Hello, Goodbye: The Cancel-ebration of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

May 21, 2026, was the very last time the in-person and on-line audience of late night TV heard the familiar words that had greeted us for the past 11 years, “Welcome. Welcome one and all, in here and out there to the Late Show. I am your host, Stephen Colbert.”

In honor of the occasion I actually rose from my couch to join the audience at the Ed Sullivan Theater in a standing ovation at what was a bitter-sweet moment for all who appreciate satire that speaks truth to power and who value justice, democracy and the 1^st Amendment to the Constitution.

On the other end of the spectrum of appreciation was the POTUS who met the finale of the show with his usual juvenile vitriol and bluster, venting his disdain for not only Mr. Colbert, but for all late night hosts (barring FOX TV, of course). “Stephen Colbert’s firing from CBS was the “Beginning of the End” for untalented, nasty, highly overpaid, not funny, and very poorly rated Late Night Television Hosts, he spewed. “Others, of even less talent, to soon follow. May they all Rest in Peace! President DONALD J. TRUMP” (2 a.m. Truth Social rant following Colbert’s “The Late Show” finale.)

For the thin skinned egotist who feeds on a diet of retribution toward perceived enemies, experiencing this last hurrah of the king of late night talk shows was like dining at an all-you-can-eat McDonald’s banquet of Big Mac’s, fries and diet Cokes. And the fact that it was in no small measure that CBS pulled the plug on the iconic show because he and his administration had the network over the FCC barrel was icing on the cup cake. Watching well respected media giants fold like a paper airplane and morph into perfunctory hand puppets of anti-democracy zealots is heady stuff for power hungry autocrats and wealth thirsty oligarchs.

As for Colbert and his talented crew, they concocted and pulled off a ‘cancel-ebration’ that met the sadness of the moment with the joy that had been the hallmark of The Late Show team throughout their many years together as a family of comedic creators and truth tellers (not “truthiness”). Together they had the guts and grit to confront the events of the day with satirical humor to lessen the load at the end of the day for all who cared deeply for the aspirational tenets of democracy and the quest for the common good. They went out not with a whimper and tail between their legs, not with malice and meanness but with joy and celebration for the blessings that they have shared and the blessings they have been.

Prior to what the TV audience sees, the in theater audience is addressed by Stephen before they go live. Follow this LINK to hear his final address. And in the opening monologue Stephen stated how lucky they had been to be there for the last 11 years. The whole monologue can be found at this LINK.

The grand finale of the final show began with Stephen returning from an (impressively staged) interstellar worm hole to join in a song fest that leads to the entire crew taking the stage in celebration and ends with Stephen and Paul McCartney turning out the lights. The party’s over. Here’s the LINK.

As a concluding bonus, although Adam Schiff did not appear on the final segment, you can follow this LINK to see some of his fondest memories of the show.

And now in the parting words of another famous CBS personality from a time when CBS was CBS, “Good night, and good luck.”