Stephen Colbert bows out of late night TV with final episode of The Late Show

And that’s a wrap on Stephen Colbert.

The American late night TV host signed off for the final time today, marking the end of an 11-year run at the helm of a once-great format.

There was a lot of love and lot of stars to farewell Colbert, whose program was cancelled by network CBS in a move that was widely seen as a political capitulation to Donald Trump and his government.

Among those on hand to give Colbert a send-off were Paul McCartney, Paul Rudd (who brought a retirement gift of five bananas), Tig Notaro, Tim Meadows, Ryan Reynolds, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jon Batiste and Jon Stewart.

Members of the public had been lined up outside New York City’s Ed Sullivan theatre since 7.30am with the small hope of making it inside.

Colbert kept it humble, authentic and low key for his opening monologue, paying tribute to the people who had worked there over the years, and to the audience.

“I just want to let you all know in here and out there how important you’ve been to what we have done. The energy that you’ve given us, we sincerely need that to have done the best possible show we could have for you for the last 11 years.

“Because we love doing this show for you, but (what) we really, really love is doing this show with you. Now I’ll say to you what I’ve said to every audience for the last 11 years, and I have meant it every time: Have a good show, thanks for being here.”

The show ended with McCartney playing The Beatles’ Hello, Goodbye as The Late Show’s entire staff was brought on stage to join in.

Colbert’s late night rivals Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel both aired repeats in a gesture of solidarity and respect for their pal. American network TV might be competitive, but the three have always at least appeared to have gotten along.

They have also increasingly been in each other’s corners as they individually and the late night format as a whole came under increasing attack from Trump and his supporters, which included threats of government intervention.

The trio, along with Seth Meyers and John Oliver, collaborated on the podcast Strike Force Five during the 2023 writers strike, with the proceeds going to their staff.

Kimmel, who has had his own experiences as a target of Trump’s wrath, including his temporary suspension last year, had said on his own show earlier this week, “I think you know how I feel about the fact that they’re being pushed out.

“I hope the people who did the pushing feel ashamed of themselves tonight — although I know they probably won’t.”

Kimmel also pleaded with his audience to watch Colbert’s final broadcast but then to never, ever watch CBS again.

Stewart, appearing as one of Colbert’s guests, also had a scathing dig at CBS’s parent company, Paramount. He said, “Paramount strongly believes in covering both sides of any black hole that is swallowing everything we know and love, and the coverage must also include the positive aspects of the insatiable emptiness.”

When Colbert and The Late Show as a format was cancelled in July, the overwhelming narrative was the decision had been made to curry favour with Trump. Colbert had long been a critic of Trump and his administration, and he was seen as a sacrifice on the altar of corporate interests.

At the time, David Ellison, son of billionaire software founder and Trump supporter Larry Ellison, was in the process of taking over Paramount. The merger between his business Skydance and Paramount had been held up for approvals by the Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission.

Earlier that same month, CBS’s 60 Minutes program settled a lawsuit brought by Trump, who had alleged flattering editing during a segment featuring his former opponent Kamala Harris. The network had originally called the action “completely without merit” and many legal commentators had said CBS had a strong defence case.

However, during the merger process, CBS opted to settle the suit for $US16 million.

The merger was approved one week after Colbert’s cancellation, and three weeks after the legal payout.

Once Ellison took control of Paramount, he made moves to ideologically re-align CBS’s news operations, including the controversial appointment of right-wing commentator Bari Weiss to oversee the network’s newsrooms.

CBS has since been the butt of many jokes about its perceived partiality in favour of the US federal government. At the Golden Globe Awards in January, which was broadcast on CBS, host Nikki Glaser remarked, “The award for most editing goes to CBS News, America’s new place to see BS news”.

When Colbert was cancelled, CBS denied there was any political dimension to the decision, and said it was purely because of the economics, that the format had been too expensive to sustain. Colbert’s program is the highest-rating in its time slot.

CBS said the show was losing $US40m a year. However, David Letterman, whose production company owns the format, said at the time of CBS’s claim, “They don’t share the books with me, (but) they’re lying weasels”.

The Late Show had started life as The Late Show with David Letterman in 1993. Colbert, who had a satirical news program called The Colbert Report on the Comedy Channel after spinning off from The Daily Show, took over as host in 2015 when Letterman retired.

Late night shows have been a staple on American TV for decades and was once a dominant time slot.

But in recent years, audiences have fractured as viewers shifted to digital platforms and ad revenues declined. There are questions over how much longer Kimmel and Fallon’s programs, as well as that of Seth Meyers’, who is on after Fallon at NBC, will last, and if they will outlast the Trump government.

Trump has declared himself an enemy of the entire genre. The US President has consistently attacked its hosts on social media, and hasn’t been afraid to wield the power of the FCC against them.

CBS will replace Colbert with the cheaper-to-produce show Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen.