WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday (local time) shared an AI-generated video of himself throwing The Late Show host Stephen Colbert into a dustbin and dancing after that.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 22, 2026
Stephen Colbert closed the final episode of ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ with a star-filled goodbye. The last episode aired on Thursday, May 21, and featured several surprise appearances from Colbert’s celebrity friends, People magazine said.
The host began the show with his usual funny take on the day’s news before Bryan Cranston interrupted his opening monologue. Thursday night’s series finale was the most-watched weeknight episode of Colbert’s eleven-year tenure on the show, according to overnight Nielsen ratings, as per CNN.
Colbert and co. averaged 6.74 million viewers, even beating his first episode as host back in 2015, which averaged 6.55 million viewers, CNN reported. Late-night talk shows like “The Late Show” have been shedding viewers for years in an increasingly fragmented media environment. Many fans who used to watch at 11:35pm simply catch up later on YouTube or via social media, as per CNN.
Colbert took over The Late Show from David Letterman in 2015. He announced on July 17, 2025, that CBS had cancelled the show after 30 years on air. The network had called it “purely a financial decision.”
CBS had said the show was cancelled due to financial pressure in traditional broadcast television. However, critics and Colbert himself had hinted at possible political reasons after his criticism of Paramount over a reported USD 16 million legal settlement involving Donald Trump.
After the end of the show, Colbert is now turning his focus to screenwriting. He is co-writing the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past with filmmaker Peter Jackson, writer Philippa Boyens and Jackson’s son Peter McGee.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert first premiered in 2015 and went on to become one of the most watched late-night talk shows in the United States. (ANI)
