Surprisingly, NBC’s Today was the only lead broadcast network morning news show to embarrass itself on Thursday by mourning the “end of an era” with the last episode of CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert set to air hours later, fretting there will no longer be a show helmed by the “devout Catholic” with “trailblazing format” that’s become defined by “politically charged humor” and a “critical eye toward President Trump.”
How much did NBC love Colbert and The Late Show? They teased a preview of this “end of an era” and co-host Craig Melvin’s sit-down with original host David Letterman an astounding seven times.
After reacting to co-host Craig Melvin’s commencement address at Villanova, Carson Daly said college graduates “aren’t the only ones preparing for a brand new chapter...because tonight marks the end of an era in late-night when Stephen Colbert signs off and The Late Show comes to a close after more than 30 years on the air.”
NBC’s ‘Today’ was the only broadcast network morning show Thursday to preview the finale of CBS’s ‘The Late Show,’ mourning “devout Catholic” Stephen Colbert’s show ending despite a “trailblazing format” and defined by “politically charged humor” and a “critical eye toward… pic.twitter.com/hOrwaVzLVv
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 21, 2026
Entertainment correspondent and former Colbert intern Chloe Melas swooned: “[T]here’s only one more episode to go of The Late Show. Can you believe it? And in just a couple hours, that Late Show is going to start taping right here at the Ed Sullivan Theater behind me. And this farewell tour, it has been full of big moments, even bigger laughs as these lights get ready to dim.”
“Tonight, Stephen Colbert will take his final bow before the curtain drops for good on The Late Show. Overnight, Bruce Springsteen performing. And a who’s who of guests turning the tables for a special Colbert questionnaire,” she continued, adding the final few episodes have included “A-listers filling out an all-star line-up to say goodbye.”
Later explaining The Late Show started in 1993 with David Letterman, Melas said the nearly 33-year run had a “trailblazing format creating countless water cooler moments in a pre-viral video world.”
When Colbert took over, Melas conceded the former Comedy Central host has made changes to the show “fill[ing] [it] with more politically charged humor.”
That’s akin to referring to The New York Times opinion page as dominated by “viewpoints on all politics of the day” instead of heavily skewed left.
The July 16, 2025 “joke” Melas used as an example was tame and didn’t even explain what it was in reference to (answer: Epstein): “Everybody I talk to is talking about what Donald Trump doesn’t want to talk about.”
It certainly wasn’t the “Putin’s c***holster” or any of the other incendiary moments our Alex Christy compiled this week.
Melas addressed Colbert’s cancellation by saying “questions swirled if it had anything to do with the show’s critical eye towards President Trump” despite CBS’s insistence it was “purely a financial decision.” She conveniently left out how the show had cost $150 million to run, and CBS had been losing $40 million annually.
No time for that when you have your idea of fun to promote about this “institution that’s transformed the late-night landscape” and rumors of a Pope Leo appearance:
But fans rallying around the beloved host after the news with hype building ahead of tonight’s final farewell as Stephen Colbert prepares to sign off from an institution that’s transformed the late-night landscape. So, as for tonight’s show, it is being kept completely under wraps. We don’t even know who the guests are going to be. But here is what we do know. We know that the finale is going to be extended, so it’s probably going to be more than its typical hour time slot. We also know that the taping is taking place more than an hour earlier at the theater behind me. And I just want to point out that Stephen Colbert has said that his white whale guest, you guys, is Pope Leo. You never know. You really never know, guys.
Back live with the co-hosts, Savannah Guthrie nauseatingly reminded viewers a pope appearance would be great since “Stephen is a devout Catholic” and that it was great “Jimmy [Fallon] and Jimmy [Kimmel] on NBC and ABC are not doing live shows tonight, I think.”
“Yeah, that is sort of reference to let their encourage their audiences to watch the final show as well,” Daly replied.
In the show’s second hour, Melvin spoke to Letterman earlier this month at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an interview largely focused on his co-ownership of an NTT IndyCar Series team and a new PSA campaign about heart valve failure.
“Not far from the finish line of the Indy 500, we talked about the end of an era,” Melvin said in a voice-over ahead of his eye-roll-inducing question: “What does the end of that show say about comedy in America?”
NBC’s Craig Melvin: “What does the end of [‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’] say about comedy in America?”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 21, 2026
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
The curmudgeonly Letterman groused “it kind of makes me sad” because America “always relied on” The Late Show and, in a bygone era, “[y]ou would read the newspaper in the morning, and at night, you would see Johnny Carson, and Johnny would give you a perspective, whether you agreed with it or not, but it was always funny.”
“And, without that, I — I think we’re losing a valuable perspective. I think it’s very, very important to the American culture. I think it’s too bad that Stephen is gone. I think it’s a huge mistake,” he asserted.
The next time the working class is sold out, a conservative icon passes away, or something of the sort, remember the groveling nonsense the liberal, elite media put forth when the antagonistic, partisan, and vile Colbert went off the air.
