Stephen Colbert's Last 'Late Show'

After over 30 years on the air, The Late Show on CBS takes its final breath tonight.

Cause of death: Suicide.

NBC’s Craig Melvin: “What does the end of [‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’] say about comedy in America?”

David Letterman: “It kind of makes me sad. We always relied on it. You would read the newspaper in the morning, and at night, you would see Johnny Carson, and Johnny… pic.twitter.com/4FDNVYzd0U

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 21, 2026

Is it sad that deranged people chose to kill Late Night TV?

Yes.

Is it sad that Stephen Colbert's time is finished?

Not at all. Good riddance.

As usual, I won't be watching.

Stephen Colbert Late Show Cancelled

NEW: 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' has been canceled, according to Deadline.

The show will be ending in May of 2026 at the end of the broadcast season.

"I’m not being replaced, this is all just going away," Colbert said.

CBS says the move was "purely a financial… pic.twitter.com/DbWa69MKj9

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 17, 2025

Good riddance to Stephen Colbert, among those who destroyed network late night comedyhttps://t.co/f8vSjxqsu5

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) July 18, 2025

Here's how Stephen Colbert addresses the news of The Late Show's cancellation in tonight's cold open. (Full story: https://t.co/tmYOxRnnYe) pic.twitter.com/ype2dsE6Uy

— LateNighter (@latenightercom) July 17, 2025

Stephen Colbert destroyed The Late Show. He completely wrecked what David Letterman built at CBS.

It's unfortunate that Colbert has another year on the air before he leaves. He'll be dishing out his humorless, toxic crap through May 2026.

Ayatollah Khamenei and David Letterman

Letterman should probably lay low for the next few weeks just to be safe. pic.twitter.com/2tutcVAHEx

— Adam Carolla (@adamcarolla) June 17, 2025

Trump: On Tips and Life

Donald Trump gives his thoughts on tipping..

SPOT ON as always. 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/MAlIrLNZst

— American AF 🇺🇸 (@iAnonPatriot) May 11, 2025

The good old days.

David Letterman to Headline Biden Fundraiser in Hawaii, July 29

🚨 BREAKING: Comedian David Letterman is set to headline a special fundraiser for President Biden at the Hawaii governor's home on July 29.

Maui doesn't get any help but they are still going to throw it in their faces and plan a fundraiser on the island. pic.twitter.com/XKsZBQBOcN

— 🇺🇸 Larry 🇺🇸 (@LarryDJonesJr) July 19, 2024

Letterman and Biden - Why does that make me laugh? Their irrelevancy?

Never forget how the people of Maui were treated by Biden and his regime.

Norm Macdonald R.I.P.

Heartbreaking news:

Norm Macdonald, Comedian and ‘Saturday Night Live’ Star, Dies at 61 https://t.co/AbQqP6H9wB

— Variety (@Variety) September 14, 2021

This is nice:

“Norm @normmacdonald was a great talent, and I loved laughing with him on SNL. *Bob Dole* will miss Norm Macdonald.” pic.twitter.com/gPsdyJ5tS9

— Senator Bob Dole (@SenatorDole) September 14, 2021

Norm Macdonald was hilarious. Watch this clip from 1997.

He gave me decades of laughter.

Rest in peace.

Iggy Pop, David Letterman - 37 Years Ago

Thirty-seven years ago today, Iggy Pop made his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.

Here's video:

Seth Meyers Killed 'Late NIght'

I watched Late Night with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

That's decades of NBC TV late night viewing. That habit came to a screeching halt when Seth Meyers took over the program.

Especially at the end of the day, I need to be entertained, not ridiculed, not called stupid, deplorable, racist, etc.

Late night “comedy.” https://t.co/c99J8XxHt7

— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) May 14, 2019

I wouldn't watch any late night talk show now if you paid me.

Well, maybe if you paid me a lot I would. But that's not happening.

Iggy Pop, David Letterman - 36 Years Ago

Thirty-six years ago today, Iggy Pop made his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.

Here's video:

Iggy Pop, David Letterman - 35 Years Ago

Thirty-five years ago today, Iggy Pop made his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.

Here's video:

Jay Thomas R.I.P.

Comedian Jay Thomas Dead at 69 After Battling Cancer https://t.co/2cfy5YuZoj

— TMZ (@TMZ) August 24, 2017

Rest in peace.

David Letterman's Mom, Dorothy Mengering - R.I.P.

David Letterman's mom, Dorothy Mengering, passed away on Tuesday. She was a familiar figure to Letterman's audience.

From the New York Times:

David Letterman's mother Dorothy Mengering, a Midwestern homemaker who became an unlikely celebrity in her 70s as she baked mystery pies and covered the Olympics for her son's late-night show, has died. She was 95.

Watch video here of Letterman calling his mom on Thanksgiving 1991. That's from his NBC show, Late Night with David Letterman.

Here's another Thanksgiving video, this one from his CBS show, Late Show with David Letterman.



