CNBC | Friday, May 22, 2026 
Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ ends with a swan song and a giant wormhole

Satirist Stephen Colbert ended the late night show he hosted for nearly 11 years on a whimsical and joyful note. During his finale, he invited his audience, his crew and famous friends to dance with him onstage as he sang Hello, Goodbye with former Beatle Paul McCartney. Joining them was singer Elvis Costello, and musicians Louis Cato and Jon Batiste, the current and former band leaders for Colbert’s show. And in the end, Colbert and McCartney together switched off the lights at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theater, where the Beatles made their American debut in 1964 and where the Late Show franchise was taped in front of audiences for close to 33 years. Through the magic of visual effects, Colbert’s entire show and the theater were sucked into a giant green interdimensional wormhole that at times looked like the CBS logo to this reporter. Joining Colbert for a bit earlier in the show were his late night host buddies Jon Oliver, Seth Meyers and the two Jimmies – Fallon and Kimmel – aka “Strike Force Five.” “We came to say, we’re going to miss you,” Kimmel said. “Late night is not going to be the same without you.” Meyers added, “Yeah, without you. Where will Americans turn to see a middle-aged white man make jokes about the news?” Last July, CBS canceled Colbert’s top-rated late night show, saying it was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” But his fans and friends say it was retribution for his continuous criticism of…Read more