The Night the Laughter Fought Back
The Ed Sullivan Theater felt less like a late-night set and more like a war room for comedy’s best and brightest. Stephen Colbert, still reeling from CBS’s bombshell decision to cancel “The Late Show” after a decade at the helm, was joined by an all-star roster of fellow comedians and late-night hosts.
The result was a broadcast that felt less like a eulogy and more like a defiant, communal roast of the very forces that led to the show’s demise.
A Who’s Who of Late-Night Solidarity
The guest list read like a roll call of modern comedy: Jon Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, and even Andy Cohen. Each brought their own flavor of support, but the message was unified: Colbert’s exit isn’t just the end of a show, it’s the end of an era. Jimmy Kimmel, never one to mince words, posted a blunt “Love you Stephen. F— you and all your Sheldons CBS” on Instagram, a sentiment that ricocheted through the comedy world and set the tone for the night’s irreverence and candor.
Jon Stewart, Colbert’s longtime friend and mentor, took a more reflective approach. On air and in interviews, Stewart described watching Colbert’s rise from “pretty good-sized fish in a reasonably small basic cable pond” to the undisputed king of network late night as “an undeniable great pleasure for me as a viewer and as his friend.” Stewart, never shy about the politics of television, didn’t hesitate to call out what he saw as a culture of fear and pre-compliance gripping American institutions, hinting that Colbert’s cancellation was about more than just ratings or revenue.
Colbert Unleashed: “The Gloves Are Off”
Colbert himself, always the master of the monologue, didn’t waste the opportunity to turn his own cancellation into a punchline. “For the next ten months, the gloves are off,” he declared, promising to speak unvarnished truth to power now that he was on borrowed time. The crowd, a mix of diehard fans and comedy insiders, roared as Colbert delivered a pointed message to President Trump, who had publicly celebrated the show’s cancellation: “Go f— yourself.”
The night was peppered with inside jokes and knowing glances, but also with a sense of real loss. Fallon, in a rare moment of earnestness, said, “I really thought I’d ride this out with him for years to come. I’m sad that my family and friends will need a new show to watch every night at 11:30. But honestly, he’s really been a gentleman and a true friend over the years, going back to The Colbert Report, and I’m sure whatever he does next will be just as brilliant.”
The End of an Era, or the Start of Something New?
CBS’s official line is that the cancellation was purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night, a claim that Colbert and his peers met with skepticism and, frankly, ridicule. The network’s parent company, Paramount, recently paid$16 million to settle a lawsuit with President Trump, a detail Colbert couldn’t resist lampooning. $40 million’s a big number. I could see us losing$24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other$16 million… oh, yeah.”
For viewers, the night was a reminder of what late-night TV can be at its best: a place where comedians don’t just chase laughs, but also stand up for each other and for the idea that comedy matters. As Stewart put it, “When your industry is faced with changes, you don’t just call it a day. My God! When CDs stopped selling, they didn’t just go, ‘Oh, well, music, it’s been a good run.’”
What Happens Next?
With ten months left before the final curtain, Colbert and his cohort seem determined to make every show count. The sense in the room was that, for all the corporate maneuvering and political intrigue, the real legacy of “The Late Show” will be the community it built—on stage, in the writers’ room, and in living rooms across the country.
If Monday night was any indication, Colbert’s last act won’t be a quiet fade-out. It’ll be a raucous, unfiltered celebration of everything that made his run so singular: sharp wit, fearless commentary, and a deep, abiding love for the weird, unruly family that is late-night comedy.