Watch video here of Letterman's mom reporting from the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994.

(Wisconsinites, take note. Bonnie Blair and Bonnie Blair's mom are in the video at about 7:45 and 19:20.)

I always liked it when Dave's mom was on the show. If you were trying to cast someone to play an unassuming Midwestern mom, no one could have filled the role better. She seemed like a friendly neighbor, or a lady you'd know from church. I liked her because she was real.

Rest in peace.

Late Show with Stephen Colbert - AWFUL

Oh, my God.

It was terrible.

I didn't plan to watch the debut of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Then, I decided I had to watch David Letterman's successor. As a late night TV viewer, I would watch the start of a new era on CBS.

It was painfully bad. I will not be a regular viewer. I won't be a sometime viewer. Unless there is a guest booked that I'm oddly compelled to see, I will never watch the show again.

Clearly, I'm not a Colbert fan.

The opening "Star-Spangled Banner" performance was odd. Jon Stewart's cameo didn't excite me. I thought he was Wolf Blitzer.

Colbert's jokes weren't funny.

Trump, Trump, Trump.

The Oreo bit was so dumb.

Trump, Trump, Trump.

George Clooney, the first guest, was unwatchable. I changed the channel. I couldn't stand it.

I flipped back to see Jeb Bush. I thought I must have missed the segment. The commercial break I caught went on forever. Based on the time, I was certain I missed it. When the break finally ended, Colbert introduced Bush. OK. The segment was ridiculously brief, but a message on the screen directed viewers to Colbert's CBS website for additional content. Seriously? I don't think so.

The musical performance, a rendition of "Everyday People," featuring Mavis Staples, was nice but also a little weird, a little too much of a time warp.

During the commercial break before Colbert closed his first episode at the reins of Late Show, an ad bashed Ron Johnson - perfectly fitting, made complete sense.

The show ran over its time slot. No surprise there.

The final bit was Colbert and Jimmy Fallon in the late night locker room. Whatever.

Really painful.

I'll add the recording to my late night talk show library, but I'm done.

I watched. I suffered. It's over.

I'm done.

Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Heatherball

Oooh, Jimmy Kimmel was making fun of Jimmy Fallon, fellow late night host.

On Monday night, Kimmel and Bob Odenkirk mocked Jimmy Fallon's penchant for playing games with his guests.

Odenkirk pretended he didn't want to play a game of Heatherball, tetherball but enhanced with the image of Heather Graham on the ball. He placed a pretend call to his publicist when Kimmel pushed him.



If you read the comments on Youtube, you'd think this was a serious affront at Fallon's expense. Some cheered Kimmel for dissing Fallon. Others didn't get the bit at all, thinking Odenkirk really didn't want to play and was being a jerk. Others didn't know Fallon plays games on his show.

There is a problem when you have to explain a joke.

As Jay Leno said recently, Kimmel has a mean streak, though I think this was just a good-natured jab. And Odenkirk certainly was a willing participant in the bit, if not the instigator.

Personally, I find many of Fallon's games annoying. I can't imagine the celebrities enjoy making fools of themselves. Maybe they like not having to talk and prefer the goofiness. It's easier than trying to sound intelligent or be clever and entertaining.

Although many are truly lame, some games have amusing moments. When he was hosting Late Night, Fallon had Stiller and Meara play charades. It was funny. I also liked a Pictionary showdown on Late Night with Ann Curry. That included audience members as players. I really don't care for the beer pong or flip cups or the races through the studio and hallways.

I'd rather watch old clips of Johnny Carson - the golden age of late night TV. I really liked Tom Snyder's interviews, too. I'd even prefer seeing Leno and Letterman again.

For the most part, late night TV is dead.

It's a life-long habit I'm finding surprisingly easy to break.

Letterman and Women: Creepy Legacy

From Breitbart:

This video from Gawker shows some lowlights from David Letterman’s interviews on Late Night with female celebrities.

“Whether you regard the examples above as creepy lechery or benign flirting, this way of communicating is a part of David Letterman’s legacy,” writes author Rich Juzwiak....

Within the montage of awkward and uncomfortable moments, Letterman takes particular interest in women’s legs and… smells.

For the record, most of the clips in this video are from the Late Show, not Late Night.

Watch:



Obviously, Letterman was allowed to behave this way with impunity.

Especially when shown in this montage, his interaction with women appears creepy rather than innocent and amusing.

Letterman Late Show Ends

Thank you and goodnight -David Letterman #ThanksDave pic.twitter.com/KV9F3CiLZd

— Letterman (@Letterman) May 21, 2015

And that's that.

As I wrote a little over a month ago, I stopped being a regular Letterman viewer years ago.

At one time, I was a diehard fan. That changed and I tuned out, only watching the show on the very rare occasion that I wanted to see a guest. For example, July 2014, I watched Letterman to see Joan Rivers. Even then, I refused to suffer through his monologue.

