CBS’s Stephen Colbert traveled across town on Tuesday to sit down with NBC’s Seth Meyers on Late Night to reflect on the impending cancelation of The Late Show. When Colbert looked back on the “incredible gift” the show has provided, he could have talked about the jokes or the ability to interview celebrities about their upcoming movies, but he instead chose to focus on his Democratic guests.
Meyers, like most of his contemporaries, views his job as helping liberals get through the dark days of the Trump administration. Therefore, it wasn’t too surprising when he set Colbert up with more of a statement than a question, “I mean, I feel like neither of us ever take it for granted, but I do think it’s that weird thing that—it’s just like built into your life when you have a show like this that you just get to see people every day that are funny, and help you process through—oftentimes the things that we're talking about, which can be difficult.”
Stephen Colbert reflects on the upcoming end of "The Late Show," telling Seth Meyers "we all saw what happened this weekend, which was incredibly corrosive to the soul, and how we feel about our own country. And I got to talk with Josh Shapiro about it all night, talk about it… pic.twitter.com/IxfYBoptle
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) January 28, 2026
Naturally, Colbert agreed, “Right, right. You know, we all saw what happened this weekend, which was incredibly corrosive to the soul and how we feel about our own country. And I got to talk with Josh Shapiro about it all night, talk about it with a governor. And that's an incredible gift. And, anyway, I'll always be grateful for that.”
Later, Meyers moved on to a rapid-fire question session that was based around various rumors about Colbert’s future. One of them was, “That you might run for office, maybe even president.”
Throughout the bit, Colbert would neither confirm nor deny anything, and this one was different. Amid cheering from the audience, he declared, “I've heard that one. Obviously—obviously—obviously, I mean, that's something I have to discuss with my faith leader and my family. And if there is some way for me to serve the American people in some way that could possibly be greater than a late night television show, I would consider that. But obviously, I've heard that, yeah.”
And that is a large part of why late night is dying.
Here is a transcript for the January 27-taped show:
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
1/28/2026
1:12 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: I mean, I feel like neither of us ever take it for granted, but I do think it’s that weird thing that—it’s just like built into your life when you have a show like this—
STEPHEN COLBERT: Right.
MEYERS: — that you just get to see people every day that are funny, and help you process through—oftentimes the things that we're talking about, which can be difficult.
COLBERT: Right, right. You know, we all saw what happened this weekend, which was incredibly corrosive to the soul and how we feel about our own country. And I got to talk with Josh Shapiro about it all night, talk about it with a governor. And that's an incredible gift. And, anyway, I'll always be grateful for that. Um, is Lorne here?
…
MEYERS: That you might run for office, maybe even president.
COLBERT: I've heard that one.
MEYERS: Yeah.
COLBERT: I've heard that one. Obviously—obviously—obviously, I mean, that's something I have to discuss with my faith leader and my family.
MEYERS: Yeah.
COLBERT: And if there is some way for me to serve the American people in some way that could possibly be greater than a late night television show, I would consider that. But obviously, I've heard that, yeah.
