Paul McCartney led an all-star lineup for the final episode of “The Late Show” as frontman Stephen Colbert bowed out after broadcaster CBS cancelled his show as it courted US President Donald Trump.
But one A-lister who eluded the comic to the end was the pope, whom Colbert, a devout Catholic, had long touted as his dream guest.
“The pope, who was definitely my guest tonight, has canceled,” Colbert joked, blaming a dispute over hotdogs before McCartney appeared to rapturous cheers.
The show, which Colbert has hosted since 2015, was axed after he mocked the broadcaster for a $16 million settlement with Trump for allegedly “maliciously” editing an interview with his Democratic election rival Kamala Harris.
Colbert called it a “big fat bribe.”
CBS has insisted the decision to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the ratings leader in the time slot, was purely financial — and that it was a coincidence the move came as CBS parent company Paramount lobbied for government approval of its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.
Around that time, CBS brought in Bari Weiss, a right-wing journalist without significant TV experience, to run its news division.
In the weeks leading to Thursday’s curtain call, 62-year-old Colbert has at times cut a subdued figure, lacking some of his usual cheerful flair.
On Thursday he told the audience that “we were here to field the news with you, and I don’t know about you, but I sure have felt it.”
Colbert did not mention Trump directly on Thursday, instead using a recurring CGI wormhole gag as a metaphor for the president’s impact on US public life.
McCartney sang Beatles mega-hit “Hello, Goodbye” to the capacity crowd at New York’s Ed Sullivan theater where the Beatles performed in 1964 when they made their US debut.
“We thought America was just the land of the free, the greatest democracy. Was. Still is hopefully,” he said, wagging his finger at Colbert.
There were cameos from actors Tim Meadows, Paul Rudd, Ryan Reynolds and Bryan Cranston.
“It was amazing. No he didn’t cry — he somehow kept his composure through it all,” audience member Koenraad Smits, 31, told AFP after the taping finished.
A huge crowd formed around the storied Manhattan theater cheering every celebrity arrival and trying to listen through the stage door.
Late night hosts on the main networks have drawn Trump’s ire for their barbs against him and alleged liberal bias.
Colbert’s fellow funnyman Jimmy Kimmel was briefly taken off the air in September 2025 by his network ABC after complaints about a remark he made over the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“You know, actually, one of these holes opened at my show last year, but it went away after about three days,” Kimmel said of the “wormhole” destroying Colbert’s show.
He has told Colbert’s fans to cancel their subscriptions to CBS’ digital platform.
– ‘Fired and festive’ –
Trump has repeatedly attacked media and press freedom since returning to office, using lawsuits and regulatory threats to retaliate for unflattering news coverage and jokes.
The president has long been a fierce critic of late-night talk show hosts and their jabs at him. Trump has called Colbert a “pathetic trainwreck” who should be “put to sleep.”
One late night host bidding a less fond farewell was Greg Gutfeld of right-wing Fox News.
“I was just talking about it this morning with my Uber driver — Stephen Colbert,” he said on his show Wednesday.
Colbert made his name playing a fictitious version of himself, embodying the type of conservative blowhard beloved by Fox News viewers — and derided by the left.
He first played the sharp-suited but dim-witted character on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” before getting a spin-off, “The Colbert Report.”
Colbert ascended to the pinnacle of US late-night TV when he was named host of the CBS flagship, shedding the character and employing his own voice.
Colbert has been coy about his next steps but announced he will be a writer on a future “Lord of the Rings” movie.
“Now a lot of people been asking me what I plan to do after tonight, and the answer is drugs,” he joked Thursday.
Rival late-night hosts all aired re-runs Thursday out of respect for Colbert’s swansong, which had an afterparty themed “Fired and festive!”
