Topline
Late-night host Stephen Colbert began the final episode of his late-night show with an emotional message thanking his audience and followed it up with an opening monologue featuring guest appearances from Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows and Ryan Reynolds.
Key Facts
Before the show opened, Colbert delivered an emotional message to the audience in the studio and at home, saying it has been a joy for him to do the show and “we call this show the Joy Machine.”
Colbert said he realized pretty early that his job at “The Late Show” was not to read the news to the audience but rather “feel the news with you.”
In the actual opening monologue, the audience booed loudly when he announced it was his last show, but Colbert interjected saying “we were lucky enough to be here for the last 11 years,” and he didn’t want to take that for granted.
The comedian said they initially planned on doing a “huge special” to commemorate the final episode but shelved the idea and chose to go with a regular show “where I come out here and talk about the national conversation.”
The monologue was interrupted a few times by guest stars, including Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows, Tig Notaro and Ryan Ryenolds as part of running gag where they are fighting to be Colbert’s final guest.
Colbert then ran through a few different news stories and took a jab at the Trump administration’s Hantavirus response pointing out that it was being led by Dr. Brian Christine, “a penile implant specialist and vaccine skeptic.”
Who Was Colbert’s Final Late Show Guest?
Some rumors initially suggested that Pope Leo XIV could be the featured guest on the Late Show finale. Colbert appeared tried to play into the rumor with a gag where he was ready to introduce the Pope before a staffer came out on stage an said Leo was refusing to come out because “We didn’t read his whole rider, and we didn’t get him his snacks.” Colbert then said: “The pope, who was definitely my guest tonight, has canceled. We already sent the other stars away. This is terrible.” The comedian then welcomed music legend and Beatles member Paul McCartney as his last guest. McCartney reminisced about coming to the Ed Sullivan theater and said “We came here, and you had to go a few floors down to get makeup. We went down there, and the girls put makeup on us, and it was, like, bright orange.” Colbert, who handed cracked a Trump joke in his monologue then quickly took a shot at the president and quipped: “That’s very popular in certain circles these days.”
What Did Colbert Say About Cbs?
Although he interrupted his audience from booing mentions of this being his last show during the opening, the comedian managed to land a jab at his network later. In his recurring segment called “Meanwhile,” the comedian talks about the owner of music used in the “Peanuts” animated specials suing several people, including the U.S. government, for using the songs without permission. Now, ‘Peanuts’ is a powerful brand and corporation in and of itself. Anyone illegally using that music is going to have to pay through the nose,” Colbert said before his live band started playing the tunes. Colbert then identified the tunes as music from the ‘Peanuts’ and joked, “Oh no, I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money.” The network had previously claimed their decision to cancel Colbert was a “purely financial” one and nothing to do with politics or pressure from the Trump administration as some have alleged.
This is a developing story.