So, in mid-April, when I decided to tune in again on a nightly basis, it was weird.

The show was already swimming in the final dance routine. The tributes were pouring in, with celebrities doing their Letterman curtain calls.

At times, it was a bit much. And, at times, Letterman's monologue offered validation that I had made the right choice to bail on the show. Other times, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed Letterman, little flashes of the past.

It has been quite the nostalgic journey beyond the show itself.

Talk of Letterman's morning show on NBC takes me back to that time, where I was and what was happening in my life. The same goes for Late Night and the switch to CBS and the years that followed.

Watching all the old clips has been fun but also sort of a maudlin exercise. Accelerated aging. A dinosaur exhibit.

Letterman's departure certainly marks the end of an era. That's no exaggeration. Television is so different now. It's so fragmented. It's not the same sort of experience as it was when people grew up under the influence of the Big Three networks. The FOX network didn't even exist when Letterman began his late night gig.

The TV landscape has undergone a dramatic transformation since Letterman started. The Internet, Netflix, streaming on demand, and whatever is yet to come are sure to put an end to the establishment of towering entertainment figures with the longevity of Letterman. Everything is smaller and diminished in scale.

In many ways, Letterman's retirement is a big, blaring shout: YOU'RE OLD. DEAL WITH IT.

His final show was about as sentimental as Letterman could muster, meaning not very sentimental at all.

But it was nice. His expressions of thanks to the crew, staff, and his family were sincere, but certainly not sappy. He maybe choked up a tiny bit at the very end but really was in complete control of his emotions when he signed off:

DAVID LETTERMAN: All right, that's pretty much all I got. The only thing I have left to do for the last time on a television program: Thank you and goodnight.

He ended it his way.
_________________

Video:

Letterman: Bill Murray Cake

It appears that David Letterman wants to go out like Johnny Carson.

Carson's second to last show had guests and was the usual format. The final show was more of an epilogue.

Bill Murray's appearance on Letterman's second to last show seems to mark the last actual Late Show with David Letterman.

Murray was a guest on Letterman's short-lived but very entertaining morning show on NBC. (Remember the Christmas episode?) Murray was Letterman's first guest on Late Night. He was Letterman's first guest when he moved to CBS.

When Letterman announced over a year ago that he would retire in May 2015, I knew Bill Murray would be the last guest. It was a given.

I would not have predicted that Murray would have made his entrance by jumping out of a cake, covering himself and Letterman with frosting.



Here's Letterman's Late Show debut, with guest Bill Murray, August 30, 1993:



Here's Letterman's Late Night debut, with guest Bill Murray, February 1, 1982:



People change a lot in 33 years.

I loved Late Night.

_______________

Letterman's musical guest: Bob Dylan, "The Night We Called It a Day"



Introducing him, Letterman called Dylan the "greatest songwriter of modern times."

Too bad Dylan didn't "sing" one of the songs he wrote.

Jack Black, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers

And NBC does it again!

A little over a week ago, NBC's late night schedule included an appearance by Russell Crowe on The Tonight with Jimmy Fallon followed by Crowe on Late Night with Seth Meyers the very next day.

On Monday, Jack Black was Fallon's guest. Tuesday, Jack Black was Meyers' guest.

I've been watching David Letterman's final shows, though I avoided Obama's appearance, choosing to channel surf rather than subject myself to the BS.

Still, I check the listings and scan the late night guests.

No surprise, NBC continues its back-to-back bookings.

Even Sweeps provides no relief from this BORING and ANNOYING process. The repetition is awful.

Several previous examples of this practice can be found here.

Who cares?

I don't anymore because I don't watch.

Meyers is permanently off my viewing schedule, and Fallon is barely hanging on, temporarily off completely until Letterman departs.

Bottom line: Late Night TV sucks. Just pointing that out, again.

Letterman: "Mutineer" - Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires

On Friday's Late Show with David Letterman, I got the moment I was waiting for.

Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires performed an achingly beautiful version of Warren Zevon's "Mutineer." Absolutely gorgeous.



So many memories, smiling through tears.

Russell Crowe, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers

Although I've bailed on watching The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, opting to watch David Letterman's final shows instead, I still check the guest list.

On Wednesday, Fallon's guests included Russell Crowe and Chris Christie.

Even if I wasn't interested in watching Letterman close out his show, I would not have watched Christie make a fool of himself on Fallon's show once again. What a buffoon!

But the issue here is Crowe and NBC's booking of guests.

The pattern of booking NBC late night guests on both Fallon's show and Late Night with Seth Meyers continues.

On Thursday, Crowe will be Meyers' guest, immediately following the night he appeared with Fallon. That repetition would be really annoying if I watched both programs.

Several previous examples of this practice can be found here.

Who cares?

I don't anymore because I don't watch.

Meyers is permanently off my viewing schedule, and Fallon is barely hanging on, temporarily off completely until Letterman departs.

Bottom line: Late Night TV sucks. Just pointing that out.