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CBS pulls the plug on Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’Variety’s senior TV editor Brian Steinberg discusses the shake-up to the late-night comedy landscape.

After more than three decades on air, CBS announced on Thursday that its famed “Late Show” franchise is coming to a close.

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will officially come to an end in May 2026, according to the network, which said the decision to end the show was a financial one.

“This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” George Cheeks, the president of CBS and co-chief executive of Paramount, CBS’s parent company, wrote in a press release. “It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert during Mondays June 13, 2022 show. (Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
Cbs Photo Archive/CBS via Getty Images

“The Late Show” began in 1993 with then-host David Letterman. When Letterman left the show in 2015, he was replaced by Colbert, who has hosted for the last decade.

“We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘THE LATE SHOW’ franchise at that time,” Cheeks said in the release, adding, “He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.”

Colbert addressed the decision during his Thursday show, saying of the news, “I just found out last night.”

The late-night host’s announcement was met with boos from the audience. “Yeah, I share your feelings,” Colbert said, going on to thank the network and the show’s more than 200-person crew for their longstanding commitment to the program.

“And I’m grateful to the audience, you, who have joined us every night, in here, out there and all around the world,” he added.