Published 1 year ago • loading... • Updated 11 months ago
Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ is canceled by CBS and will end in May 2026
UNITED STATES, JUL 24 – CBS cites financial challenges for ending the 33-season 'Late Show' franchise despite Stephen Colbert's show maintaining the top late-night ratings for nine consecutive seasons.
On Thursday at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, CBS said the show will end in May 2026.
Amid a challenging late-night landscape, CBS executives said the cancellation is purely financial, unrelated to the show’s performance or content, as Paramount pursues an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.
Most recent Nielsen data show Colbert draws about 2.417 million viewers, the only late-night show to gain audience this year, while Gutfeld’s show averaged 3.1 million viewers through July 17, 2025.
At his Thursday taping, Colbert broke the news to the live audience, which booed, as he declared, 'I am offended,'.
After more than three decades on air, the franchise that began in August 1993 with David Letterman and was helmed by Colbert since 2015 will retire.