses the character he had portrayed on The Colbert Report, jokingly remarking to Jeb Bush that "I used to play a narcissistic conservative punditnow I'm just a narcissist."The Ed Sullivan Theater underwent a full restoration to its original 1927 appearance, a process that began following Letterman's final episode, including the uncovering of the theater's ceiling, stained-glass windows and a restoration of a chandelier, due to advances in technology that allow less sound and video equipment to cover up the auditorium's architectural details.
On April 13, 2016, former CBS This Morning and Morning Joe executive producer Chris Licht was named showrunner for The Late Show; CBS had shown concerns that, despite improved ratings in comparison to Letterman's tenure, Colbert had a weak online presence in comparison to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Colbert's lead-out The Late Late Show with James Corden. The Hollywood Reporter believed that Licht's experience in news programming would be leveraged to complement Colbert's strengths in topical and news-oriented material.
On October 17, 2019, Colbert and CBS announced that they had agreed to renew his contract, which had been set to expire in August 2020, until August 2023. On March 12, 2020, the show suspended production due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Beginning March 30, 2020, the show was produced from Colbert's home, billed as A Late Show with Stephen Colbert. From August 10, Colbert presented the program from a smaller set within the building's office tower, built as a replica of his own personal office seen on A Late Show with Stephen Colbert, without a studio audience. On August 4, 2020, the show's music producer Giovanni Cianci was fired following sexual misconduct allegations.
On May 24, 2021, Colbert announced that the show would resume production inside the theater with an audience fully vaccinated against COVID-19 starting on June 14, 2021. It was also announced that the Ed Sullivan Theater would be back at full capacity, following the lifting of COVID-19 guidelines that restricted the number of people in a crowded, indoor setting. The announcement was significant in that the Ed Sullivan Theater would become the first theater on Broadway to reopen to full capacity. It also made The Late Show the first late-night talk show to announce a return to a full audience, though The Tonight Show ultimately returned to full-capacity audiences one week ahead of The Late Show on June 7, 2021. With the show's return to the theater, the original name, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, was also put back in use.
The program's intro originally used tilt–shift photography featuring scenes of New York City, making the city appear like a miniature model. In September 2021 The Late Show introduced a new intro sequence, featuring the use of a drone camera flying around the theater and its backstage areas. On February 26, 2022, Chris Licht, the showrunner, left the show to become the new chairman and CEO of CNN. On the August 11, 2022, episode, Colbert announced that bandleader Jon Batiste had decided he would not be returning to the show, in order to "pursue personal and professional interests". Batiste was replaced by Louis Cato. On May 2, 2023, The Late Show, and several other late night talk shows, halted its production due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. Colbert showed his support to the writers, saying: "I'm a member of the guild. I support collective bargaining. This nation owes so much to unions" and hoped both parts would reach an agreement. It was reported that Colbert continued to pay his staff salary during the strike. In November/December 2023, The Late Show production paused for a few weeks after Colbert had emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix. Full episodes of the show going back about a month are available on Paramount+. Official clips from the show going back to 2015 are available on the show's YouTube channel.